Birth Control Awareness: 5 Truths about Birth Control All Women Should Know
To be honest, birth control is a complicated topic to discuss. And for obvious reason.
For one, birth control is credited for giving women control over our bodies by empowering us to choose if and when we wish to have children. Kind of, if you can overlook the fertility challenges birth control contributes to when women stop after years of use.
Two, from an advertisement standpoint, birth control is perfectly positioned in the market because it's glorified for giving women continuous protection from pregnancy - especially when a woman's goal is to not get pregnant.
Despite this, there is another side of birth control use that needs to be discussed when women are being prescribed this drug for any reason.
Here's the bigger ISSUE...
In light of the obvious reason woman take birth control, to prevent pregnancy, its reported that over 60 percent of women use birth control for noncontraceptive reasons such as: having a painful or irregular period, heavy menstrual bleeding, for fibroids, endometriosis and ovarian cyst, for PCOS, hormonal acne and unwanted hair growth.
This means that more women are on birth control to mask reproductive health issues than they are for preventing pregnancy. If you ask me, that's too many women prescribed birth control for “band-aid” solutions to their reproductive health issues, with little to no investigation into their root cause.
This raises a huge red flag as to how women are being treated by health care professionals.
And to make matters worse, most women using it have no idea how birth control negatively affects our bodies and health. This includes the pill, the patch, the ring, the implant, the IUD, and the shot.
In my efforts to continue raising awareness, in this article I'll speak about five ways birth control impacts women's body.
1. Hormonal birth control is responsible for vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Hormonal birth control puts women at a higher risk of developing multiple nutrient defiencies. Some of the vitamins and minerals birth control has proven to deplete are folate (B9), vitamin B6 and B12, zinc, selenium, phosorous, magnesium and coenzyme 10.
And, as if these nutrient depletions weren't already enough, a woman's nutritional requirements for vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin E increases significantly when taking birth control.
This is why I recommend that women supplement with a quality multivitamin while on birth control to help mitigate the steady stream of nutrient depletion. You can purchase my all natural herbal Women's Multivitamin.
Resources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23852908/
2. Hormonal birth control can contribute to the development of cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified certain forms of birth control as group one carcinogens due to a clear link between hormonal birth control and cancers.
Long-term use of hormonal birth control has been associated with an increased risk of women developing cervical, ovarian, breast, lung or liver cancer. Part of the reason why is due to the many nutrient deficiencies I just spoke about.
And hello! Nutrient deficits sure as hell cause dis-ease in the body.
And, the longer a woman uses birth control, the more proficient these deficiencies can become. Also it's vital to know that healthy levels of these vitamin and mineral levels are inextricably linked to the health of your cervix, ovaries, breast, lungs and liver.
Resources: https://www.ceu.ox.ac.uk/news/any-type-of-hormonal-contraceptive-may-increase-risk-of-breast-cancer
3. Hormonal birth control promotes a thin endometrium lining.
Most forms of hormonal birth control prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation. And because of the sessation of ovulation, a woman's endometrial lining never gets the chance to fully develop.
Why? Because the hormones responsible for building the uterine lining is suppressed. So the result is a very thin, flat endometrium.
Without a sufficiently thick and juicy endometrial lining women are much less likely to get pregnant. From a physiological persepctive, pregnancy can only happen when a woman's endometrial lining has fully developed. This is how birth control interferes with a woman's ability to conceive.
In a study designed to measure how endometrial thickness impacts conception rates, the researchers found that women with endometrial thickness of less than 7mm were unble to conceive. Other studies have shown that an endometrial lining of 10mm or thicker is optimal for achieving pregnancy.
Resources : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22825095/ , academic.oup.com/humrep/article/38/2/237/6883972
4. Hormonal birth control can cause anxiety and depression.
The use of hormonal birth control has also been linked to an increased risk of women developing anxiety and depression. Research shows that women on birth control are 23 to 80 percent more likely to be prescribed antidepressant.
Yes, birth control can and often will interfere with a woman's ability to respond appropiately to stress.
The sad truth is that teenage girls, in particular, are more vulnerable. One study found that adolescent girls ages 15 to 19 were 2 to 3 times more likely to be on antidepressants while on hormonal birth control compared to non-users.
The reason why is because they impair your body's ability to metabolize tryptophin normally by depleting vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 and tryptophin (an essential amino acid) are both responsible for serotonin production - a neurotransmitter that contributes to feelings of happiness and well-being.
Resources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9218393/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9842494/
5. Hormonal birth control messes with your libido.
There are a few reasons why birth control can decrease a woman's sex drive and libido; the main one being the way it affects testerone levels. Although women produce 90 percent less testerone than men we depend on the small amount we produce for healthy sexual reproductive function.
Testerone plays an important role in our sexual desire, interest in sex, lubrication, and sexual gratification. When women experience low testorone levels, we're more likely to experience low libido, vaginal dryness, and a lack of sexual desire.
Hormonal birth control have been shown to lower free testerone by an average of 61 percent in women by suppressing ovarian and adrenal testerone production and increasing sex hormone-binding (SHGB) levels. When SHGB is released in the body it binds to circulating sex hormones in your bloodstream, and when hormones are bound they're not available for your body to use. The result is lower hormone levels, and in this case testerone.
In Summary...
Birth control without-a-doubt can cause negative effects in the body of women. Be diligent and please do your own research. Nutrient deficiencies, cancers, thin uterine lining, mood disorders like anxiety and depression, and low sex drive are all real risk factors of taking birth control.
The bigger issue, as I pointed out earlier in the article, is that more than half the women taking birth control are prescribed the drug for reasons other than to prevent pregnancy.
For me this raises a red flag as to how women are being treated by health care professionals.
To heal your period naturally, shop the Period Health tab to purchase your herbal supplements to help address your period problems and underlying hormone imbalance. These are natural, safe and effective herbal therapies.
Birth control by far remains one of the most overprescribed and unregulated drugs for women, and this has to change.
Love and health,
- Shavonne