Today's Healthy Monday post is a little more personal, and very female oriented (so for the one guy that reads my blog - my husband - he can sit this one out). I'm just going to jump right into it: After having my baby in July, I have yet to go back on the birth control pill and honestly, I'm not sure I want to. Call me crazy for being a little skeptical about ingesting synthetic hormones nearly everyday, but every doctor or nurse I have spoken to backs the pill religiously. A few years ago I wanted to try a different pill, but when I asked the nurse if it's okay to stop the pill cold turkey, she incredulously asked if I was trying to get pregnant, because "otherwise there is no reason to go off the pill." What the...? No reason at all? Well, I had a couple of my own reasons, but one was because I heard Dolly Parton blamed her birth control pills for causing depression. Okay, okay... I really like Dolly, but I'll admit she's not exactly the pinnacle of medical information. This led me to do a little google digging for info, but I found it was hard to find conclusive evidence on whether or not birth control pills are safe. I did come across this haunting tune: Cancer.org's suggests that recent use of birth control pills can slightly increase your risk of breast cancer.
I promise I'm not about to use Monday as my own sounding off day, but I can't actually post a conclusive healthy-or-not type of post about this. So instead I thought I'd ask your opinion? Am I alone here? Anyone else feel a little weird about BCP? Or do the benefits outweigh any supposed risks? Feel free to share your experience and/or opinion in the comments.
18 comments:
Without going into my own diatribe I say - no pill. Been off of it for 3 years and happy as a clam - MUCH happier than I was ON the pill.
I have had several different opinions about birth control.. I took the pill form of birth control for probably a year and a half but I gained 30 pounds so my doctor suggested I switch to a different pill but I was so miserable I just wanted to go off of it. So I did. Big mistake. It induced a massive amount of anxiety, which I never had before and my hormones were all over the place. My husband and I thought for a while that this may end our marriage because I was so hormonal. Finally after a month and a half and some anti-anxiety medicine things seemed to regulate. After much discussion and a few pregnancy scares my husband and I decided to try it again this month and I am just trying to feel out if I want to really do this again. The amount of changes that occur really make me want to stay away from birth control forever.
I too always had serious issues ingesting synthetic hormones on a daily (I do believe in the cancer link, but in other things too). Prior to getting pregnant with my daughter though I had been on the pill (sort of a give-in period I went through). Once my daughter was born, I was breastfeeding her exclusively, and I had no doubts that I would not go back on the pill until after I stopped bf her. She is 2.5 now, and though only a tiny amount, I still breastfeed her - so no pill for me!
I too was told by many doctors and nurses that there would be no issues with taking the pill and breastfeeding her...but I definitely did not want to take any risks with her. And honestly, the fact that I've been off of it for so long now makes me wonder if I'll ever go back to it...
I was on the pill for ten years, switching here and there to try to find a good fit. After that long, I started feeling like the forced hormones were no good for my sanity and decided to stop, cold turkey. A few months previous, I stopped drinking coffee as I had heard that caffeine definitely made cramps worse, and that was the worst part of the whole process!
Two years later, I am happy to report that I finally feel like my emotions are my own, and I have interest in sex again. What more could a girl ask for??! Two straight-up things to consider, though: are you ready to face the potential serious cramps again (staying away from caffeine and EXERCISE greatly help those, though) AND the full-fledged period? I was on low-dose pills so I had a barely legitimate period of three days with basically no cramps and I'm back to feeling like I'm in junior high, 6-7 days with some serious days at the beginning. Oh, and then there's that having to use an alternate birth control method... may not be worth it to some people?
Anyone that I know who has stopped taking the pill claims it was one of the best decisions they ever made, and I would have to agree!
I took birth control pills for a few years but I haven't taken them for about 8 years. I didn't feel comfortable having something controlling my hormones and my body's chemistry. Luckily there other options out there for us.
As far as the benefits of taking them, I guess I'd rather try to live a healthy lifestyle to reduce my risk of cancer. I avoid pesticides and artificial hormones in foods, use safer cleaners etc. For me, it seems like a better way to go.
Hi there!
I ended up taking the pill for maybe a year, only to stop because I had a blood clot caught in my heart. I was on a high dose, and the risk of blood clots increase the higher the dose of estrogen. I am fine now, but will never go on the pill again.
I got off hormone pills for similar reasons. I hear ya...kind of scary.
There is this amazing thing called a Ladycomp. No drugs and no fuss. It works on your basel temprature. I have been using mine for well over a year. It's just as effective as the pill. I actually bought the babycomp that they make. I am so happy with it.
I have been on some form of hormonal contraceptives for 13 years. I am on the nuva ring now and love it. It helps with my cramps, and more importantly has allowed me to be in control of when I start my family. My mother died of uterine cancer, something hormonal contraceptives have been shown to reduce the risk of. I think one of the tricky things with any hormonal contraceptive is finding the right level and type. Planned Parenthood has a great tool called my method at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/all-access/my-method-26542.htm
which helps identify the method of birth control (hormonal or not)that might work best for you. In the end, I think there are a lot of things we do to our bodies on a daily basis that are not in our best interests. I think for many women, the advantages of hormonal birth control outweigh the minimal risk.
The Dr. Oz show just did one on real questions to ask your Ob/GYN.... one of the biggest shockers from it was that 75% of GYNs would rather use an IUD (or similar % figure). Check out the video clip from the show or do a google search.
You know, I SWEAR I learned in med school (but have not heard anything about it sense) that taking the Pill form of birth control for longer than 10 years did increase one's risk for certain cancers. And all of my Ob/Gyn's have promoted IUD's instead (doesn't alter hormone levels). Personally, I had been on the pill for 5 years or so, but decided to go off of them when I started residency this summer (the pill make me very sensitive and I knew that if Attending Physicians were going to be yelling at me all day I needed to be strong!) Two weeks later i got pregnant. Whoops! Be very careful about all that "natural family planning" - we clearly didn't get it right the first time. (except of course we are thrilled with the notion we will be parents soon!!)
Thanks for the info Heather! I'll check it out!
It was great while I did it, but it's been BETTER since I stopped. I was on the pill for almost 10 years before I decided to stop. I was tired of using artificial hormones. And I was emotional ALL the time. I'm still emotional, especially depending on my diet, but it's less so than when I was on the pill.
One thing that has made being off the pill easier is the DivaCup. It's WAY better than tampons or pads. I love that it can stay in longer and it's reusable. I also use an application on my IPod to track everything, so I still have that predictability.
No regrets here!
I have used the nuva ring for a couple of years with no adverse side effects, and a bunch of my friends use and love it too. I also took my temperature for years, there's a great book I used called "Taking Charge of your Fertility". All women should read this!
Another question... do you use organic tampons? Speaking of cancer, it's thought bleached non-organic tampons can cause cervical cancer, etc.
The pill can increase the risk of breast cancer but additionally decrease the risk of some other cancers. Over all the risk is very low, in fact it really only increases the rate at which a very specific type of breast cancer will grow (this is a cancer that is based on a mutation in an estrogen receptor which abnormally tells the cell to multiply-it does not increase the likelihood of this happening it increases the growth since the the birth control mimics natural estrogen and the more estrogen the more growth. I would not go off the birth control unless I had a very specific reason to which outweighed the other benefits.
Wow,the great comments just keep coming! Thank you for all the input!
Anon from 11/14e - Nope, I haven't tried organic tampons. In fact, I didn't even know they exist, but now that you brought it up, the thought of putting something so chemical ridden inside of us is very disconcerting.
I recently took myself off the pill when I ran out of my prescription. I was having a hard time with anxiety, and started evaluating when I felt more in control of my emotions during the month. I figured it out to be the week when I was on the placebos. So I am on month 2 of no pill. I feel like me again. Mind you I was on the pill since I was 18, and I'm just 24. But my mind is clearer, I have more control over what I'm feeling, and it doesn't feel like I'm depressed or overly emotional anymore.
Unlike most girls, I still had a great sex drive when I was on the pill. It's still there, and almost bigger now! The not so much fun with being off the pill, is the return of acne. So more thought is now given to what I put on my face, and how clean my hands are when I touch my face.
As for femine hygiene products, I've been using the DivaCup for 3 years. Love it. No more ripping and destroying my lady parts with bleached tampons. They were actually starting to hurt. My friend and I read up on what could be causing it, and it could have been due to how a tampon absorbs all moisture in your canal, which is not good. Your body needs that moisture full of good bacteria to fight off the bad stuff. A tampon just rips it all out and your back to square one after your period.
Great to know about the DivaCup. I'm not crazy about tampons either and what you said about it absorbing all the moisture makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing your story EcoChic!
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