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The 10 Things No One Ever Tells You About Taking The Pill
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It’s super easy, very convenient, pretty darn effective, and it’s harmless – or at least that’s what your doctor will tell you about your birth control pill. But there are plenty of things that they don’t tell you about what that pill is doing besides preventing pregnancy. They never tell you that those tiny little pills do a real number on your self-confidence, behavior, and especially to your body.
Most women are routinely given a prescription for the pill for very little reason. Got acne? PMS? Irregular menstrual cycles? Don’t want to get pregnant right now? The answer for all of these issues is birth control pills. Doctors hand them out as if they were sugar pills instead of some serious prescription hormones.
In case you haven’t been told, birth control pills are synthetic hormones that tell your body you are pregnant already. These hormones override your body’s natural hormonal rhythm. This is not something anyone should want, except in extreme circumstances.
Want to know what else you probably aren’t being told about your birth control pill? Keep reading! We will fill you in on everything you have a right to know.
1. It Shrinks Your Clitoris
This is something your doctor will certainly never tell you! Synthetic hormones in birth control pills can shrink your clitoris by as much as 20 percent! You can think of this as prescription genital mutilation.
2. You Are Always “Pregnant”
As we mentioned, when you take birth control pills, your body constantly thinks that it’s pregnant. A woman’s natural cycle is made up of rising and falling levels of progesterone and estrogen. The pill keeps your hormones at a constant, artificially high level of hormones — tricking your body into thinking you are already pregnant so that pregnancy can’t occur. Birth control pills keep your hormones at three to four times higher than normal, even at your peak cycle.
3. They Don’t Address The Root Cause
For those of you who take the pill for reasons other than avoiding pregnancy, the pill is only masking your symptoms; it doesn’t actually address the underlying problem. Issues such as an irregular menstrual cycles, painful periods, acne, and sometimes even PMS are all indicators of an underlying health or nutrition problem that should be addressed, not covered up by artificially high levels of hormones. However, simply writing a prescription is much less work for your doctor.
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4. You Might Become Nutrient Deficient
Your body does not absorb nutrients properly when you are on the pill. Birth control pills put a heavy load on your liver, which must metabolize everything you put in your body, including the pill. This will greatly affect your body’s ability to absorb folic acid, thiamine, B2, B6, B12, vitamin C, and riboflavin. The pill also depletes your body of vital minerals including potassium, copper, zinc, selenium, and magnesium. Although it might take several years for deficiencies to become apparent, many small problems, such as feelings of anxiety, weight gain, irritability, skin problems, food cravings, and fatigue can all be linked back to the time you started taking the pill.
5. Infertility
Since the pill makes your body believe that it is permanently pregnant, it is not surprising that so many women who take the pill for years suddenly find they have problems becoming pregnant when they are ready to start a family. The pill changes the mucus production in your cervix, which, over time, can cause the cells that produce mucus to atrophy, or waste away, from lack of use. This ages the cervix and narrows the cervical canal, making it more difficult for sperm to travel to reach the egg. One 2004 study done in showed that the time it took women to become pregnant after using the pill was as much as three times longer than those who used condoms or other birth control methods.
6. Say Good-Bye To Your Libido
Birth control pills produce as much as seven times more of the sex hormone-binding globulin. This globulin is a protein that binds with testosterone and removes it from the body. As you might imagine, less testosterone means less interest in sex — and less fun in the bedroom. By leveling out your natural estradiol highs and inhibiting free testosterone, you create a double whammy of loss of interest when it comes to sex.
7. It Increases Your Risk Of All Kinds Of Disease
You might have read some warnings on the insert of your birth control pill, but most of you probably just throw them out. You should read these in full sometime because the statistics are scary. Birth control pills increase your risk of developing ovarian cancer, breast cancer, blood clots, stroke, heart attacks, weak bones (osteoporosis), and cervical cancer. Although these types of disease take a while to develop, they are much more common than you would think. If you are a long term pill user, ask your doctor about your risk.
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8. It Doubles Your Chances Of Depression
If you are one of the few women who take the time to read those inserts listing possible side effects and risk factors, then you probably read that depression is one possible side effect. What they don’t tell you is that birth control pills double your risk of becoming depressed. One study, conducted by a women’s mental health specialist, found that women who took the pill were 50 percent more likely to suffer from depression than those who tried other methods. Of one ongoing study of more than 23,000 women who were taking birth control pills, a full third of the participants in this study stopped taking the pill because of depression.
9. It’s The Most Common Drug In The World
It is estimated that there are more than 100 million women taking birth control pills, and perhaps as many as 300 million. Millions more use patches, implants, and injections that contain similar hormones and do the same thing. Young girls — some as young as 12 — are being given birth control pills! Why would doctors do such a thing? The answer is in our next point.
SEE ALSO: Top Reasons You Should Stop Taking Birth Control Pills Today
10. It’s A Billion Dollar Industry
Pharmaceutical companies in America make almost $3 billion every single year from the sale of birth control pills. This might explain why women are not being told the truth about the risks of taking birth control pills, and why the pill is being pushed on very young girls.
What other choices do you have?
Birth control pills have been pushed on women for so long that many women don’t even realize that they do have other choices.
- Condoms – A very affordable choice that have a very good success rate — as much as 98 percent when used properly.
- Barriers – This would include things like cervical caps and diaphragms, many of which can be used in advance to allow some spontaneity.
- The Rhythm Method – Since females can only get pregnant about six days out of the month, knowing your cycle and simply avoiding sex or using a condom during those days can make things easy. Believe it or not, this method has a 97 percent success rate and by using smart tools such as the “Leaf” necklace or “Lady Comp,” which track your ovulation for you, it is one of the best and easiest methods around.
- Spermicides – These sperm-killing creams are best used with condoms or other barrier methods.
- Sterilization – This is the best choice if you have already had several children, and you are certain that you will not want any more. This is very difficult and expensive to reverse, so this decision must be made carefully and only after great thought.
After reading this, you might feel like you have been lied to or “had” by your birth control pill. Speak with your doctor about your risk of using the pill and about trying other methods, like the ones above, which do not involve synthetic hormones.
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Betsy Riley
Dec 3, 2015 at 2:47 pm
You did not mention the Paraguard IUD, which works without hormones because it is made of copper. It lasts 5-10 years and was the best non-hormonal birth control option for me.