Doctors, please stop prescribing the birth control Pill willy-nilly to teenage girls. It is only a band-aid solution for symptoms like acne and PCOS, and as I have written here many times, it does nothing to correct underlying hormone balance.
Never mind the hair loss, depression, and weight gain that hormonal birth control causes. There is something else of great importance for young women: The Pill drastically reduces sex drive, possibly forever.
This ‘forever’ part is very worrying, especially when we are talking about teenage girls. Researcher Dr Irwin Goldstein puts it this way:
“When [women] stopped taking the pill, we fully expected their sexual function to recover. But we weren’t seeing that.” [1]
Via: areeya_ann | Shutterstock
Dr Goldstein’s research showed that even brief Pill use (few months) can cause a permanent abnormal elevation of a protein called SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), which affects testosterone levels.
If a girl starts the Pill at 15, will she never — in her lifetime? — know what it is like to have a normal libido? Should we not care about the lost libido of young women?
A quick internet search brings up a few expert quotes reassuring us that this ‘Pill-libido-effect’ is a myth. I would love to believe that, and yet, I see the problem again and again in clinic. I speak with young women who suffer their low libido quietly. They have been told that it ‘could not be the Pill,’ so they silently blame themselves instead. It makes me sad. Women should not have to put up with it. I believe that all women — even young women — have the right to a libido.
I hope that there are some of you Pill-takers out there who have not had your libido squashed. If so, then I look forward to hearing from you in the comments section. I WANT to be convinced that the problem is not as bad as I think it is.
Via: Samuel Borges Photography | Shutterstock
Here are a few Non-Pill solutions below. I will go into more detail about treatment in coming posts.
Non-Hormonal Help For Period Problems
Heavy Periods: Anti-inflammatories like turmeric and Ibuprofen can reduce menstrual flow by half. Please see my Very Heavy Periods post.
Period Pain: Stop eating inflammatory foods like sugar and milk products, and take the natural muscle relaxant magnesium.
Acne: Again, stop eating sugar and milk. Talk to a doctor about a zinc supplement. Please read my acne post.
PMS: See my PMS post.
Non-Hormonal Birth Control
As I explained in my last Pill rant, the best contraceptive methods are condoms, fertility awareness and non-hormonal IUDs.
Condoms are fantastic birth control, and they also protect against disease. For added security, please learn to recognize your ‘egg-white fertile vaginal mucus.’ Fertile mucus occurs for just a few days per month, and when you see it, that is just the time when you don’t want a broken condom. You should abstain completely for those few days.
Yours in Health,
Natural health evangelist, hormone expert, and author of Period Repair Manual, Lara Briden first worked as an evolutionary biologist at the University of Calgary. She went on to graduate as a naturopathic doctor from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) in Toronto. Her love of science and the natural world has informed the way she practices medicine. During her nearly twenty years of practice, thousands of patients have entrusted her with their hormone stories. She shares what she’s learned at larabriden.com.
As a 22 year old man with a lost libido, if their is any chance this is true, proceed with extreme caution because it will make you want to kill yourself at least once a week.
Cheers ;p
I have almost no libido and I thought it was just me. Hormonal birth control has never really worked for me. However, I tried it again and again because each of my doctors recommended it for me. I finally quit taking it about 8 or 9 years ago because the side effectswere so bad but I think the damage has already been done. In some way this is a relief to know it’s not my fault but on the other hand it kind of pissed me off. Now what do I do about this??
Disagree 100% been on the pill since 20 years old now 34 because of cyst. I’m off the pull now to conceive and My libid is fine, I have a wonderful sex drive that I share w my husband.
I’ve lost a lot of my libido and I was given bc at 16. I experienced hair loss and depression as well and the doctors gave me an anti depression to offset the effects. I’m totally dissapointed in the care that was provided at the time. Instead of advising me to have a better diet, they put my on bc. Thanks Doc. Thanks.
Dr. Laura, this article is very intriguing. I’ve been married 34 years & have struggled with non-existent libido since I was around 20. Hmmm, that’s when I went on the pill, which I was on for 12 years. In all my years of complaining to my doctors about no drive, not one ever mentioned that it could be caused by the pill. I’d love to see more research on this.
This all makes sense now. I too went on the pill at a early age and now that I think of it, my boyfriend did comment on how my libido had gone. I have been off the pill for 4 years and it’s not come back. Is there anything you can take to help? I’ve asked doctors but the response I got (male doctor) was just do it.
Maca powder increases libido AND helps to balance hormones.
I’ve been taking the pill for about 8 years now. I have a bleeding disorder called von willebrands, pmdd, and struggled with acne as a teen. At one time, I also struggled with ovarian cysts. The pill I am currently taking helps me with all of these things, though I do not take it regularly, oops! My libido seems normal to me! I have a partner and I don’t jump his bones everytime I see him, but majority of the time I’d say I’m up for “extracurricular activities”. We just use other forms of protection because I never take the pill at the same time every day.
I took the pill from age 18 to 27 and been suffering from very little libido and still am now, two years and one birth later. At the moment my hormons are still readjusting while I breastfeed, so I hope hope hope…
Also I suffer from migraine since I started taking the pill.
I’ve been on the pill since I was 16 and haven’t experienced any of these problems. What I have experienced, however, is peace of mind and a carefree life resulting from no unexpected pregnancies. 99.7% peace of mind at that. I’m 38 now and my libido has been going strong for the past 22 years. I love sex; if anything interferes with it, it’s any self-consciousness I feel about my body because society tries to dictate what I “should” weigh and how I “should” look. It absolutely works for me and I’ll keep taking it until I experience menopause.
This is kind of ridiculously written. Not everyone is privy to the same effects when on the Pill, and birth control pill brands are relatively different. Some have less amount of estrogen, some have more – and that all matters. I have never faced hair loss or weight gain while on the Pill, for example. Women have the right to a libido *just as much* as the have the right to the Pill. This should be obvious. If a woman is noticing a drop in sex drive due to the Pill, she can opt for a different brand or find a different method of birth control. Personally, never affected me.