Common Misconceptions About Our Sexual Health
MSB: Can you take some time to introduce yourself and the work you do to our readers?
DJW: My name is Dr. Jordin Wiggins, a Naturopathic Doctor that is changing the way we deliver, educate and talk about sexual health and pleasure. My work is primarily for people with vulvas. I achieve this in 2 ways. First, by delivering evolved health care at my medical practice, Health Over All in Fonthill Ontario, where I am an expert in hormone and mood imbalances, libido and biomarker testing. And secondly through the Pleasure Collective, an online coaching community for sexual health re-education and using pleasure not pills as the framework for optimal wellness.
MSB: What is one of your favorite moments you’ve experienced in this line of work?
DJW: When my patients tell me they have their first orgasm (or the first time they have multiple orgasms). Additionally, I love when my patients are able to successfully discontinue their pharmaceuticals and feel happier and more fulfilled than ever and, lastly, when my patients with PMS or endometriosis tell me “my period snuck up on me!”
MSB: What are some key sexual/reproductive care practices that you recommend to your clients in order for them to achieve these goals?
DJW: Examine your reproductive organs regularly (genitals and breasts). It is important to know what normal looks and feels like! For breasts, look for lumps or changes to the skin tone/colour. For a vulva, changes to the tissue such as spots, sores or bumps can help with earlier detection of an STI or conditions like lichen sclerosus.
Intimately knowing your genitalia is not only for early detection of disease, but for knowing yourself intimately. There is a huge percentage of people with vulvas that have never looked at them in the mirror!
Your vulva is normal! In fact, vaginal rejuvenation (surgical correction of the vagina) is becoming an increasingly popular cosmetic procedure worldwide.
MSB: It seems that there is a lack of knowledge when it comes to monitoring your own genital health. What are common misunderstandings or mistakes people seem to have in regards to this?
DJW: Thinking painful sex is normal (unless you want it to be) is definitely one. Several women suffer from vulvodynia, interstitial cystitis, endometriosis and pelvic floor dysfunction. There are usually underlying causes that contribute to these conditions which can be resolved–hormone imbalance, inflammation, psychosomatic.
Additionally, people believe that you can use an app to tell you when you are ovulating. Most apps use a statistical calculation to predict when you are ovulating, however this is not always accurate. If you are on oral contraceptives, you most likely are not ovulating (see below).
It would be more accurate to practice tracking basal body temperature and cervical mucus. For instance, using an app like Natural cycles is 98% effective when used properly to track temperature. Birth control is 99% effective but comes with a host of side effects (see below!)
Lastly, thinking that painful periods and PMS are a normal part of being on a monthly cycle is another common misconception. In my practice, I find postpartum depression is really just a hormone imbalance that can be treated naturally! It makes me sad to know that so many women out there are suffering and being prescribed antidepressants when they really just need their hormones balanced. I believe that birth control is a big threat facing reproductive health today.
Below is an educational resource on birth control written by Dr. Jordin Wiggins, sent to us to accompany this interview:
I am Dr. Jordin Wiggins, a Naturopathic doctor, author and sexual health evolver. I own and run a women’s health clinic in Ontario, Canada where I treat women every single day who have been told that there are no treatment options for them beyond painkillers, hormonal birth control and antidepressants. Women come to see me every day with endometriosis, PCOS, hormone imbalance, thyroid disease, autoimmune disorders, fertility issues and more because the options they have been given for treatment don’t work, cause more side-effects than their original symptoms or they’ve simply been told they just have to live with it because there is nothing that can be done.
I am changing women’s health care; the way women are educated about their bodies and their reproductive health and providing science-based treatment options that work.
There tends to be a divide in the medical community when it comes to women’s reproductive health, and particularly hot-button issue is hormonal birth control (the pill, the patch, IUDs, shots, rings). Where Western medicine pushes hormonal birth control as the only way to solve hormonal issues in young women (heavy/painful periods, acne) and prevent pregnancy, holistic practitioners tend to take a different approach.
I am advocating for women to be educated about hormonal birth control and trusted to make the decision about what is right for them, without pressure, guilt or shame in what they decide.
I meet young women every single day who were handed a prescription for the pill and walked out of their doctor’s office without any more information than to take it at the same time every day. I meet women who have been on the pill for 15 years and still don’t know what it is doing to their body or how it is going to affect them when they come off of it to get pregnant.
If you are on the pill, you ARE at a higher risk for:
Blood clot
Stroke
Heart attack
Thyroid disease
Anxiety
Depression
And, you may be at an even higher risk for some of these side effects if you smoke, suffer from migraines, have high blood pressure, have a history of stroke or blood clots, or are over the age of 35.
A couple of myths I would like to debunk about hormonal birth control:
Hormonal birth control does not “fix” the hormone imbalance causing/contributing to your painful/heavy periods, acne, PCOS and endometriosis, mood swings and other hormonal symptoms.
Hormonal birth control shuts down reproductive hormone production. It tells your brain to suppress the hormones you would normally need to prepare your body for contraception because you already have enough hormones and it doesn’t need to be made anymore. Ultimately, this could mean you see an improvement in the annoying hormonal symptoms you experience, but it is not because they are fixed, balanced or reset. It is only a short-term suppression of the hormones causing the symptoms, not treatment. And better treatment options for these do exist.
Technically, you are not getting a period when you are on hormonal birth control. It is called a withdrawal bleed.
When you take a week off (or take placebo pills) every 4 weeks on hormonal birth control, you aren’t getting a period. You are experiencing a withdrawal bleed. Your body is responding to the hormones that you have been taking for the last three weeks being cut off.
The pill does NOT protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Being on hormonal birth control does nothing to prevent the spread of STIs. In fact, some studies have shown that there is a correlation between people who use the pill and chlamydia. This may be because of the lack of education surrounding the pill and users therefore being less likely to also use contraception that does protect against STIs, like condoms.
Like anything, there are pros and cons to taking hormonal birth control. It is important that we discuss these and give women the space to choose how to care for their own reproductive health.
I want women to be educated about their own reproductive health, I want women to know that they are in charge of their own birth control choices, I want women to know that the risks and side effects of hormonal birth control exist and I want women to know that treatment options for hormonal imbalance exist beyond the pill.
