Hormonal Birth Control: Are you in Control or is it Controlling you?
Hormonal Birth Control: Are you in Control or is it Controlling you?
By Heather Robinson, HEALNC Columnist
It has become common practice for healthcare providers to prescribe hormonal birth control for many conditions besides contraception. According to the NIH (National Institute of Health), the first oral contraceptive was introduced in May, 1950. The NIH website boasts that “women have gained incredible freedom and reproductive autonomy.”
However, if you take the time to understand that hormonal birth control (HBC) comes with potentially dangerous side effects, you might respond to their boasting and wonder, “At what cost?” Another question that has risen quite dramatically since Covid 19 is, “Can we trust those who call themselves 'experts'?” Who is the true expert when it comes to our bodily autonomy? With the controversy surrounding Covid, hospital protocols, and the mandates, many have started wondering if we are being told the truth.
Women should be asking the same question with regard to their reproductive health. As a woman who has long struggled with “hormonal issues” such as weight gain, hirsutism, and thyroid disease, I have long held a belief that there was something wrong with my hormones, and there was nothing I could do about it. Because I did not desire to be put on birth control, I never even brought my concerns up to my OBGYN.
In 2020, I came across a lifestyle program that fascinated me called Metabolic Renewal, The entire program was geared towards balancing hormones and metabolism. When I mentioned to a couple of the doctors I previously worked with that I was going to begin this program so I can “balance my hormones,” the response was, “You can’t do that.” Thankfully, I disregarded their ignorance. In that year, I lost 30 pounds, gained a more feminine shape, stopped growing hair in places it didn’t belong, and experienced regular and less painful menstrual cycles. I even went into remission for thyroid disease. I did all of it with nutrition, lots of walking, and relaxing activities such as baths, massages, and reading. According to the author of this program, stress is a major culprit in many women’s symptoms and conditions.
Fast forwarding several years, I was recently introduced to Dr. Sarah E. Hill’s book, This is Your Brain on Birth Control. Dr. Sarah E. Hill holds a PhD in Evolutionary Psychology and a B.A. in Anthropology. While I must admit many of my views conflict with Dr. Hill’s regarding the evolutionary debate and whether the sexual revolution and “the pill” actually benefited women, her research on the extent of HBC side effects cannot be disregarded or ignored. After watching a video highlighting Dr. Hill’s research, I was voracious for more information. In one video, titled The Surprising Link Between Women’s Brains and the Birth Control Pill, Dr. Hill shares the results from her research regarding HBC. She begins by discussing the side effects most of us have heard about such as such as stroke, weight gain, and pulmonary embolism. She also shares that headaches, blood clots and breakthrough bleeding can be experienced. Yet, Dr. Hill’s research goes beyond these commonly stated side effects. She goes on to talk about the sex hormones of women, which resonated with me, as I learned about this during the metabolic program I embraced years earlier.
Dr. Hill speaks on how estrogen and progesterone (the main sex hormones for women) increase and decrease throughout the menstrual cycle to account for readiness for pregnancy, getting pregnant (or not), and menstruation. Dr. Hill then goes on to say, “even though women take the birth control pill for a small number of targeted effects, it has an impact on women’s bodies from head to toe, including the brain.” Dr. Hill states that HBC changes our sex hormones. Sex hormones are not are not something that happens to us, but are a big part of who we are. Dr. Hill calls HBC the “anti-venom” for sexual desire in women. She states it can even change who we’re attracted to!
For example, she states “estrogen ‘loves’ testosterone,” so a woman not on HBC is more likely to be attracted to a masculine man. HBC inhibits estrogen production, and therefore women on HBC are less attracted to testosterone, the key to masculinity. Dr. Hill has also stated that HBC can increase depression, decrease our sex drive, increase inflammation, and cause many other ill effects!
Dr. Hill’s research brings up so many other questions: If HBC can have such dramatic effects on essentially who we are, should we not be concerned for ourselves and the young women in our life who are easily prescribed it? We must start asking ourselves: Why is it so commonly prescribed to women even in the early years of menarche? Why is it prescribed as a one-size-fits-all medicine? Why is there not more research out there to warn women of these potential side effects? Why does my doctor minimize the side effects? Why do doctors believe HBC is the only way to help young women and women with “irregularities” with their menstrual cycles?
My purpose in this article is not to actually answer those questions. Instead, let's go back to the original question: Can we trust those who call themselves experts? My hope is that this article encourages you instead to educate yourself, your mother, sister, daughter, friends to stop only looking for expert opinions, and instead become the expert yourself.
There is no one who knows your body better than you! I encourage you to become the expert of your own body! Fully inform yourself! Look into alternative treatments! Consider downloading an app that tracks your cycles, moods, symptoms, nutrition, exercise, etc. We must do this for ourselves and for the women in our lives, and we especially must teach our daughters - the next generation - to do the same!
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