Menstruation

I was reading an article in Alive magazine (July 2008) called, "The Pill: Miraculous, advantageous, or perilous?" (p.62-64, by Cathy Carlson-Rink, ND, RM, a Langley practitioner). The article debated the merits of the pill. (Directly from the article,) OTOH, it offers effective contraception, protection against ovarian and uterine cancers, and has rapid reversibility (many women will return to ovulating very very soon after discontinuing the pill). The cons are that it can cause nutritional deficiencies (long-term use causes folate, other B vitamin, vit C, magnesium, and zinc deficiencies), it doesn't prevent HIV and STDs, it can have side effects, it can lead to estrogen in our water supplies (women on the pill excrete hormones into waste water - in other words, it doesn't break down), and of course, suppression of menstrual cycles. Now this last point was interesting (it wasn't news, of course, but this next part was).

"Women are cycling in a linear world. Is it any surprise then that the message in our culture is that our period is inconvenient - and unnecessary? An interesting study in the 1930s - well before the pill was introduced - found that during the first half of the menstrual cycles, women's energy was directed toward the outer world. During ovulation, women were receptive to being cared for and loved by others. During the premenstrual or postovulatory phase, women were more focused inwardly." Isn't that amazing? I had no idea that many women would find a pattern in their outlooks connected to their cycles - a change from being more extroverted to more introverted. It certainly explains so very much. My question is, if you're on the pill and it's suppressing your natural cycle, how are you going to be attuned to your body's natural rhythym? It seems we are suppressing more than "just" our menstrual cycles by taking hormonal contraception.