Hi, everybody! This is a recording of a talk I gave at the Team Vasculitis event last spring - I was 34 weeks pregnant and totally out of breath if you can't tell! I go into how I made my body feel like it was in a ~state of abundance~ so it would prioritize fertility. If you liked the show, please leave a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts so other people can listen and get some value out of it as well. If you'd like to support the show, feel free to check out my affiliate links below to purchase any of the products I have listed if you're already in the market for them - I receive a small kickback and it comes at no extra cost to you (and often gives you a discount!). 

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Here are some references for the things I discussed in today's episode:

Birth Control as a Carcinogen:

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html

^ Look under "E"

https://publications.iarc.fr/109

https://publications.iarc.fr/90

https://publications.iarc.fr/118

“The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a division of the World Health Organization, has listed the components of a  contraceptive pill – synthetic progesterone and synthetic estrogen, as  Class 1 carcinogens. This is the highest classification of carcinogenicity, used only  “when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.” –  source: IARC Monographs volumes 72, 91, and 100A.

That last one also discusses cyclophosphamide, which is the drug I took for two years to initially get the Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (also known as Wegener's Granulomatosis) as well as the one I've been on for years - Azathioprine. I'm going to do an episode on my experience with cancer soon and how I'm trying to reduce my risk factors. 

Men's Testosterone Dropping Steadily:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17062768/

"Conclusions:  These results indicate that recent years have seen a substantial,  and as yet unrecognized, age-independent population-level decrease in T  in American men, potentially attributable to birth cohort differences or to health or environmental effects not captured in observed data."