The Pill is chemical castration. We cannot continue to not see this.
Clinicians know it. Women themselves know it because they feel better off the Pill. But researchers mysteriously decline to examine the reality that is right in front of us. They decline to challenge the Pill gospel and instead waste research money comparing one Pill to another. Why attempt to choose the best of a bad lot? The real question should be: “Aren’t women better off without these drugs?”
Challenging The Pill Gospel
The Pill gospel rests on the delusion that hormonal contraception is a substitute for real human hormones. It is not a substitute. The franken-steroid drugs in the Pill, patch or implant are not even hormones. Pill-induced bleeds are not periods.
Women and doctors have been duped into believing that Pill progestins (drospirenone and medroxyprogesterone) bear some resemblance to our own progesterone. But they could not be more different. Progestins cause depression, hair loss, abortion and fatal blood-clots. Wonderful progesterone does pretty much the opposite of all that. Progestins are about as far from our own progesterone as it is possible to be.
Via: areeya_ann | Shutterstock
How Does Hormonal Contraception Harm Women?
1. Depression: At this stage, the research can only offer a speculation that the Pill causes depression. That reminds me very much of the speculation in the 1990s that HRT causes breast cancer. Anyone who treats women knows that hormonal contraception affects mood. Some researchers like Professor Jayashri Kulkarni at Monash University in Melbourne take it seriously. She says that progestins have a depressive effect, and her ongoing study of the popular Bayer-produced birth control pill Yasmin backs that up. “The onset of depression can happen within a day of taking it or within a year of taking it,” says Professor Kulkarni. “Women often tend to blame themselves for feeling depressed and forget to consider the effect of the daily hormone they are taking.”
2. Low Libido: What is sad is how few studies there are on this issue. We know that the Pill drastically reduces testosterone and DHEA in women, and we know that this causes women to have fewer sexual thoughts, and less interest in sex. We also know that it can take months — or even years — for testosterone and libido to return to normal after the Pill is stopped. Most doctors do not bother to mention low libido as a side effect, and once again, women are left to blame themselves.
3. Hair Loss: Synthetic progesterone (progestin) damages the hair follicle and can cause hair loss. Some progestins are worse than others, and modern pills like Yaz (another birth control pill produced by Bayer) tried using drospirenone to avoid the hair loss side effect. They hoped that drospirenone would be more similar to natural progesterone in terms of its benefit for hair. This is another example of the damage done by franken-hormones. Progesterone is healthy for the cardiovascular system, but unfortunately drospirenone carries an unforeseen 700 percent increased risk for fatal blood clots. Women died over this bungle. The solution for hormonal hair loss is not a different Pill, but to get OFF the Pill. Please see my “Hair Loss” post.
4. Weight Gain: The Pill causes insulin resistance, sugar cravings, and prevents the muscle gain that women should expect to see with exercise. My clinical experience is that most women lose weight when they come off the Pill, but some do not. I suspect that is because the metabolic damage has already been done, and is not so easily reversed.
5. Lack Of Periods And Post-Pill PCOS: According to a study funded by Bayer Pharma (who make Yaz), the question of post-pill syndrome has been laid to rest. Really? Fascinating. How nice that Bayer was able to tweak the numbers, but that doesn’t change the fact that many women simply cannot get their periods going after stopping the Pill. These are women who had normal periods before starting the Pill for skin or contraception, and then had the illusion of regular ‘bleeds’ for years. When they finally do stop the Pill, they find out that their periods do not return. Typically these women are slapped with a PCOS diagnosis and advised to get back on the Pill.
6. Post-Pill Acne: The synthetic estrogens in the Pill dry up skin oils and dry up acne. It is a solution of sorts for skin, but the synthetic estrogens do nothing to address the underlying causes of acne. The causes like sugar and dairy sensitivity and intestinal dysbiosis are still there, and when the Pill is stopped, there will still be acne. In fact, there may be more because of the skin’s horrid estrogen-withdrawal for the first 3-4 months. Post-Pill acne can be eased with diet and zinc supplements. The main thing that I ask women to do is to brave the Post-Pill acne and come out the other side. Don’t go back on it, or you will only delay the problem.
7. Fatal Blood Clots: The newer progestins like drospirenone (Yaz) carry a frighteningly high risk for blood clots, but all hormonal contraception is associated with some risk. A study by France’s Drug Safety agency (ANSM) estimates that there are 20 deaths per year from oral contraceptives in that country.
Via: Image Point Fr | Shutterstock
Need contraception?
There are better ways to prevent pregnancy. The best methods are condoms and fertility awareness and non-hormonal IUDs. Modern IUDs are safe and effective. They are inserted in a doctor’s office, and are fully reversible when a woman chooses to become pregnant. The main issue with the copper IUD is that it can cause heavier periods in some women. Fears of other complications are largely unfounded. Dr. Eve Espey from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists puts it this way:
“Women need to know that today’s IUDs are much improved from earlier versions, and complications are extremely rare. IUDs… are safe for the majority of women, including adolescents and women who have never had children.”
For more information about all the different types of birth control, please see Chapter 3 of my book Period Repair Manual.
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.
Both thyroid and insulin are hormones. No one ever calls them into question as not being essential for optimal health. And those replacements are primarily “synthetic” with thyroid being the primary hormone that can suitably be replaced with “natural” porcine desiccated thyroid. (Insulin from bovine or porcine sources is falling by the wayside.) Could not and are not similar arguments made on behalf of women who receive synthetic hormone birth control? Just because the reproductive hormone pills aren’t “natural” but synthetically compounded doesn’t seem like a reasonable enough argument not to take them if it seems the best option, given their general success and the efficacy of other synthetic hormones like thyroid and insulin. Also, “heavier periods” with IUD’s are a non-desirable side effect for the many women who already have horrible periods and the Pill is often a pretty great option there. I’m pretty disappointed with this article in general because the author is clearly putting down birth control pills which arguably have been essential for many women’s health and reproductive rights for decades.
An IUD is an effective method of birth control as well they are not saying you should go without. I have suffered from a lot of these symptoms listed above due to the hormones in the Depo Provera and I cannot even touch the pill as it causes nauseousness and headaches. From the research I have been doing these guys are pretty on track, the hormones that they use to replace progesterone is called progestin which they purposely alter in order to receive a patent. It is bad news in my opinion progesterone repels water inside the body where as Progestin absorbs water. There is no research to suggest that this would have an impact on mood and other factors but hey why would there be, who would profit from that?
I had to stop taking continuous birth control, which I did to get rid of anxiety regarding getting my period, because I got a non cancerous liver tumor. They were able to cut it off and I’ve been healing. I think what you said about it being female chemical castration may be true because now that I’m off the pill I had a huge boost in my libido. I might consider an IUD since you pointed out how much safer they are. I guess I just wanted to anonymously mention the libido thing because it’s so weird, like I might actually understand the appeal of Magic Mike lol.
the thing is though I am on the pill, not for contraception as I am asexual and have no interest in that, but because if I wasn’t on the pill my periods would be excruciating and unbearable. I had to go on the pill because without it I was continuously vomiting for 3 days straight and unable to keep anything down and would end up curled up in a ball on the floor screaming at the top of my lungs because I couldn’t take the pain which concluded in my next door neighbour calling an ambulance as I was too weak and in too much pain to walk and having to have morphine to deal with the pain. So I get that the pill may not be a good contraception in comparison to other alternatives but the people who write these sort of articles forget that the pill isn’t only used as a contraceptive and for people like me it is the only available option and is effective.
Looks like the industry has more paid posters than their are actual posters on this story. Nothing brings out the industry posters more than honest exposure of their product.
Psssst, I hear the Donald is hiring shills to come cheer at his next press release. It pays fifty bucks and ya get a free “Donald” T-shirt.
The biggest risk to any woman is getting pregnant.
For a doctor to start with what harm does it cause and then immediately state depression, in bold, only to go on to say it is speculation is very unprofessional. Getting pregnant could cause a woman to slip into a greater depression than any pill could.
The idea of being able to have sex with a small risk of getting pregnant can massively increase the sex drive of people.
A Lack of periods is also enjoyed by many women. Especially those who have heavy or long periods with associated pain.
Now to an increased risk of a blood clot. It is only a fairly mild increase in risk. However the risk of getting a blood clot if one becomes pregnant increases by over 100x!
I’m not saying the pill is not without risk, I am saying I do not believe it is as bad as stated in the article and that being on the pill is better than being pregnant (if a woman does not want to be pregnant). Of course there are other contraceptions but many find the lack of periods appealing and should not be prevented from having this choice.
Low-risk sex may increase sex drive, but we KNOW the pill reduces sex drive – it’s a well known in-joke among those working in women’s health that the pill works by killing your sex drive, also evidence points to permanent damage to the sex drive. I’ve actually seen greatly increased sex drive in women who switch to more effective options like IUD’s or who switch to more body-positive options like FAM.
If a woman has heavy painful periods that’s a sign of a problem – one of the biggest issues with hormonal birth control is it’s misuse and coercion by doctors who use the pill as a quick-fix or bandaid rather than investigating and treating health problems. When women as young as 13 years old are being put on the pill for irregular cycles, or when all women are instantly recommended the pill for menstrual problems before a doctor even discusses tests to determine cause then that’s a problem – especially for those with conditions like Endometriosis who can expect to go years or decades before a diagnosis is made because of this.
Pregnancy is a greater risk, but there are other birth control options – the fact is that choice is impacted greatly by social factors (e.g. menstrual taboos contribute to use of menstrual suppression) and medical professionals (e.g. coercion such as telling patients the pill ‘regulates periods’ or heavily promoting hormonal options over other options – also speaking from personal experience; many doctors also deny women basic healthcare if they refuse to use hormonal birth control options).
I can attest to this. I was on the Pill for only 18 months and I went from rabid sexual desire to flatline NOTHING. My SHBG went up to 189! (the normal for women who have never been on the Pill is 33) which means I have hardly have any free testosterone available. The Pill also caused me to get Provoked Vestibulodynia (where the vestibule, or opening to the vagina, becomes so deprived of estrogen and testosterone that it destroys the receptors and tissue, making sex incredibly painful). It took me 6 years to find out why sex was suddenly so painful. Even after all these years my vestibule still hurts, and my SHBG is still high (132—it will probably never go back down), and I also have PCOS. The Pill has done extreme, permanent damage to my body, hormones, vestibule, and sex life. It is horrible that so many doctors ignore the extreme damage this does to women and continue to prescribe it for everything. One day people will look back on the Pill as something akin to asbestos or DDT in the amount of damage it does. I wish that day was sooner.