# What if you are taking contraceptives? ##### Menstrual Cycle Awareness for Perimenopause --- ![[Pasted image 20261024191428.png]] --- ## TL;DR - Menstrual cycle awareness is the foundation of my perimenopause blueprint. - Contraception doesn’t stop perimenopause, although it may hide or change some symptoms. - Some contraceptives still allow ovulation, so what happens with your hormones depends on the contraceptive. - If you’re taking contraception and things are changing, it’s still worth tracking and getting to know your body. --- ## Transcript OK, so the third thing we need to cover before we get into the juicy part is that I mentioned in a previous training and on a blog that menstrual cycle awareness is the foundation of what I consider the perimenopause blueprint. For the perimenopause blueprint I’m creating, there are four pillars. You’ve got the biological, psychological, the social and the spiritual pillars. Those are the four pillars. Menstrual cycle awareness is the foundation these pillars are built on. Now, when I talked about this on a blog and again, a previous training, I had a little bit of backlash about women on contraception who don’t have periods or a menstrual cycle as I describe it. So if that’s the case, am I excluding them from this discussion? And I guess in a way I am when I’m talking about the menstrual cycle the way I do. But perimenopause is about hormones changing, you know, so if you are perimenopausal, that’s still going to happen whether or not you take contraception. It’s just going to happen differently for you. But at the end of the day, everyone’s different and everyone’s unique. So if you take contraception, especially hormonal contraception, and you’re in your 40s or 50s and things are changing, I would still start tracking to understand your body and create your own blueprint. Because when it comes to contraceptives, you know, oh my god, this could be a whole course in itself. You know, what happens with your hormones depends on the contraceptive itself. So some contraceptives still allow for ovulation. So you may still feel this cyclical way of being, even if you don’t have the typical menstrual cycle that I mentioned. The main point is that taking contraceptives won’t stop perimenopause, you know, you might still have symptoms. Yes, contraceptives may hide them a little bit or change them slightly, but it’s still worth getting to know your body and what is actually going on. So I needed to get that out of the way.