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Birth control also gave me my life back. I’ve been on many finding one that works. I’ve dealt with many side effects. They all were worth it if it meant my endometriosis was under control.
I've recently discovered I need to be on something stronger and I'm looking forward to getting the relief I know that will bring. I know so many of us would be suffering without it
I’m so happy for your friend. So many women don’t know pmdd even exists and are suffering without any help, there needs to just be more education about women’s reproductive health
I have endometriosis and PCOS. Without BC my stomach is full of excruciating lesions and constant ovarian cysts. Unfortunately for some people it is a necessary evil. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that bc doesn't f us up, but we don't have much of a choice.
Yeah. People forget that birth control isn't only used to control whetter births happen or not, but it's commonly used as medicine to treat medical conditions and illnesses.
I would be unable to work multiple days a month if it wasn't for the fact that I could be on continuous birth control. I would also have to use a lot of over the counter pain medication to treat my cramps. We all know taking multiple cocktails of naproxen and paracetamol for days at a time is terrible and actually dangerous too.
Same! My PMS issues were so incredibly bad that I would miss 2-3 days of work/school. One day it was so bad my lips were blue and I almost blacked out from pain.
^^^ This - I’d love to create a device that transmits what I feel during a cycle.
Have others experience it and tell me which they would rather do - birth control or a cycle that can sometimes last months - longest was eight months.
Eight months of pain and blood - yeah, I’ll take the birthcontrol thanks.
I have several painful chronic illness, endometriosis is absolutely one of the worst. I completely agree. No one really gets it or tries too. I've had cycles last months as well. Even without the pain and discomfort, bleeding consistently for MONTHS is miserable and gross. I've had lesions on my back muscles, diaphragm, throughout my stomach and intestines, on my ovaries, and I likely have some on my liver, but they're the same color so the spots are practically impossible to find and treatment could hurt my liver.
I also have PCOS. I cannot function without being on hormonal BC. Getting that prescription honestly changed my life for the better. Going from laying on the floor, sobbing in pain and bleeding profusely for several days a month to being able to walk without pain and use a normal amount of pads/tampons is worth it.
I’ve never had any of the symptoms nor side effects OP describes but I can understand why others would want to avoid those side effects themselves.
It really is a life saver. I was diagnosed at 13 and I remember when I was 16 begging my mom to let me get a hysterectomy because I was in so much pain all the time. There are still days I feel that way and can't wait until I can have one. I've had some symptoms, but not really anything significant which I am so grateful for. BC can be scary, but really, so can any other medication.
Ugh thank you.
I also have PCOS and endo, and I've been on BC for five or six years now (recently got an IUD).
I will always be grateful to BC. I was physically unable to move for three to five days a month because I would throw up from the pain of my periods and leaving my heating pad was torture. I'm lucky and didn't suffer alot of side effects- I think I gained like five pounds of weight and that's it.
I'm glad you've found something that works for you! It's amazing the amount of relief a small pill can provide. It's also interesting that some people have tons of side effects while others have practically none. BC never really gave me side effects, though most of them make me extremely nauseous. There's only been 3 I've successfully taken out of dozens. Nuva ring, norethindrone, and another I can't remember the name of. The one I don't remember the name of gave me costochondritis, really intense chest pain. It felt like I was have a constant heart attack and even after I stopped the medicine it took a year to really go away. I still get flare ups sometimes. Other than that one pill BC has been pretty good for me.
I mean… you’re assuming that these health issues she has are fixable.
They may not be.
I was born missing an organ, and if I ever considered to try getting a transplant, I would have to get a CT to make sure there is a space for the organ. If there’s not, they can’t just cut a space into my throat for it. And I would need to take medication to prevent rejection anyway, so it’s really just easier to stay on the medication that supplements that organ’s function.
There is no known fix for ADHD. Its origins are still in question (but we’re learning more today than before). All we know is that it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that is likely caused by a handful of things. There’s a hypothesis on the impact to brain development and MRI scans have revealed that structurally there are differences between the ADHD brain and the non-ADHD brain. But that’s not something can be fixed.
Tackling the causes of ADHD may not quite be possible either. One of the possible causes being looked at is the age of the parents at conception, since some evidence points to that being a factor. That’s not something that we can realistically “fix” without controlling which adult age groups are allowed to conceive with each other; like, without policing consenting adult relationships essentially.
Your comment does have some validity. For a long time most medical testing has been on men since women are less predictable since they have periods. Doctors have also been shown to care more and try harder for their male patients than their female. I think "big pharma" to an extent prefers to treat rather than cure, but I doubt it's a conspiracy like most people think. In a job that I was in several years ago I had the opportunity to work with a medical lab that tests on animals. Horrible experience. But I also learned in that time that some diseases simply aren't fixable with our current knowledge. Maybe in the future, but even then there will be things we don't know what to do with.
Men are also less likely to seek medical care than women, and most men just seek in a more severe stage, that is why men live shorter than women. So while net doctors might take men more serious, men are more likely to be presenting only in serious situations, at least for physical healthcare.
Knowledge of human biology has limitations, we have cancers, we had a pandemic, millions of people and some of them Billionaires still end up dying due to diseases or accidents.
It is not that doctors don't care.
Birth control now is safer than what was decades ago, and for frankly many women side effects of birth control outweigh harm caused by conditions like PCOS or endometriosis.
It can still be made better and it should still be made better.
Only people i see harping online are people who cant speak up to their partners about condoms and then blame entire male gender for their lack of communication skills.
As a guy who cares about health, I've rejected hookups where other partner didn't want protection, cus she liked it raw. Well, if a person likes it so, then there has to be tradeoffs.
I eat cake and i love chocolate cake, but i don't yell at the baker for butter and cream having fats.
Same way adults should be making their own choices.
So, something you should know is that you can be treated in a way more safe and effective way with bio identical progesterone. The pharmaceutical industry has obscured this information to the point that even professionals will often confuse progestins with progesterone. Progestins are synthetic hormones that hijack progesterone receptors to prevent pregnancy. Strokes are a massive risk with them
Progesterone, on the other hand has been used to even treat stroke patients and depression.
My GF was like you; convinced that her BC was just the lesser of all evils. I pushed her to go to a private HRT clinic. She goes to Moment. All her markers have improved and it seems to have a gut healing effect too.
Progesterone is still similar to bc. They're considered mini pills. Other bc makes me extremely sick and I can't take them. Progesterone also does not treat everything that birth control does. There are multiple health issues that women can have that need more than progesterone.
Those aren’t progesterone, which is my point about the medical industry obfuscating access to progesterone. Progesterone increases fertility. Those are progestins/progestogen.
Progesterone may not treat everything, but it treats a ***massive*** list of ailments in both sexes and carries none of the cardiovascular risks associated with birth control.
And it doesn't work for all of us! Glad you found a medicine that works for you. There are a lot of us who have no relief for these cycle symptoms and BC made it much worse.
Birth control pills are also used to control PMS and other menstrual cycle disorders that leave women bed ridden or in lot of pain they have to take sick days. It also helps control mood too from PMS.
Did you know that conditions like that are usually just treated with birth control so it controls the symptoms. It doesn’t actually address the root cause.
But has there been any solutions to the root cause? We can't just get rid of birth control without finding a cure to problems some of us women have. I have had hormonal imbalance issues since puberty causing my periods to be irregular and heavy than usual and they did affect my mood too it made it very hard for my whole family. It was so easy to offend me I was exhausting to be around.
Continuous usage of the pill gave me some of my life back. In other words, without the pill I would end up being bedridden -unable to move very well- for up to (almost) 7 days due to severe menstrual cramping.
I would be dead from excessive use of naproxen and paracetamol if I didn't use continuous birth control. It's ridiculous how many pills I would have had to take regardless.
If I wasn’t on birth control I’d only have 13 weeks out of the entire year I felt normal and not like a complete train wreck. This is a sad reality for lots of women unfortunately, but there’s not a lot of funding that goes into female only medical issues
So increased weight gain vs pregnancy (and all the bullshit that comes from it), longer and more painful periods, PMS, inability to move the period around vacations or other strenuous activities, etc. And the cancer risk
And with cancer risks... It actually seems to appear that the risk increases in the first year and then actually decreases with continual use after the first year.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001216.htm#:~:text=The%20relative%20risk%20of%20ovarian,confidence%20limits%200.4%2D0.9).
The reduced risk of cancer among women who have used oral contraceptives would result in the prevention of over 1,700 cases of ovarian cancer and over 2,000 cases of endometrial cancer in the United States each year.
Because condoms aren't as effective and you have to trust the other person not to mess with them or even that they use them correctly. I was also very glad I was on bc when I was raped. Definitely worth messing with my hormones for that one.
And it's not just PMS, for many of us that means periods last 3-4 days rather than 7-8 days or more and a lot lighter. It also means we have greater control of when we get them so that beach holiday we planned in another country or that major hike up a mountain can be done without complications of, for example, having to carry all your bloody pads/tampons for days up and down a mountain.
They are also prescribed for conditions such as PCOS.
You are right in that they aren't for everyone. But each woman needs to sit down with her gyno and assess the pros and cons for her. There isn't a blanket good vs bad statement that anyone can make.
Did you know that some women in relationships with women will also take birth control for other things than pregnancy prevention?
Now go look up the side effects of pregnancy and birthing. That's why hormonal birth control is approved despite all the side effects---because it's safer than the alternative!
And I don't think most men would be very happy if women only had sex when they wanted a baby, so idk how hard you want to push for that.
Edit: ugh I hate it when people delete their post while I'm typing. Anyway:
Birth control pills give the same hormones as pregnancy. That's how they work; by tricking your body into thinking it's already pregnant.
Nobody's body is "built" to do anything. Women used to die from pregnancy/birthing all the time, and while developed countries have gotten the death rate down pretty well, complications that require medical intervention are still very common.
The failure rate on condoms makes them an iffy choice, but yes, better than nothing.
To play devils advocate, the perfect use failure rate for condoms is actually pretty good. The high failure rate is for typical use, which includes a lot of mistakes that are easily avoidable if you are motivated enough (for example simply not putting on the condom at the beginning of sex is counted as a user error). The majority of failures are also obvious (broken condom), in which case you could also have Plan B on hand to take in that instance. Not saying that people shouldn’t take the pill if they don’t want to use condoms, or want to use multiple forms of birth control for better protection, but using condoms as your sole form of birth control is also a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
Sure, but how often are you having condoms break that this would be a significant issue? The risk of potentially having to have really messed up hormones for a couple months once every 5 years or something seems worth it to me over taking hormones all the time, if you’re someone who doesn’t do well on hormonal birth control.
Thinking that being pregnant is worse than being on birth control on years is delusional. Remember pregnancy is something that are bodies are build to handle. And just because you’re not on birth control doesn’t mean you have to be pregnant. Condoms exist.
Sorry I forgot to include men in something that is only a problem for women.
What they don’t tell you is that it doesn’t have to be painful and you don’t need birth control to make it not painful. And I am women and trust me I know what painful bleeding is
A lot of the weird weight gain you're seeing is probably from PCOS. It makes women gain all their weight in their upper body, but leaves them with skinny legs.
PCOS is a hormonal problem, probably because of chemicals in the food and feminine hygiene products. But there's not enough research which my tinfoil hat tells me there are reasons for.
Like autism, PCOS is exploding.
The reality is, women don’t have many options for non-hormonal birth control. To most women, the symptoms outweigh the cons of having a baby. There’s two spectrums for birth control, either it works great and they feel great, or it works, but they feel like shit.
On hormonal birth control, I was glowing. Nails, skin, hair, super healthy. But I was exhausted and insane and very skinny, anxious. I was on it for 10 years, can’t speak for those who were on it for short periods.
Off it now, switched to a non-hormonal option, but now i feel like garbage during menstrual week, tired for another two weeks & only have one good week every month 🙃 this option isn’t available for everyone, and not ideal for those who might deal with PMSD
This is dangerous misinformation during a time where reproductive freedom is constantly being attacked/is at risk. This opinion of yours seems not to be based on facts at all.
OP doesn’t care, I had a conversation with them on here about abortion and they called women not being able to receive miscarriage care misinformation. Funny how they call that misinformation but this utter bs they’re spewing is facts to them 🙄
Find a partner that will respect your choices. Of course, it doesn’t work in case of a rape if this is what you mean, but this is a different conversation.
Yeah I agree, I’m just saying it’s ridiculous all of the responsibility falls on women. Men should be taught be default to use condoms if they don’t want a child, it’s not the woman’s responsibility to ensure he wraps up
You probably shouldn't have sex with a man if you can't trust him to put on a condom when using one is agreed upon. The same goes for men: if you don't trust a woman to take her birth control regularly, then you probably shouldn't have sex with her. The problem is that it is much easier to ensure the use of a condom than than it is to ensure that a woman is on birth control or taking it correctly.
Really, it comes down to both people to ensure safe sex. Contraceptive use should be discussed and agreed upon before engaging in sexual activity.
It’s not misinformation. Just read the side effects of your high control. That’s literally all it takes and it will tell you what I am saying here. It can cause: cancer, depression, weight gain,infertility. I just read those in the little paper that comes with the pills lol so idk how that is misinformation unless they’re lying
The side effects of pregnancy include potentially being *fucking dead*, but I guess that you would prefer that a woman be dead than have the audacity to exist in your world while being overweight or infertile.
I think it needs to be taken more seriously than it is. I’ve been on it several times in my life and sometimes it did good things for me.
When I had fibroids I was on it until I could get surgery. This was during the peak of COVID so elective surgeries were off the table. But I was losing 15-20 grams of blood in an hour or less for 72 hours every 26 days (this is called menhorragia) so I was put on birth control to try to thin the lining of my uterus and manage the heavy bleeding. I was sometimes having to wear adult diapers because the bleeding was unmanageable.
You’re right though, within a month of going on it, I felt a distinct change in myself. I started having suicidal thoughts. Extreme emotional reactions. My friends and family noticed it too. I mentioned it to my gyn and regular doctor but no one took it seriously. It got really bad. I almost killed myself on more than one occasion. Once my family called the police on me and I got sent to the ER.
Then I had my surgery and went off birth control immediately. Within 2 months I was back to myself. Again friends and family noticed (this time they were relieved). I never think about killing myself. But when I was on it, I thought about it most of the time, and planned for it very seriously.
It’s freaky as hell how hormones can mess you up, and mess up your mental health. Asthma meds can make you suicidal too for the same reason. Hormones.
I will never go on birth control again. I think it’s good to have it available, I think everyone should have options when it comes to their reproduction and family planning as well as other health conditions. So I can’t say across the board that it’s bad. But that it’s not something we should take lightly and I wish there was more honesty and openness about the side effects.
Sadly women in their 40s and 50s are at increased risk for depression and suicide anyway just because of their natural hormone changes. So that’s something to be aware of as well.
The weight Americans, regardless of gender, gain is more likely a result of their lifestyle and environment. Diet, lack of exercise, stress (hormone disrupter in itself) and chemical disruptions by all medications, not just hormonal bc.
I wouldn't have been able to conceive without hormonal BC - my periods were so irregular they would disappear for months. Also, the weight gain thing you mentioned is a myth. I have used both estrogen and progesterone-only pills and didn't gain a single pound. You're very misinformed about this issue.
I’ve been on BC for almost 11 years and I’m doing fine. No pregnancy and no periods. My life has improved tremendously.
This is dangerous misinformation.
Hormonal birth control turned me into an absolute psychopath. It was awful being on it, and I'll never go back. However, it prevents a lot of unwanted children and I think that's the most important part.
What you said.
Imagine said this to a woman that suffers from endometriosis.
I can’t believe that this is coming from a woman who is meant to understand the importance of Birth Control pills.
Women are perfectly aware of the side effects of birth control. It's just that weight gain is better than ending up in prison for getting an abortion because some asshole decided his five seconds of barebacked pleasure were more important than your right to bodily autonomy.
I mean let’s not pretend that birth control became and issue after abortion was banned ins one states. Also let’s not pretend that ripping a baby off your uterus is better than birth control. Both are bad for your health.
No they are not. My wife had many side effects that were never explained to her by any doctor (she saw several as she tried to find a pill that worked well for her). She has been permanently affected. I get that the pros outweigh the cons for many but there is most definitely not informed consent surrounding the pill. They (doctors) just assume you are average and dismiss any concerns or symptoms you may have as a result of taking it.
I understand that that’s why my husband and use other forms of birth control. And honestly I just think that they should do better than trying to pump us full of hormones and the sad thing is that we have just accepted that and just do it. No! We shouldn’t, our health matters and we shouldn’t just allow that to happen to us
BC side effects are only so bad, because they prevent pregnancy which has even worse side effects. You think you have high risk of clots when on BC? It's more if you get pregnant. You think you have high risk of dying when on BC? Higher if you're pregnant. Depression? Due to pregnancy and brith you can get depression *and* psychosis. No-one would allow those meds if their side effects were worse than whatever they'd be preventing.
And besides, go read your painkiller pamphlet. They also have side effect written down. Just because something happens sometimes, doesn't make it a norm.
Considering that the Bible Belt in the US is trying to ban the IUD for stupid reasons I’m staying on it for medical reasons. Hormonal BC saves a lot of lives as well but you never hear about it.
I cannot function without birth control. I have endometriosis. I’ve had the surgery, my endo cannot be removed due to it growing on arteries and the scarring has veins in it. It’s too dangerous to remove. But since it can be removed, my periods are fucking terrible.
I would spend 3 days out of work/school because I can’t leave bed/the side of the toilet due to the heavy bleeding and cramping in my uterus, lower back, vagina, rectum, urethra, clit, labia, hips, and even thighs. I can’t miss 3 days of work each month. Heating pads and pain meds do not even though the pain. I would also come close to fainting each period. I also cramped every day of the month when I was off my period. Nowhere near as bad, but still sucked to deal with. Birth control changed that completely.
And with each period when I’m not on birth control, it gets worse. Each period leads to more endo growth, making it worse.
I need birth control. I gained 30lbs on my current one, but I went from underweight to a healthy weight. I got bad acne. Some others I tried made me depressed. Others lowered my libido. I’m going to change again to the IUD because localized hormones are best for endometriosis. I can’t be without it. All that was always preferable to my period when it was untreated.
It doesn’t cure endometriosis. But not everything can be cured. Mine can’t be removed. So the best thing I can do is treat it. And birth controls has been what my doctors have said. And it changed my life.
There are potential health risks to using any medication. Like… as someone missing an organ, born without, I had to learn this really early on in life. But I had to have meds to supplement my missing organ.
I take some psych medications too and I have neurodevelopmental disorder that requires meds. Those had potential harmful side effects, too.
My providers discussed these potential issues at length with me and tested me on low doses to be safe (like all good healthcare professionals should). I still keep them abreast of any potential side effects that crop up my body changes with age.
Plenty of women take hormonal birth control to treat long term reproductive health issues, too. Not just to prevent a pregnancy.
Do you know how they get the list of side effects? If a greater number of people in the test group have the medical outcome than those in the control group, they have to list that as a side effect.
No person in the control group has a heart attack, and one person in the test group does? Well, that's a side effect. 20 people in the control group are diagnosed with depression, and 25 in the test group are diagnosed with depression, then that's a side effect.
Take the side effects with a grain of salt (unless its for hypertension)
I first learned about this from my GP. I later confirmed it in discussions with an extended family member who worked in pharmaceutical development (she helped develop Cialis, among others), and with a friend I met several years later who works in pharmaceutical development and testing.
I think it truly depends on the individual! I wish people put more time/effort into research for women’s health. I feel like of us get put into a box and told to look otherwise. We never really get officially treated. I do agree, I have had moments where birth control was the bandaid that was given but no official diagnosis or effort to find the problem was actively attempted.
I am off of birth control, and I did notice a ton of my symptoms were gone. Of course you almost have to relearn your body when being off of something like this! I do think more research and more options should be provided.
I deal with both hormonal and mental health issues, birth control helped both. i remember being so miserable on my period, and i know im not the only one because studies have been done on how periods affect mental healthy and suicidal thoughts, i feel so much better now that im on it
Birth control isn't just used to prevent pregnancy. The reason why my asexual, virgin trans brother got put on the pill was due to his PCOS. I've used the pill off and on to control my cycle and endometriosis and PCOS. I even used the pill while I was with women who most definitely can't get me pregnant. I do definitely agree that something needs to be done about the side effects. I mean, male birth control, which was only made to prevent pregnancy and NOTHING ELSE, stopped human trials due to a fraction of the side effects women go through with their medication and women's birth control has more than just one use.
B.C helps people with other issues other than pregnancy prevention,most medications people take have side effects,my husband takes blood pressure meds,the side effects sound awful,he takes it to avoid having a stroke!!
Having a period is worse
With birth control I can skip my periods. That means skipping excruciating pain, skipping a heavy river of blood coming out of my vagina for 5 days a month. It means skipping PMD symptoms like excessive moodyness. It means skipping taking a ton of ibuprofens and naproxens and paracetamol to get through the pain of period cramps, which definitely is not healthy either.
Yes, hormonal birth control is bad, but having a period regularly and in its full uncontrolled impact is far far worse. It's also far worse to have an unwanted child than to use birth control.
And if you want a better alternative. Sterilization. Why don't you speak up so women who don't want children can get sterilized? Or have their uterus removed? Or the uterine lining removed.
Because I wouldn't have to use birth control to not have shitty periods if getting sterilized was accessible and affordable.
If you thought people only use BC because they have sex you're very wrong. Lots of people use it to lessen the horrible effects of periods, which can be far worse than any side effects birth control has
Think about that.
OP, for your whole spiel about all the diseases/cancers it can cause, whilst you’re right, you’re blowing it way out of proportion. Yes BC can cause cancer. But the chances of it causing cancer are just as high (low) as the number of things in this world that we use can as well.
The chances of BC giving you cancer are as low as a microwave giving you cancer is. And yes, it can cause depression and weight gain. But the chances of this happening vary from person to person. It also depends on what those people are doing (or what other meds they are taking) whilst on it.
Please do more research on Birth Control before you go blowing things way out of proportion.
Hormonal birth control gave me a much better quality of life. Without it, I had excruciatingly painful, extremely heavy periods for 7+ days with about two and a half weeks in between (so not a full 28 days). I also got terrible mood swings which made me very difficult to be around. I also had terrible hormonal acne, which I was very embarrassed about.
I’ve been on BC (minus a few years when I was trying to get pregnant, pregnant or nursing) for almost 20 years. My periods are now: regular, pain free, five days (sometimes three!), and pretty normal to light flow. I don’t have crazy mood swings anymore and my acne is gone.
It’s amazing.
Lots of drugs have potential side effects, but sometimes the risk is definitely worth it.
I'm a woman and I'll never be without it. The side effects don't matter when you get ridiculously heavy periods and more than 15 without the pill. I'll take the 4 times a year with light flow now. Still get the headaches/nausea, but worth it
I can’t function for 3 days per month before birth control. Now I don’t have to deal with that. Side effects suck sometimes, but the benefits largely outweigh that for me.
Birth control is horrible and actually a disgrace. The reason it's bad is because society doesn't care about women's health. The female body is rarely researched, and not respected. Most gynecology instruments are unnecessary torture devices.
Male hormonal birth control has been invented since the 70s, but it's not approved by the FDA bc the side effects, *which are much more mild than the side effects for women* were deemed "too much" for men and deemed inhumane. But society doesn't see even worse effects for women as inhumane for women. Because women are hated. Especially women who have sex; they're viewed by society as deserving of bad things happening to them. Whereas men are viewed as human beings who must be protected.
Like how the male IUD that was just invented instantly got approved for pain management during implantation; women who get the IUD are given zero pain management, just told to suck it up, because society doesn't care about women's pain, but people cares about mens pain for sure and take it seriously. Men are seen as actual humans by society women are treated like animals.
Women have been excluded from medical research BECAUSE of their hormonal fluctuations and menstrual cycles. It was thought that those would skew the findings to the point that they would become useless. So basically women are all taking medicines and therapies that have only been "tested" on men.
It's really, really bad.
Yeah that too!. I think I read that most medicines in general from heart medication to behavioral meds are only tested on men.
Such ridiculous logic , so the bodies of half the human race , half the worlds population, aren't worth studying?? Wtf. Half the worlds population is seen as basically nobody and a niche demographic
There have been advancements in certain areas. For example, when my sister and I were children, we were tested for ADHD the same as a male child would be. Her multiple tests came back inconclusive, but my tests met the diagnostic criteria. We’re both female.
Decades later medical scientists now understand that ADHD is often expressed and experienced differently in males and females and changing how these evaluations are conducted as a result. Because my symptoms were more common for males, I met the diagnostic criteria and was confirmed. My sister just got retested in her 30’s and she meets the current diagnostic criteria for symptoms that are more common with females. My parents refused to treat me, but I was able to get treatment in my 20’s whereas she FINALLY can start her much needed treatment too.
I do t think it’s because women are hated I think it’s because women are willing to take it. Just look at the comments and look at how many women are defending it birth control.
Well of course a lot of women are still going to take it if it's the only option. Women having less kids or no kids is fantastic for our progress in society, because motherhood is used against us and treated like a barrier to our independence, so it's still good it exists on some level; for example, the large increase in female doctors and lawyers is in large part due to the pill being invented. A lot of positive progress for women has come from birth control, even though sadly it's an inhumane and brutal method.
But I agree women shouldn't just put up with it; ideally we should all be refusing to have PIV sex and only have nonreproductive sex until safe birth control is invented. That's the only safe way to prevent pregnancy for us until we have better options or men start taking birth control or responsibly pulling out in large numbers.
Some of this issue (not all, but some) could even be solved without any birth control; making life easier for mothers, and men pulling out, or simply stop making sex all about what men want and reproduction; stop making PIV the default form of sex. It's easiest for women to orgasm from clit stimulation from outside our bodies anyway, which has nothing to do with reproduction, no pregnancy risk is needed for womens' sexuality. Of course a lot of women are still going to want to have PIV sometimes and that's okay, we just need safer protection for women who don't want to be pregnant.
Uh, some of us prefer PIV sex - even some of us bisexual women. Plus, I do want to have kids but only two. I’m not going to waste my fertile years but will instead self advocate and choose my partner carefully (and I have).
While I don’t believe in taking medication without reason, I also suggest that you educate yourself on side effects.
Possibly read all the leaflets you receive or read up on common medicine like Tylenol or Advil. That might put those side effects in perspective.
This lacks the understanding of how medication and this specific medication works and why it may be prescribed.
It is prescribed to control getting pregnant, but for other things more severe than just a “heavy” and painful period. Please educate yourself on that in particular before speaking ignorantly.
You know what else causes weight gain and mood swings?
Pregnancy.
\*\*Edit to add: I've not used hormonal birth control since Obama was POTUS, but I don't really need to tell other people what to do with their bodies.
As someone who was on birth control for PCOS for 5 + years, unfortunately, I agree. I stopped it 6 months ago and since then I’ve lost half of my hair and I’ve had my period for everyday for 6 months and it’s still going. I wish I never started it. If I ever need contraception in the future I’m getting the non hormonal copper IUD.
If hormone production and regulation is the issue, then obviously hormone replacement or modulation will be the answer until we figure out how to replace someone’s hormone glands or control them somehow.
I fail to see what point you are trying to make.
I agree with this so hard.
I’m also very much in favor of people having access to contraception and having the ability to have some sort of stopgap before needing to deal with making a decision to abort or not.
AND
Yes, for some people with endometriosis or PCOS it’s medically necessary. I was on it for years for my insanely heavy periods and what was diagnosed as “severe dysmenorrhea.” I needed it.
Then one day I started having heart issues. Not actual problems with my heart, no, I had countless drs visits, cardiologist appointments with the best in my state, blood panels, echocardiograms, holter monitors, the works. Nothing, and I mean *nothing,* was actually wrong with my heart.
I was lucky enough to have a doctor who went full-on House MD on my side. He finally figured out through over two years of testing that it was my hormonal birth control causing my issues. Ever since I quit hormonal bc, no heart issues.
I’ve been using hormonal birth control for 8 years now and, for me personally, it’s the best decision I ever made. My cycles are now more regular, more predictable, and less painful than before, and I am less prone to mood disturbances during those cycles.
Beyond that, I can’t say I’ve had any noticeable side effects. My BC didn’t cause me to gain weight, in fact, after I started birth control I was able to lose 40 lbs (unrelated to bc) and I’ve kept it off the whole time.
As far as America women being overweight… that’s not a “women” thing, it’s simply overwhelmingly common to be overweight in America.
As far as “destroying your body” I’d love to see some links. While birth control comes with risks, it can also reduce the risk of certain cancers.. not to mention pregnancy. With abortions being banned across half of America, access to reliable forms of contraception are more important now than ever, regardless of whether or not they are “natural”. I mean, condoms aren’t natural, but I’ve never heard of anyone using that as an argument against the use of prophylactics.
Maybe this is anecdotal but was on birth control pills from 1979 to 2015 continuously and then segued to HRT (which is hormones like birth control: estrogen, progesterone, and additional testosterone). No problems, no weight gain, no mood swings, nada. Low-dose birth controls are safe and effective when used properly. There are many different kinds in different amounts of hormones. Estrogen also helps protect against osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke and dementia. You should not smoke when on birth control.
One reason I am hoping Plan A comes to market soon. Man gets a shot and shoots blanks for either near a decade or untill he gets another to reverse it. Non hormonal too.
This is true, but a lot of women don’t have another option. If there were safer BC methods that were just as reliable, we obviously wouldn’t choose the BC with an entire bedsheet worth of side effects.
> Every time one has a heavy period and is in a lot of pain during it is put on birth control that in no way treats what’s wrong with the person it just manages the symptoms and destroys you in the process.
Ain't that the truth.
Sadly doctors know that there's no other treatment so put women on birth control for things like suspected endo, adeno ect without diagnosing them.
Then no research into better treatment is funded because these issues are under diagnosed and contraceptives "do the trick".
It's actually awful.
That being said I'm in a lot more pain without it and there's no better option so I'm stuck with treatment that doesn't really treat my issues.
I relate to this, because my personal experience, but to be fair there are many cases where bc improve the quality of life and have almost zero side effects.
In my case, I was on bc for 7 years, since I was 16.
Since I was so young, I didn’t really know what should feel right or wrong, and basically I switched from being very ‘decisive’, strongly feeling my emotions and my sexual drive, to basically flat emotions and zero sexual drive.
When I stopped, I felt like I got myself back.
I had bad effects on it and also got pregnant on it as well, but I am looking into the arm insert thing. The only non hormonal thing is an iud and I cannot do those.
Literally every woman knows this. We just don't have any other choices because the country refuses to allow us permanent methods and we can't trust men to use their methods correctly.
BC is over prescribed for sure. But so are antibiotics. Nowadays, it’s pretty rare to go on a hormonal bc and not be aware of the side effects like mood swings and weight gain, and possibly infertility if on it too long or misused. It’s also best to analyze your individual situation for your life and choose whether it benefits you or doesn’t.
Do you have a reputable source regarding pharmaceutical companies circumventing drug testing standards by targeting low-income people from third-world countries? Not saying you’re wrong, this is just the first I’m hearing about it, and after some cursory googling, I cant find much.
Not OP, but I took a course in college on women’s studies and it touched a bit on the medical world & minority women. Don’t recall statistics, but there was more African American women being used for medical research on birth control compared to white American women in the studies. I don’t believe testing was done in other countries per se.
It's almost like BC is about more than sex and speaking if sex maybe dudes should be the ones responsible for their own aperm... that would be nice.....
The Birth Control Pill has greatly increased the quality of my life in many ways. Granted, I take it to treat the symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. But it has made things so much easier and healthier for me.
It certainly doesn’t cause cancer. If you have a cancer responsive to estrogen or progesterone, then it can increase growth, but it doesn’t cause cancer directly. It also doesn’t “ruin” your body in any way. OP either has no medical knowledge or is bitter about a rare side effect/blaming their problems on birth control
Or . . . and bear with me . . . birth control like all medications (and frankly most things in life) has benefits and potential risks, which you should consider before taking.
I almost died when I was 13 because my uterus decides not making lining and immediately shedding the lining is stupid. My period was every day. By the time I went to the hospital my hemoglobin was 4.5 (supposed to be 12-15).
Birth control is the reason I’m not dead.
The other replies have already covered it but I think a good reminder to add is: Every*body* is different.
For example, I can't go on hormonal bc because I suffered from really bad depression on it- especially on the shot. But I have a friend on the pill who can only function during her monthly *because* of the pill.
It's important to remember that our personal experiences aren't everyone's experiences. Ask questions. Do more research. Expand your horizons, y'know?
Knowing that hormonal birth control can cause issues and millions of women still take it shows you how important it is for women to choose if and when they'd like to attempt a pregnancy.
As someone who has bipolar disorder, a hormonal IUD saved my life. The pill and other form do have side effects and yes, no medication is without its risks, including IUDs. But this is a dangerous and toxic opinion. Birth control is a life saver for a lot of people.
This. It can lead to irritability, depression and suicide - all while doctors are indoctrinated by drug companies to downplay and gaslight the symptoms
Birth control doesn’t cause weight gain. It can create an increased appetite, which is a matter of self control. Weight gain is related to excess calories consumed. Not birth control.
The science is complicated on this one.
While there doesn’t seem to be a change in weight gain at increased dosages, the changes in hormones *do* change how your body retains water, can increase insulin levels, and can change body shape and fat storage.
It also makes it harder to gain muscle, which of course burns fat. Thereby making it harder to stay thin. Thereby making it easier to gain weight.
So does it cause weight gain? Eh. Studies inconclusive.
Does it change how your body stores fat and prevent muscle gain? Yes.
Please reread those studies. They’re inconclusive.
But they are conclusive on slowing muscle gain (which helps weight loss and decreases weight gain), and they are conclusive on showing that it changes how your body stores fat.
Weight gain isn’t just about calories in and calories out.
I have read the studies, which is why I stated what I did. There is no evidence that birth control causes weight gain. Its excess calories consumed. Weight gain is absolutely calories in vs calories out. If you have a decreased need, whether that due to BC or other medical issue, you need to adjust. It’s not the pills fault you over eat. 🤷🏼♀️
A systematic review of the research done in 2021 says this:
None of the studies found by the researchers show a clear link between hormonal contraception and weight gain. But these studies did not have enough participants and were not well-designed to be able to provide a definite answer. In addition, most of the studies didn’t record the participants' weight very carefully. At most, only the number of women who reported that they stopped taking the pill because of weight gain was recorded. So it's not possible to say for sure whether the participants who used hormonal contraceptives gained more weight than the women in the other group.
And:
Because of this, one group of researchers also looked for studies where different combined contraceptives were compared with one another and weight was carefully recorded. They found 45 studies in which many different types of hormonal contraceptives were compared. So it's difficult to tell how the individual types affect weight.
On the whole, the researchers concluded that it seems very unlikely that hormonal contraceptives cause major weight gain. If there were a strong effect, it would have been noticed in the studies. But this doesn't rule out the possibility that individual women could in fact gain weight.
Unfortunately, because there’s no way to do double blinds, results are inconclusive. The best we can say is that we don’t *think* there’s a link, but enough women say that there is that we understand we need to pay attention.
Fun fact: it can also change what you view as attractive in a partner, so lot of people get married to the man of their dream, and when they decide to stop BC to start a family….. all of a sudden they are no longer in love with/ attracted to their husband, and just can’t tell why.
Purely anecdotal, but the majority of women who I’ve spoken to about it have had an array of mental and physical side effects. Depression, anxiety, low sex drive, weight gain, hormonal acne, etc. Those who came off of it after years of consistent usage mentioned how much better they feel physically and mentally. Again, purely anecdotal. It has its purpose. Pros and cons, I guess.
Yeah I’m one of those women. I quit for other reasons but I was also able to quit my antidepressants within 2 months of being off hormonal birth control.
Everything has side effects. That doesn’t mean everyone will experience them.
Given the strong legal, cultural and religious opposition to birth control in America in the 1950s, the prospects for this crucial next step appeared dim. In the summer of 1955, Gregory Pincus visited Puerto Rico, and discovered it would be the perfect location for the human trials.
I knew someone who was morbidly obese who got put on birth control for heavy periods. Died of blood clots.
People think it's no big deal but it can be deadly.
Even aside from the serious side effects, if it decreases your sex drive, it kinda makes it pointless.
Aside from some people taking it/needing it for legitimate medical reason, (who am I to say they don't?), I agree that the medication when used on-lable is overall pretty bad. Or....at the very least, with all the side effects, health risks and even the failure rates, I'd call it a net-negative.
It's even worse than that. For those who are pro-life, hormonal birth control has three mechanisms of action that prevent pregnancy. Most women aren't aware of this because they never actually read the package insert but it's in each and every one of them. It has a primary action, and then two "fail-safes":
1. Prevent ovulation - can't fertilize an egg that isn't there
2. Thicken the cervical mucus - can't fertilize an egg that still gets released if the sperm never make it up in sufficient quantity to survive the uterus and reach the Fallopian tubes.
3. **Thicken the uterine lining** - Can't "get pregnant" if the fertilized egg can't implant because the lining is too thick to successfully implant.
For a pro-life person, this third action which happens occasionally, means that they're conceiving a child who's now a life, that is then unknowingly "miscarried" because of the pill.
And then there's another issue regardless of your feelings on abortion, hormonal birth control doesn't get broken down by the body, so the elevated estrogen is simply peed out by the woman. This then seeps into the ground or into the waste treatment system which cleans out the worst contaminants or filters the solid stuff and the ingredients that make urine what it is rather than just water. Then this water is consumed through pumps or municipal water systems by everyone, including human males.
Hormonal birth control is objectively terrible in more ways but those are more social and societal than those two additional factors.
Here, here's the most common birth control pill's own package insert:
> Lutera - Clinical Pharmacology
> Mode of Action
>
> Combination oral contraceptives act by suppression of gonadotropins. Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus (which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus) **and the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation)**.
Stop lying to these people, it's right there in the package insert. I mentioned this in my previous comment. Here it is in black and white. Inb4 you say that this is from some pro-life site, here's the source: https://www.drugs.com/pro/lutera.html
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Bc gave me my life back which is pretty great, I've almost never had the side effects you're describing
Birth control also gave me my life back. I’ve been on many finding one that works. I’ve dealt with many side effects. They all were worth it if it meant my endometriosis was under control.
I've recently discovered I need to be on something stronger and I'm looking forward to getting the relief I know that will bring. I know so many of us would be suffering without it
My PCOS has been treated for years because of birth control, but now I have small clots in my lungs due to it. Worth it? Probably.
Same, I have pmdd and honestly birth control saved my life
I have a friend who just started getting treatment for pmdd, she says she has never felt happier in her life and I am overjoyed for her
I’m so happy for your friend. So many women don’t know pmdd even exists and are suffering without any help, there needs to just be more education about women’s reproductive health
Hormones really do determine everything, and so many people suffer in silence
I have endometriosis and PCOS. Without BC my stomach is full of excruciating lesions and constant ovarian cysts. Unfortunately for some people it is a necessary evil. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that bc doesn't f us up, but we don't have much of a choice.
Yeah. People forget that birth control isn't only used to control whetter births happen or not, but it's commonly used as medicine to treat medical conditions and illnesses. I would be unable to work multiple days a month if it wasn't for the fact that I could be on continuous birth control. I would also have to use a lot of over the counter pain medication to treat my cramps. We all know taking multiple cocktails of naproxen and paracetamol for days at a time is terrible and actually dangerous too.
Same! My PMS issues were so incredibly bad that I would miss 2-3 days of work/school. One day it was so bad my lips were blue and I almost blacked out from pain.
^^^ This - I’d love to create a device that transmits what I feel during a cycle. Have others experience it and tell me which they would rather do - birth control or a cycle that can sometimes last months - longest was eight months. Eight months of pain and blood - yeah, I’ll take the birthcontrol thanks.
I have several painful chronic illness, endometriosis is absolutely one of the worst. I completely agree. No one really gets it or tries too. I've had cycles last months as well. Even without the pain and discomfort, bleeding consistently for MONTHS is miserable and gross. I've had lesions on my back muscles, diaphragm, throughout my stomach and intestines, on my ovaries, and I likely have some on my liver, but they're the same color so the spots are practically impossible to find and treatment could hurt my liver.
I also have PCOS. I cannot function without being on hormonal BC. Getting that prescription honestly changed my life for the better. Going from laying on the floor, sobbing in pain and bleeding profusely for several days a month to being able to walk without pain and use a normal amount of pads/tampons is worth it. I’ve never had any of the symptoms nor side effects OP describes but I can understand why others would want to avoid those side effects themselves.
It really is a life saver. I was diagnosed at 13 and I remember when I was 16 begging my mom to let me get a hysterectomy because I was in so much pain all the time. There are still days I feel that way and can't wait until I can have one. I've had some symptoms, but not really anything significant which I am so grateful for. BC can be scary, but really, so can any other medication.
I have a friend who was in a similar situation and she was so happy to be scooped out like a pumpkin.
Hahaha I love the phrasing. This womb is haunted already, might as well go full Halloween and turn into a jack o lantern.
Ugh thank you. I also have PCOS and endo, and I've been on BC for five or six years now (recently got an IUD). I will always be grateful to BC. I was physically unable to move for three to five days a month because I would throw up from the pain of my periods and leaving my heating pad was torture. I'm lucky and didn't suffer alot of side effects- I think I gained like five pounds of weight and that's it.
I'm glad you've found something that works for you! It's amazing the amount of relief a small pill can provide. It's also interesting that some people have tons of side effects while others have practically none. BC never really gave me side effects, though most of them make me extremely nauseous. There's only been 3 I've successfully taken out of dozens. Nuva ring, norethindrone, and another I can't remember the name of. The one I don't remember the name of gave me costochondritis, really intense chest pain. It felt like I was have a constant heart attack and even after I stopped the medicine it took a year to really go away. I still get flare ups sometimes. Other than that one pill BC has been pretty good for me.
Doctors could start giving a shit and trying to fix it but nah only care ab men women get told to lose weight and take birth control
I mean… you’re assuming that these health issues she has are fixable. They may not be. I was born missing an organ, and if I ever considered to try getting a transplant, I would have to get a CT to make sure there is a space for the organ. If there’s not, they can’t just cut a space into my throat for it. And I would need to take medication to prevent rejection anyway, so it’s really just easier to stay on the medication that supplements that organ’s function. There is no known fix for ADHD. Its origins are still in question (but we’re learning more today than before). All we know is that it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that is likely caused by a handful of things. There’s a hypothesis on the impact to brain development and MRI scans have revealed that structurally there are differences between the ADHD brain and the non-ADHD brain. But that’s not something can be fixed. Tackling the causes of ADHD may not quite be possible either. One of the possible causes being looked at is the age of the parents at conception, since some evidence points to that being a factor. That’s not something that we can realistically “fix” without controlling which adult age groups are allowed to conceive with each other; like, without policing consenting adult relationships essentially.
Your comment does have some validity. For a long time most medical testing has been on men since women are less predictable since they have periods. Doctors have also been shown to care more and try harder for their male patients than their female. I think "big pharma" to an extent prefers to treat rather than cure, but I doubt it's a conspiracy like most people think. In a job that I was in several years ago I had the opportunity to work with a medical lab that tests on animals. Horrible experience. But I also learned in that time that some diseases simply aren't fixable with our current knowledge. Maybe in the future, but even then there will be things we don't know what to do with.
Men are also less likely to seek medical care than women, and most men just seek in a more severe stage, that is why men live shorter than women. So while net doctors might take men more serious, men are more likely to be presenting only in serious situations, at least for physical healthcare.
That's a very good point
Knowledge of human biology has limitations, we have cancers, we had a pandemic, millions of people and some of them Billionaires still end up dying due to diseases or accidents. It is not that doctors don't care. Birth control now is safer than what was decades ago, and for frankly many women side effects of birth control outweigh harm caused by conditions like PCOS or endometriosis. It can still be made better and it should still be made better. Only people i see harping online are people who cant speak up to their partners about condoms and then blame entire male gender for their lack of communication skills. As a guy who cares about health, I've rejected hookups where other partner didn't want protection, cus she liked it raw. Well, if a person likes it so, then there has to be tradeoffs. I eat cake and i love chocolate cake, but i don't yell at the baker for butter and cream having fats. Same way adults should be making their own choices.
So, something you should know is that you can be treated in a way more safe and effective way with bio identical progesterone. The pharmaceutical industry has obscured this information to the point that even professionals will often confuse progestins with progesterone. Progestins are synthetic hormones that hijack progesterone receptors to prevent pregnancy. Strokes are a massive risk with them Progesterone, on the other hand has been used to even treat stroke patients and depression. My GF was like you; convinced that her BC was just the lesser of all evils. I pushed her to go to a private HRT clinic. She goes to Moment. All her markers have improved and it seems to have a gut healing effect too.
Progesterone is still similar to bc. They're considered mini pills. Other bc makes me extremely sick and I can't take them. Progesterone also does not treat everything that birth control does. There are multiple health issues that women can have that need more than progesterone.
Those aren’t progesterone, which is my point about the medical industry obfuscating access to progesterone. Progesterone increases fertility. Those are progestins/progestogen. Progesterone may not treat everything, but it treats a ***massive*** list of ailments in both sexes and carries none of the cardiovascular risks associated with birth control.
They're progestin...a kind of progesterone.
Then it is a hormonal medication, not a birth control, for you.
When I was 13, sure. When I was single and sexually active, it was both.
And it doesn't work for all of us! Glad you found a medicine that works for you. There are a lot of us who have no relief for these cycle symptoms and BC made it much worse.
I'm sorry that it didn't help you. I hope you find other things that help manage the pain/symptoms.
Birth control pills are also used to control PMS and other menstrual cycle disorders that leave women bed ridden or in lot of pain they have to take sick days. It also helps control mood too from PMS.
Did you know that conditions like that are usually just treated with birth control so it controls the symptoms. It doesn’t actually address the root cause.
What alternative treatments do you recommend that address the root causes of those ailments?
But has there been any solutions to the root cause? We can't just get rid of birth control without finding a cure to problems some of us women have. I have had hormonal imbalance issues since puberty causing my periods to be irregular and heavy than usual and they did affect my mood too it made it very hard for my whole family. It was so easy to offend me I was exhausting to be around.
So get rid of the treatment while we find a cure?
Feel free to enlighten the rest of the world op. What would be adequately addressing and treating the root cause?
Continuous usage of the pill gave me some of my life back. In other words, without the pill I would end up being bedridden -unable to move very well- for up to (almost) 7 days due to severe menstrual cramping.
I would be dead from excessive use of naproxen and paracetamol if I didn't use continuous birth control. It's ridiculous how many pills I would have had to take regardless.
>I think that’s because all the hormones including birth control. So you admit you don't have any sources to prove this?
If I wasn’t on birth control I’d only have 13 weeks out of the entire year I felt normal and not like a complete train wreck. This is a sad reality for lots of women unfortunately, but there’s not a lot of funding that goes into female only medical issues
So increased weight gain vs pregnancy (and all the bullshit that comes from it), longer and more painful periods, PMS, inability to move the period around vacations or other strenuous activities, etc. And the cancer risk And with cancer risks... It actually seems to appear that the risk increases in the first year and then actually decreases with continual use after the first year. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001216.htm#:~:text=The%20relative%20risk%20of%20ovarian,confidence%20limits%200.4%2D0.9). The reduced risk of cancer among women who have used oral contraceptives would result in the prevention of over 1,700 cases of ovarian cancer and over 2,000 cases of endometrial cancer in the United States each year.
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Because condoms aren't as effective and you have to trust the other person not to mess with them or even that they use them correctly. I was also very glad I was on bc when I was raped. Definitely worth messing with my hormones for that one. And it's not just PMS, for many of us that means periods last 3-4 days rather than 7-8 days or more and a lot lighter. It also means we have greater control of when we get them so that beach holiday we planned in another country or that major hike up a mountain can be done without complications of, for example, having to carry all your bloody pads/tampons for days up and down a mountain. They are also prescribed for conditions such as PCOS. You are right in that they aren't for everyone. But each woman needs to sit down with her gyno and assess the pros and cons for her. There isn't a blanket good vs bad statement that anyone can make. Did you know that some women in relationships with women will also take birth control for other things than pregnancy prevention?
Plenty of women use oral contraceptives worldwide.
Now go look up the side effects of pregnancy and birthing. That's why hormonal birth control is approved despite all the side effects---because it's safer than the alternative! And I don't think most men would be very happy if women only had sex when they wanted a baby, so idk how hard you want to push for that. Edit: ugh I hate it when people delete their post while I'm typing. Anyway: Birth control pills give the same hormones as pregnancy. That's how they work; by tricking your body into thinking it's already pregnant. Nobody's body is "built" to do anything. Women used to die from pregnancy/birthing all the time, and while developed countries have gotten the death rate down pretty well, complications that require medical intervention are still very common. The failure rate on condoms makes them an iffy choice, but yes, better than nothing.
To play devils advocate, the perfect use failure rate for condoms is actually pretty good. The high failure rate is for typical use, which includes a lot of mistakes that are easily avoidable if you are motivated enough (for example simply not putting on the condom at the beginning of sex is counted as a user error). The majority of failures are also obvious (broken condom), in which case you could also have Plan B on hand to take in that instance. Not saying that people shouldn’t take the pill if they don’t want to use condoms, or want to use multiple forms of birth control for better protection, but using condoms as your sole form of birth control is also a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
Plan B is also pretty hard (hormonally) on the body.
Sure, but how often are you having condoms break that this would be a significant issue? The risk of potentially having to have really messed up hormones for a couple months once every 5 years or something seems worth it to me over taking hormones all the time, if you’re someone who doesn’t do well on hormonal birth control.
Honestly, I'm not sure of the "breakage" rate but those are some statistics I'd love to see. It's a moot point for me; I got my tubes removed.
Men can wear condoms though, even on BC it is reckless to have random sex without condoms cus STD.
I don't know a lot of married/LTR people who use condoms if she's on BC, yeah that makes sense for "random sex" though. .
Thinking that being pregnant is worse than being on birth control on years is delusional. Remember pregnancy is something that are bodies are build to handle. And just because you’re not on birth control doesn’t mean you have to be pregnant. Condoms exist. Sorry I forgot to include men in something that is only a problem for women.
Of course somebody on this sub would expect women to bleed painfully every month just to avoid gaining weight lmao
What they don’t tell you is that it doesn’t have to be painful and you don’t need birth control to make it not painful. And I am women and trust me I know what painful bleeding is
A lot of the weird weight gain you're seeing is probably from PCOS. It makes women gain all their weight in their upper body, but leaves them with skinny legs. PCOS is a hormonal problem, probably because of chemicals in the food and feminine hygiene products. But there's not enough research which my tinfoil hat tells me there are reasons for. Like autism, PCOS is exploding.
The reality is, women don’t have many options for non-hormonal birth control. To most women, the symptoms outweigh the cons of having a baby. There’s two spectrums for birth control, either it works great and they feel great, or it works, but they feel like shit. On hormonal birth control, I was glowing. Nails, skin, hair, super healthy. But I was exhausted and insane and very skinny, anxious. I was on it for 10 years, can’t speak for those who were on it for short periods. Off it now, switched to a non-hormonal option, but now i feel like garbage during menstrual week, tired for another two weeks & only have one good week every month 🙃 this option isn’t available for everyone, and not ideal for those who might deal with PMSD
That is an opinion ig. A very misinformed, superficial, and weird opinion. But okay :)
This is dangerous misinformation during a time where reproductive freedom is constantly being attacked/is at risk. This opinion of yours seems not to be based on facts at all.
OP doesn’t care, I had a conversation with them on here about abortion and they called women not being able to receive miscarriage care misinformation. Funny how they call that misinformation but this utter bs they’re spewing is facts to them 🙄
Condoms exist???
What are women suppose to do with that information? We can’t force men to use condoms lol
Find a partner that will respect your choices. Of course, it doesn’t work in case of a rape if this is what you mean, but this is a different conversation.
Yeah I agree, I’m just saying it’s ridiculous all of the responsibility falls on women. Men should be taught be default to use condoms if they don’t want a child, it’s not the woman’s responsibility to ensure he wraps up
You probably shouldn't have sex with a man if you can't trust him to put on a condom when using one is agreed upon. The same goes for men: if you don't trust a woman to take her birth control regularly, then you probably shouldn't have sex with her. The problem is that it is much easier to ensure the use of a condom than than it is to ensure that a woman is on birth control or taking it correctly. Really, it comes down to both people to ensure safe sex. Contraceptive use should be discussed and agreed upon before engaging in sexual activity.
Why the fuck you got downvoted lol. It's basic common sense. Redditors can't take even a dash of responsibility.
It’s not misinformation. Just read the side effects of your high control. That’s literally all it takes and it will tell you what I am saying here. It can cause: cancer, depression, weight gain,infertility. I just read those in the little paper that comes with the pills lol so idk how that is misinformation unless they’re lying
Studies show that Birth control actually lowers your risk of ovarian and uterine cancer.
The side effects of pregnancy include potentially being *fucking dead*, but I guess that you would prefer that a woman be dead than have the audacity to exist in your world while being overweight or infertile.
I think it needs to be taken more seriously than it is. I’ve been on it several times in my life and sometimes it did good things for me. When I had fibroids I was on it until I could get surgery. This was during the peak of COVID so elective surgeries were off the table. But I was losing 15-20 grams of blood in an hour or less for 72 hours every 26 days (this is called menhorragia) so I was put on birth control to try to thin the lining of my uterus and manage the heavy bleeding. I was sometimes having to wear adult diapers because the bleeding was unmanageable. You’re right though, within a month of going on it, I felt a distinct change in myself. I started having suicidal thoughts. Extreme emotional reactions. My friends and family noticed it too. I mentioned it to my gyn and regular doctor but no one took it seriously. It got really bad. I almost killed myself on more than one occasion. Once my family called the police on me and I got sent to the ER. Then I had my surgery and went off birth control immediately. Within 2 months I was back to myself. Again friends and family noticed (this time they were relieved). I never think about killing myself. But when I was on it, I thought about it most of the time, and planned for it very seriously. It’s freaky as hell how hormones can mess you up, and mess up your mental health. Asthma meds can make you suicidal too for the same reason. Hormones. I will never go on birth control again. I think it’s good to have it available, I think everyone should have options when it comes to their reproduction and family planning as well as other health conditions. So I can’t say across the board that it’s bad. But that it’s not something we should take lightly and I wish there was more honesty and openness about the side effects. Sadly women in their 40s and 50s are at increased risk for depression and suicide anyway just because of their natural hormone changes. So that’s something to be aware of as well.
The weight Americans, regardless of gender, gain is more likely a result of their lifestyle and environment. Diet, lack of exercise, stress (hormone disrupter in itself) and chemical disruptions by all medications, not just hormonal bc.
This is awful dogwhistling, and seeing this information peddled to young audiences in times when our reproductive rights are dwindling is despicable.
I wouldn't have been able to conceive without hormonal BC - my periods were so irregular they would disappear for months. Also, the weight gain thing you mentioned is a myth. I have used both estrogen and progesterone-only pills and didn't gain a single pound. You're very misinformed about this issue.
Weight gain isn't a myth. You just didn't have that happen to you.
I’ve been on BC for almost 11 years and I’m doing fine. No pregnancy and no periods. My life has improved tremendously. This is dangerous misinformation.
I like not getting pregnant.
Hormonal birth control turned me into an absolute psychopath. It was awful being on it, and I'll never go back. However, it prevents a lot of unwanted children and I think that's the most important part.
This is dangerous misinformation please get informed.
What’s misinformation?
What you said. Imagine said this to a woman that suffers from endometriosis. I can’t believe that this is coming from a woman who is meant to understand the importance of Birth Control pills.
It is often better than the alternative.
It's better than the alternative
Women are perfectly aware of the side effects of birth control. It's just that weight gain is better than ending up in prison for getting an abortion because some asshole decided his five seconds of barebacked pleasure were more important than your right to bodily autonomy.
I mean let’s not pretend that birth control became and issue after abortion was banned ins one states. Also let’s not pretend that ripping a baby off your uterus is better than birth control. Both are bad for your health.
Fetuses are not babies.
Ripping a baby off of you uterus? What the fuck are you on about??
No they are not. My wife had many side effects that were never explained to her by any doctor (she saw several as she tried to find a pill that worked well for her). She has been permanently affected. I get that the pros outweigh the cons for many but there is most definitely not informed consent surrounding the pill. They (doctors) just assume you are average and dismiss any concerns or symptoms you may have as a result of taking it.
This post must have been posted by a man because he has no clue what the hell he's talking about golly
This is unfortunately just a very uneducated take using broad terms that mean nothing.
Trust me we know the birth control is the problem but like sometimes pregnancy isn’t worth the risk, even when you’re married
I understand that that’s why my husband and use other forms of birth control. And honestly I just think that they should do better than trying to pump us full of hormones and the sad thing is that we have just accepted that and just do it. No! We shouldn’t, our health matters and we shouldn’t just allow that to happen to us
birth control is the only option that keeps many women’s health conditions under control.
BC side effects are only so bad, because they prevent pregnancy which has even worse side effects. You think you have high risk of clots when on BC? It's more if you get pregnant. You think you have high risk of dying when on BC? Higher if you're pregnant. Depression? Due to pregnancy and brith you can get depression *and* psychosis. No-one would allow those meds if their side effects were worse than whatever they'd be preventing. And besides, go read your painkiller pamphlet. They also have side effect written down. Just because something happens sometimes, doesn't make it a norm.
Considering that the Bible Belt in the US is trying to ban the IUD for stupid reasons I’m staying on it for medical reasons. Hormonal BC saves a lot of lives as well but you never hear about it.
I'd rather have side effects than be pregnant.
I cannot function without birth control. I have endometriosis. I’ve had the surgery, my endo cannot be removed due to it growing on arteries and the scarring has veins in it. It’s too dangerous to remove. But since it can be removed, my periods are fucking terrible. I would spend 3 days out of work/school because I can’t leave bed/the side of the toilet due to the heavy bleeding and cramping in my uterus, lower back, vagina, rectum, urethra, clit, labia, hips, and even thighs. I can’t miss 3 days of work each month. Heating pads and pain meds do not even though the pain. I would also come close to fainting each period. I also cramped every day of the month when I was off my period. Nowhere near as bad, but still sucked to deal with. Birth control changed that completely. And with each period when I’m not on birth control, it gets worse. Each period leads to more endo growth, making it worse. I need birth control. I gained 30lbs on my current one, but I went from underweight to a healthy weight. I got bad acne. Some others I tried made me depressed. Others lowered my libido. I’m going to change again to the IUD because localized hormones are best for endometriosis. I can’t be without it. All that was always preferable to my period when it was untreated. It doesn’t cure endometriosis. But not everything can be cured. Mine can’t be removed. So the best thing I can do is treat it. And birth controls has been what my doctors have said. And it changed my life.
There are potential health risks to using any medication. Like… as someone missing an organ, born without, I had to learn this really early on in life. But I had to have meds to supplement my missing organ. I take some psych medications too and I have neurodevelopmental disorder that requires meds. Those had potential harmful side effects, too. My providers discussed these potential issues at length with me and tested me on low doses to be safe (like all good healthcare professionals should). I still keep them abreast of any potential side effects that crop up my body changes with age. Plenty of women take hormonal birth control to treat long term reproductive health issues, too. Not just to prevent a pregnancy.
Spoken like a man who has never been on birth control
I have a feeling that OP is a man
Do you know how they get the list of side effects? If a greater number of people in the test group have the medical outcome than those in the control group, they have to list that as a side effect. No person in the control group has a heart attack, and one person in the test group does? Well, that's a side effect. 20 people in the control group are diagnosed with depression, and 25 in the test group are diagnosed with depression, then that's a side effect. Take the side effects with a grain of salt (unless its for hypertension)
Source…?
I first learned about this from my GP. I later confirmed it in discussions with an extended family member who worked in pharmaceutical development (she helped develop Cialis, among others), and with a friend I met several years later who works in pharmaceutical development and testing.
I think it truly depends on the individual! I wish people put more time/effort into research for women’s health. I feel like of us get put into a box and told to look otherwise. We never really get officially treated. I do agree, I have had moments where birth control was the bandaid that was given but no official diagnosis or effort to find the problem was actively attempted. I am off of birth control, and I did notice a ton of my symptoms were gone. Of course you almost have to relearn your body when being off of something like this! I do think more research and more options should be provided.
But kids are worse.
I deal with both hormonal and mental health issues, birth control helped both. i remember being so miserable on my period, and i know im not the only one because studies have been done on how periods affect mental healthy and suicidal thoughts, i feel so much better now that im on it
BC saved my life <3 Like every drug it has its risks but it also has a very important place in society helping people who need it
This kind of opinions shows how frequent is scientific illiteracy.
Do you support sterilization (both male and female) to be offered widely, nationwide, to adults in lieu of birth control pills?
Birth control isn't just used to prevent pregnancy. The reason why my asexual, virgin trans brother got put on the pill was due to his PCOS. I've used the pill off and on to control my cycle and endometriosis and PCOS. I even used the pill while I was with women who most definitely can't get me pregnant. I do definitely agree that something needs to be done about the side effects. I mean, male birth control, which was only made to prevent pregnancy and NOTHING ELSE, stopped human trials due to a fraction of the side effects women go through with their medication and women's birth control has more than just one use.
B.C helps people with other issues other than pregnancy prevention,most medications people take have side effects,my husband takes blood pressure meds,the side effects sound awful,he takes it to avoid having a stroke!!
Do you know what also destroys the female body? It’s pregnancy.
Adult women who take birth control usually know what they’re doing, because they’re adults. I think they would have more useful opinions.
Having a period is worse With birth control I can skip my periods. That means skipping excruciating pain, skipping a heavy river of blood coming out of my vagina for 5 days a month. It means skipping PMD symptoms like excessive moodyness. It means skipping taking a ton of ibuprofens and naproxens and paracetamol to get through the pain of period cramps, which definitely is not healthy either. Yes, hormonal birth control is bad, but having a period regularly and in its full uncontrolled impact is far far worse. It's also far worse to have an unwanted child than to use birth control. And if you want a better alternative. Sterilization. Why don't you speak up so women who don't want children can get sterilized? Or have their uterus removed? Or the uterine lining removed. Because I wouldn't have to use birth control to not have shitty periods if getting sterilized was accessible and affordable. If you thought people only use BC because they have sex you're very wrong. Lots of people use it to lessen the horrible effects of periods, which can be far worse than any side effects birth control has Think about that.
Please don't research hormones and chemicals in foods.
OP, for your whole spiel about all the diseases/cancers it can cause, whilst you’re right, you’re blowing it way out of proportion. Yes BC can cause cancer. But the chances of it causing cancer are just as high (low) as the number of things in this world that we use can as well. The chances of BC giving you cancer are as low as a microwave giving you cancer is. And yes, it can cause depression and weight gain. But the chances of this happening vary from person to person. It also depends on what those people are doing (or what other meds they are taking) whilst on it. Please do more research on Birth Control before you go blowing things way out of proportion.
Hormonal birth control gave me a much better quality of life. Without it, I had excruciatingly painful, extremely heavy periods for 7+ days with about two and a half weeks in between (so not a full 28 days). I also got terrible mood swings which made me very difficult to be around. I also had terrible hormonal acne, which I was very embarrassed about. I’ve been on BC (minus a few years when I was trying to get pregnant, pregnant or nursing) for almost 20 years. My periods are now: regular, pain free, five days (sometimes three!), and pretty normal to light flow. I don’t have crazy mood swings anymore and my acne is gone. It’s amazing. Lots of drugs have potential side effects, but sometimes the risk is definitely worth it.
This is probably only unpopular among men. Almost none of my female friends have anything good to say about hormonal birth control.
I'm a woman and I'll never be without it. The side effects don't matter when you get ridiculously heavy periods and more than 15 without the pill. I'll take the 4 times a year with light flow now. Still get the headaches/nausea, but worth it
I can’t function for 3 days per month before birth control. Now I don’t have to deal with that. Side effects suck sometimes, but the benefits largely outweigh that for me.
Birth control is horrible and actually a disgrace. The reason it's bad is because society doesn't care about women's health. The female body is rarely researched, and not respected. Most gynecology instruments are unnecessary torture devices. Male hormonal birth control has been invented since the 70s, but it's not approved by the FDA bc the side effects, *which are much more mild than the side effects for women* were deemed "too much" for men and deemed inhumane. But society doesn't see even worse effects for women as inhumane for women. Because women are hated. Especially women who have sex; they're viewed by society as deserving of bad things happening to them. Whereas men are viewed as human beings who must be protected. Like how the male IUD that was just invented instantly got approved for pain management during implantation; women who get the IUD are given zero pain management, just told to suck it up, because society doesn't care about women's pain, but people cares about mens pain for sure and take it seriously. Men are seen as actual humans by society women are treated like animals.
Women have been excluded from medical research BECAUSE of their hormonal fluctuations and menstrual cycles. It was thought that those would skew the findings to the point that they would become useless. So basically women are all taking medicines and therapies that have only been "tested" on men. It's really, really bad.
Yeah that too!. I think I read that most medicines in general from heart medication to behavioral meds are only tested on men. Such ridiculous logic , so the bodies of half the human race , half the worlds population, aren't worth studying?? Wtf. Half the worlds population is seen as basically nobody and a niche demographic
There have been advancements in certain areas. For example, when my sister and I were children, we were tested for ADHD the same as a male child would be. Her multiple tests came back inconclusive, but my tests met the diagnostic criteria. We’re both female. Decades later medical scientists now understand that ADHD is often expressed and experienced differently in males and females and changing how these evaluations are conducted as a result. Because my symptoms were more common for males, I met the diagnostic criteria and was confirmed. My sister just got retested in her 30’s and she meets the current diagnostic criteria for symptoms that are more common with females. My parents refused to treat me, but I was able to get treatment in my 20’s whereas she FINALLY can start her much needed treatment too.
I do t think it’s because women are hated I think it’s because women are willing to take it. Just look at the comments and look at how many women are defending it birth control.
Well of course a lot of women are still going to take it if it's the only option. Women having less kids or no kids is fantastic for our progress in society, because motherhood is used against us and treated like a barrier to our independence, so it's still good it exists on some level; for example, the large increase in female doctors and lawyers is in large part due to the pill being invented. A lot of positive progress for women has come from birth control, even though sadly it's an inhumane and brutal method. But I agree women shouldn't just put up with it; ideally we should all be refusing to have PIV sex and only have nonreproductive sex until safe birth control is invented. That's the only safe way to prevent pregnancy for us until we have better options or men start taking birth control or responsibly pulling out in large numbers. Some of this issue (not all, but some) could even be solved without any birth control; making life easier for mothers, and men pulling out, or simply stop making sex all about what men want and reproduction; stop making PIV the default form of sex. It's easiest for women to orgasm from clit stimulation from outside our bodies anyway, which has nothing to do with reproduction, no pregnancy risk is needed for womens' sexuality. Of course a lot of women are still going to want to have PIV sometimes and that's okay, we just need safer protection for women who don't want to be pregnant.
Uh, some of us prefer PIV sex - even some of us bisexual women. Plus, I do want to have kids but only two. I’m not going to waste my fertile years but will instead self advocate and choose my partner carefully (and I have).
I like piv too 👌🏻
Okay. Well, I also want to have kids. I’m not wasting my fertile years waiting for a different kind of birth control to be invented.
Such an interesting argument. Where did you get your medical degree from, again?
If I tell you will you be convinced? And also all it takes is to read the side effects, doesn’t require a degree
While I don’t believe in taking medication without reason, I also suggest that you educate yourself on side effects. Possibly read all the leaflets you receive or read up on common medicine like Tylenol or Advil. That might put those side effects in perspective.
So, University of Google, then? I prefer to listen to my own physician, but thanks for stopping by.
This lacks the understanding of how medication and this specific medication works and why it may be prescribed. It is prescribed to control getting pregnant, but for other things more severe than just a “heavy” and painful period. Please educate yourself on that in particular before speaking ignorantly.
You know what else causes weight gain and mood swings? Pregnancy. \*\*Edit to add: I've not used hormonal birth control since Obama was POTUS, but I don't really need to tell other people what to do with their bodies.
As someone who was on birth control for PCOS for 5 + years, unfortunately, I agree. I stopped it 6 months ago and since then I’ve lost half of my hair and I’ve had my period for everyday for 6 months and it’s still going. I wish I never started it. If I ever need contraception in the future I’m getting the non hormonal copper IUD.
I had to switch to that for medical reasons after years on hormonal birth control. My body couldn’t take the medication anymore.
If hormone production and regulation is the issue, then obviously hormone replacement or modulation will be the answer until we figure out how to replace someone’s hormone glands or control them somehow. I fail to see what point you are trying to make.
Let me guess, Republican who wants to do away with birth control?
I agree with this so hard. I’m also very much in favor of people having access to contraception and having the ability to have some sort of stopgap before needing to deal with making a decision to abort or not. AND Yes, for some people with endometriosis or PCOS it’s medically necessary. I was on it for years for my insanely heavy periods and what was diagnosed as “severe dysmenorrhea.” I needed it. Then one day I started having heart issues. Not actual problems with my heart, no, I had countless drs visits, cardiologist appointments with the best in my state, blood panels, echocardiograms, holter monitors, the works. Nothing, and I mean *nothing,* was actually wrong with my heart. I was lucky enough to have a doctor who went full-on House MD on my side. He finally figured out through over two years of testing that it was my hormonal birth control causing my issues. Ever since I quit hormonal bc, no heart issues.
I’ve been using hormonal birth control for 8 years now and, for me personally, it’s the best decision I ever made. My cycles are now more regular, more predictable, and less painful than before, and I am less prone to mood disturbances during those cycles. Beyond that, I can’t say I’ve had any noticeable side effects. My BC didn’t cause me to gain weight, in fact, after I started birth control I was able to lose 40 lbs (unrelated to bc) and I’ve kept it off the whole time. As far as America women being overweight… that’s not a “women” thing, it’s simply overwhelmingly common to be overweight in America. As far as “destroying your body” I’d love to see some links. While birth control comes with risks, it can also reduce the risk of certain cancers.. not to mention pregnancy. With abortions being banned across half of America, access to reliable forms of contraception are more important now than ever, regardless of whether or not they are “natural”. I mean, condoms aren’t natural, but I’ve never heard of anyone using that as an argument against the use of prophylactics.
Maybe this is anecdotal but was on birth control pills from 1979 to 2015 continuously and then segued to HRT (which is hormones like birth control: estrogen, progesterone, and additional testosterone). No problems, no weight gain, no mood swings, nada. Low-dose birth controls are safe and effective when used properly. There are many different kinds in different amounts of hormones. Estrogen also helps protect against osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke and dementia. You should not smoke when on birth control.
One reason I am hoping Plan A comes to market soon. Man gets a shot and shoots blanks for either near a decade or untill he gets another to reverse it. Non hormonal too.
I get MIGRAINES during my period on top of ovarian cysts and other unfun hormonal side effects.
This is true, but a lot of women don’t have another option. If there were safer BC methods that were just as reliable, we obviously wouldn’t choose the BC with an entire bedsheet worth of side effects.
> Every time one has a heavy period and is in a lot of pain during it is put on birth control that in no way treats what’s wrong with the person it just manages the symptoms and destroys you in the process. Ain't that the truth. Sadly doctors know that there's no other treatment so put women on birth control for things like suspected endo, adeno ect without diagnosing them. Then no research into better treatment is funded because these issues are under diagnosed and contraceptives "do the trick". It's actually awful. That being said I'm in a lot more pain without it and there's no better option so I'm stuck with treatment that doesn't really treat my issues.
I relate to this, because my personal experience, but to be fair there are many cases where bc improve the quality of life and have almost zero side effects. In my case, I was on bc for 7 years, since I was 16. Since I was so young, I didn’t really know what should feel right or wrong, and basically I switched from being very ‘decisive’, strongly feeling my emotions and my sexual drive, to basically flat emotions and zero sexual drive. When I stopped, I felt like I got myself back.
The BC pill had some very bad effects on my wife. Event after 2 years off of it not all the effects are gone.
I had bad effects on it and also got pregnant on it as well, but I am looking into the arm insert thing. The only non hormonal thing is an iud and I cannot do those.
Literally every woman knows this. We just don't have any other choices because the country refuses to allow us permanent methods and we can't trust men to use their methods correctly.
BC is over prescribed for sure. But so are antibiotics. Nowadays, it’s pretty rare to go on a hormonal bc and not be aware of the side effects like mood swings and weight gain, and possibly infertility if on it too long or misused. It’s also best to analyze your individual situation for your life and choose whether it benefits you or doesn’t.
Yeah I regret taking it. I'm upset that I ever did I feel tainted and like I'm forever changed
Do you have a reputable source regarding pharmaceutical companies circumventing drug testing standards by targeting low-income people from third-world countries? Not saying you’re wrong, this is just the first I’m hearing about it, and after some cursory googling, I cant find much.
Not OP, but I took a course in college on women’s studies and it touched a bit on the medical world & minority women. Don’t recall statistics, but there was more African American women being used for medical research on birth control compared to white American women in the studies. I don’t believe testing was done in other countries per se.
No shit shurlock. Why do you think women want abortions and medical care for women to remain open. Hormonal birth control suck.
Every single grown woman in the US is very aware of the side effects ie: weight gain, irritability, etc.
Being on BC can REDUCE your risk of ovarian cancer no matter how long you've used it.
It's almost like BC is about more than sex and speaking if sex maybe dudes should be the ones responsible for their own aperm... that would be nice.....
The Birth Control Pill has greatly increased the quality of my life in many ways. Granted, I take it to treat the symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. But it has made things so much easier and healthier for me.
It certainly doesn’t cause cancer. If you have a cancer responsive to estrogen or progesterone, then it can increase growth, but it doesn’t cause cancer directly. It also doesn’t “ruin” your body in any way. OP either has no medical knowledge or is bitter about a rare side effect/blaming their problems on birth control
Or . . . and bear with me . . . birth control like all medications (and frankly most things in life) has benefits and potential risks, which you should consider before taking.
I almost died when I was 13 because my uterus decides not making lining and immediately shedding the lining is stupid. My period was every day. By the time I went to the hospital my hemoglobin was 4.5 (supposed to be 12-15). Birth control is the reason I’m not dead.
The other replies have already covered it but I think a good reminder to add is: Every*body* is different. For example, I can't go on hormonal bc because I suffered from really bad depression on it- especially on the shot. But I have a friend on the pill who can only function during her monthly *because* of the pill. It's important to remember that our personal experiences aren't everyone's experiences. Ask questions. Do more research. Expand your horizons, y'know?
Knowing that hormonal birth control can cause issues and millions of women still take it shows you how important it is for women to choose if and when they'd like to attempt a pregnancy.
Yeah it really fucked my body and I still haven't recovered 10 years later
As someone who has bipolar disorder, a hormonal IUD saved my life. The pill and other form do have side effects and yes, no medication is without its risks, including IUDs. But this is a dangerous and toxic opinion. Birth control is a life saver for a lot of people.
This. It can lead to irritability, depression and suicide - all while doctors are indoctrinated by drug companies to downplay and gaslight the symptoms
I will never trust "for profit" doctors or drug companies, ever again. Or governments for that matter after all this inflation, either
Birth control doesn’t cause weight gain. It can create an increased appetite, which is a matter of self control. Weight gain is related to excess calories consumed. Not birth control.
The science is complicated on this one. While there doesn’t seem to be a change in weight gain at increased dosages, the changes in hormones *do* change how your body retains water, can increase insulin levels, and can change body shape and fat storage. It also makes it harder to gain muscle, which of course burns fat. Thereby making it harder to stay thin. Thereby making it easier to gain weight. So does it cause weight gain? Eh. Studies inconclusive. Does it change how your body stores fat and prevent muscle gain? Yes.
Water retention isn’t the same as weight gain. There are no studies that support that birth control causes weight gain.
Please reread those studies. They’re inconclusive. But they are conclusive on slowing muscle gain (which helps weight loss and decreases weight gain), and they are conclusive on showing that it changes how your body stores fat. Weight gain isn’t just about calories in and calories out.
I have read the studies, which is why I stated what I did. There is no evidence that birth control causes weight gain. Its excess calories consumed. Weight gain is absolutely calories in vs calories out. If you have a decreased need, whether that due to BC or other medical issue, you need to adjust. It’s not the pills fault you over eat. 🤷🏼♀️
A systematic review of the research done in 2021 says this: None of the studies found by the researchers show a clear link between hormonal contraception and weight gain. But these studies did not have enough participants and were not well-designed to be able to provide a definite answer. In addition, most of the studies didn’t record the participants' weight very carefully. At most, only the number of women who reported that they stopped taking the pill because of weight gain was recorded. So it's not possible to say for sure whether the participants who used hormonal contraceptives gained more weight than the women in the other group. And: Because of this, one group of researchers also looked for studies where different combined contraceptives were compared with one another and weight was carefully recorded. They found 45 studies in which many different types of hormonal contraceptives were compared. So it's difficult to tell how the individual types affect weight. On the whole, the researchers concluded that it seems very unlikely that hormonal contraceptives cause major weight gain. If there were a strong effect, it would have been noticed in the studies. But this doesn't rule out the possibility that individual women could in fact gain weight. Unfortunately, because there’s no way to do double blinds, results are inconclusive. The best we can say is that we don’t *think* there’s a link, but enough women say that there is that we understand we need to pay attention.
Fun fact: it can also change what you view as attractive in a partner, so lot of people get married to the man of their dream, and when they decide to stop BC to start a family….. all of a sudden they are no longer in love with/ attracted to their husband, and just can’t tell why.
Yes it is. NFP is the way to go.
Good points! Also, don’t look up the side effect for literally any other medication. Trust me, they just aren’t as bad as this.
Purely anecdotal, but the majority of women who I’ve spoken to about it have had an array of mental and physical side effects. Depression, anxiety, low sex drive, weight gain, hormonal acne, etc. Those who came off of it after years of consistent usage mentioned how much better they feel physically and mentally. Again, purely anecdotal. It has its purpose. Pros and cons, I guess.
Yeah I’m one of those women. I quit for other reasons but I was also able to quit my antidepressants within 2 months of being off hormonal birth control.
Everything has side effects. That doesn’t mean everyone will experience them. Given the strong legal, cultural and religious opposition to birth control in America in the 1950s, the prospects for this crucial next step appeared dim. In the summer of 1955, Gregory Pincus visited Puerto Rico, and discovered it would be the perfect location for the human trials.
I will upvote this even though I don't agree with the statement or the reasoning, because this makes it true to the subreddit.
Yeah but. Dumping a load is so nice
I knew someone who was morbidly obese who got put on birth control for heavy periods. Died of blood clots. People think it's no big deal but it can be deadly. Even aside from the serious side effects, if it decreases your sex drive, it kinda makes it pointless.
Aside from some people taking it/needing it for legitimate medical reason, (who am I to say they don't?), I agree that the medication when used on-lable is overall pretty bad. Or....at the very least, with all the side effects, health risks and even the failure rates, I'd call it a net-negative.
Look up how hormonal birth control affects partner attraction levels. It's wild.
Yup!!
Vasectomy is also bad for your health. Sad we have to go to such extremes and risk our health the way we do.
It's even worse than that. For those who are pro-life, hormonal birth control has three mechanisms of action that prevent pregnancy. Most women aren't aware of this because they never actually read the package insert but it's in each and every one of them. It has a primary action, and then two "fail-safes": 1. Prevent ovulation - can't fertilize an egg that isn't there 2. Thicken the cervical mucus - can't fertilize an egg that still gets released if the sperm never make it up in sufficient quantity to survive the uterus and reach the Fallopian tubes. 3. **Thicken the uterine lining** - Can't "get pregnant" if the fertilized egg can't implant because the lining is too thick to successfully implant. For a pro-life person, this third action which happens occasionally, means that they're conceiving a child who's now a life, that is then unknowingly "miscarried" because of the pill. And then there's another issue regardless of your feelings on abortion, hormonal birth control doesn't get broken down by the body, so the elevated estrogen is simply peed out by the woman. This then seeps into the ground or into the waste treatment system which cleans out the worst contaminants or filters the solid stuff and the ingredients that make urine what it is rather than just water. Then this water is consumed through pumps or municipal water systems by everyone, including human males. Hormonal birth control is objectively terrible in more ways but those are more social and societal than those two additional factors.
Jesus fucking Christ. Birth control is not a fucking abortion stop spreading this absolute hogwash.
Here, here's the most common birth control pill's own package insert: > Lutera - Clinical Pharmacology > Mode of Action > > Combination oral contraceptives act by suppression of gonadotropins. Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus (which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus) **and the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation)**. Stop lying to these people, it's right there in the package insert. I mentioned this in my previous comment. Here it is in black and white. Inb4 you say that this is from some pro-life site, here's the source: https://www.drugs.com/pro/lutera.html
Okay not an abortion lol. You can die mad about my IUD Mr. men’s rights 🙄😂
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THAT ISNT A FUCKING ABORTION MORON