Disclaimer: This post is intended as a reference only, not to be used as medical advice. The author shares her experience with birth control and prescription drugs. The content in this post is only intended to supplement, not replace the advice of a trained medical professional. For full disclaimer of sandrellsnaturalworld.com, please read here.
Since sharing my uterine fibroids story on social media, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about birth control, particularly if there’s a connection between it and uterine fibroids. Please excuse me if I sound really biased when I say:
There is a VERY EXCELLENT chance of a connection.
We women must be better informed about what we put into our bodies. We must understand how prescription drugs and birth control can affect us. Since I’ve been getting so many questions about birth control and how it relates to uterine fibroids, I’ve decided to write a post about it, using not only my experience with it, but the written resources of trained medical professionals. In this post, I address several forms of birth control: transdermal patch, oral contraceptives, and emergency contraception. Two of these, I’ve experienced for myself, and the other is so widely used, I wanted to share some information about it that may not be known to the general public. All types of birth control comes with some benefits, and, of course, with some cons. It’s entirely up to you to weigh your options and figure out what’s best for your health.
A woman’s introduction to synthetic hormones usually comes with adolescence. More and more young girls are being prescribed the birth control pill to help normalize their hormones, regulate their periods, prevent pregnancy, and control the symptoms of their periods. Within a very short time of introducing BC into their bodies, so many women have reported nausea, breast tenderness, feelings of irritation, and personality changes. It’s even more disheartening that women grow used to feeling lousy while taking birth control.
Introduction to Birth Control
I was one of those women. While on birth control, I experienced all of the above.
There’s a reason why young girls start to feel bad enough to be prescribed birth control. It’s the same reason they feel so awful when they’re on birth control. It boils down to one word:
Estrogen.
As many people are beginning to realize, too much estrogen in the body, or estrogen-dominance, is the root cause of most all female reproductive disorders. This includes PCOS, endometriosis, infertility, and uterine fibroids. More and more medical studies are finding that estrogen-dominance seems prevalent in young women at a very early age. Many doctors prescribe birth control (which is usually estrogen-dominant) to ease painful symptoms associated with women’s menstrual cycles. How ironic that cramping and painful cycles is actually due to an imbalance in hormones! A deficiency of progesterone (the true female hormone; required to keep estrogen from growing out of control) and an excess of estrogen is what starts the problem in the first place. Artificial hormonal birth control only throws your already unstable hormonal system further off balance!
Estrogen and Progesterone
I feel it’s only right to provide you with some information about the heavy-hitter hormones that I’ll be mentioning so much. You need to know how estrogen and progesterone work in your body, so you can better understand what birth control does to your reproductive system.
Estrogen
Before puberty, girls have very low levels of estrogen. Or, they’re supposed to, anyway. Then, at a particular time in a young girl’s life, mostly determined by her weight and the amount of adipose (fancy word for fat) tissue she has, she begins to develop breasts, underarm hair, and pubic hair. This is due to estrogen stimulating primary and secondary sexual characteristics. During the reproductive years, estrogen’s main function is to stimulate the growth and maturation of the uterus, breasts, and ovaries.
There are three forms of estrogen:
- Estrone- Estrogen that’s more active in menopause
- Estradiol- Estrogen that’s most common in women and the strongest. Responsible for most of the estrogen functions during non-pregnancy.
- Estriol- Estrogen that’s more active in pregnancy
They are all steroidal, and they all have individual functions and develop in different areas of the body.
It is widely believed that estrogen is the hormone that differentiates women from men. There is quite a bit of contrasting information about estrogen and how it affects the body between medial doctors and naturopathic doctors, but one thing about estrogen they both agree on:
It’s a known carcinogen.
When the incidence of endometrial cancer went from almost nonexistent in the female population to alarming rates after women started taking oral estrogen that is Premarin, the medical establishment took notice and banned its use in women with a uterus.
Progesterone
Progesterone has quite a few responsibilities for the female reproductive system. The true women’s hormone (not the widely believed estrogen), progesterone’s job is to thicken the uterine lining with mucus and nutrients on it’s monthly quest for pregnancy. It also increases sex drive, with the goal of preparing the uterus for conception. If an egg doesn’t meet a suitable sperm that month, progesterone levels plummet, causing the uterus to shed it’s lining and a period to begin.
Transdermal Patch
I was on the Ortho Evra birth control patch for over 2 years.
Ortho Evra, or The Patch, is a patch that contains hormones that are absorbed through the skin when it’s placed on one of four areas of the body: the upper outer arm, buttocks, abdomen, or upper torso, such as the shoulder blade area.
The patch is applied every week for three weeks, and then after three weeks, you take and leave the patch off for the fourth week, which is when your period occurs. The patch continuously delivers levels of synthetic progesterone and estrogen. This method of birth control allows the drug to directly enter the bloodstream, allowing it to avoid being deactivated too quickly by the liver.
The patch was first introduced to the world in 2002 by the Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. as an alternative to the birth control pill. The patch was alleged to be as effective at preventing unwanted pregnancy as traditional oral contraceptives, but offered the added convenience of a once a week application rather than a daily pill.
Here’s a fact: I admit that I did have painful menstrual cycles before I started using Ortho Evra, but after I started using the patch, my reproductive problems–my overall health–became a whole lot worse! I couldn’t understand why my mood changed from happy-go-lucky to sullen and withdrawn. I didn’t know why I was so nauseated and dizzy periodically. It never occurred to me that the source of my unhappiness was my new method of contraception and the high amount of estrogen I was being exposed to because of it.
Introducing such large dosages of artificial hormones into my body exposed me to way more problems than I bargained for. And apparently, I wasn’t the only woman the patch affected negatively. It’s no wonder Ortho Evra was discontinued, and there have been lawsuits against it. According the article I linked, women using Ortho Evra were exposed to 60% more estrogen than those using typical birth control pills because hormones from patches released into the bloodstream are removed from the body differently than those from birth control pills. Oral birth control pills are immediately broken down by the liver. This is not the case with the birth control patch.
Since I was on the patch for nearly three years, I did noticed some things. Here are some things to know about the Ortho Evra patch.
Purported Pros:
- Simple and convenient. This is true. Easy to put on, easy to take off. And you really don’t have to worry about taking a pill everyday.
- Though skin lesions and rashes at the placement site were listed as a side effect (and noted in women), I didn’t experience this. For the most part, the patch was discreet and fairly comfortable.
- Claimed to be reversible and women would have the ability to become pregnant returns quickly after stopping the use. I can’t really vouch for how true that is. For me, it wasn’t.
- Helps minimize acne. This was true for me. I’ve suffered with acne since I was a pre-teen. While I was on the patch, my skin was clear.
Purported Cons:
- Infertility
- Chronic yeast infections
- Non-cancerous breast tumors
- Ovarian cysts
- Ovarian cancer
- Ectopic prenancy
- Facial hair develpment
- Risks of blood clots and pulmonary embolism
- Changes in sexual desire
- Changes in personality. Mood swings, and depression development
- Bleeding between periods
- Anemia
I actually experienced 7 of these cons as a result of the patch. And I didn’t even list all the cons of the patch. You can read more about the patch and its side effects here.
The Pill
The birth control pill basically fools millions of women’s bodies into thinking and acting like it’s pregnant.
The way the pill works comes in two forms. There is pill that is a combination of two synthetic hormones–estrogen and progestin. Fake estrogen and fake progesterone.
And there’s the pill that consists solely of progestin.
The combined pill is the one that is usually prescribed. It prevents pregnancy by preventing ovulation from occurring by suppressing the natural hormones in the body that would stimulate the ovary to release an egg. No egg, no pregnancy. The estrogen of the pill makes sure no egg will be developed or released for that month. The progestin thickens the cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to travel up the cervix. Progestin also prevents the lining of the uterus from developing normally, so even if an egg was fertilized, implantation would be unlikely.
The pill that consists only of progestin contains large amounts of progestin, so it suppresses ovulation and prevents sperm from navigating the cervix, and it also keeps the uterine lining from developing.
The type of birth control that allows you to have just a few periods a year really need to be reconsidered about their use. I remember when my college roommate told me that her method of birth control was the Depo Provera shot. What she loved most about the shot is it only allowed her to have three or 4 periods a year.
This was right before I began using the patch. Though I knew next to nothing of birth control, I did know that messing with your body’s natural cycle wasn’t normal–nor good–for your body. I remember asking her if that was a normal thing for her body to endure, and she was stumped. She nervously assured me it was. The next day, she’d spoke with her doctor, and was assured that only having 4 periods a year was indeed “normal.”
I still didn’t believe it. How could it be when you mess with something that was supposed to happen?
It was confirmed to me later in life that not only was not having a period every month NOT normal, but of course is quite harmful to your body! With birth control like this, no attempt is made to mimic the body’s natural hormonal levels during the 28-day menstrual cycle: low estrogen and very low progesterone at the beginning of the cycle, a dip of estrogen at mid-cycle, and then an elevation of both estrogen and progesterone followed by an abrupt drop of both that signals the beginning of the period. Then, the cycle repeats itself.
The side effects of the pill are similar to the patch:
- Irregular bleeding
- Chronic yeast infections
- Nausea
- Breast tenderness
- Weight gain and/or water retention
- Mood changes
- Stroke
- Hypertension
- Heart attack
- Gallbladder disease
- Migraines
- Blood clots
- Benign liver tumors
In the women that I know who use the pill, I can say that nearly all of these symptoms I have either seen in them, or they’ve shared with me.
Also, what’s usually not mentioned by medical professionals is in order for the body to metabolize birth control pills, it causes nutritional deficiencies in your body. The liver requires extra amounts of the B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc just to be able to effectively do its job of breaking down the fake hormones in birth control.
Emergency Contraception
Emergency Contraception, or Morning-after pills, is included in this post, because it is another form of contraceptive that contains high dosages of synthetic hormones.
Morning after pills can be used after sex to stop a pregnancy before it starts. It’s highly recommended to use this form of birth control as soon as you can after unprotected sex–preferably within 72 hours. It’s stated that the sooner you take it, the better it works.
Morning after pills contains higher dosages of progestin than the actual birth control pill. The progestin works on the ovaries to stop the ovary from releasing an egg. No egg means no fertilization, and no implantation.
It’s a backup method of birth control that can be used:
- If no other birth control method was used
- You forgot to take your regular birth control pill
- The birth control method you used failed (condom broke)
Spotting, breast tenderness, nausea, and vomiting are listed side effects of this birth control method.
This method of birth control is still considered dangerous to your reproductive health, because it causes your body to halt in its natural activities. I truly believe that risk of ovarian cysts or even cancer should also be included in the known side effects of this contraceptive, since it does what the birth control pill does, only it takes higher amounts of fake progesterone to do so.
How Artificial Hormones Affect You
In the United States, there are approximately 68 million women in their childbearing years between the ages of 15 and 44, and throughout those years a variety of contraceptive methods may be used. Among those are the ever popular synthetic hormonal-filled birth control in the form of birth control pills, shots, and patches.
There have been quite a few women who have either just started taking birth control because they were told it would help normalize their hormones and/or menstrual cycles. And then there are other women who have been taking birth control for some time. There are also women–like myself–who took birth control in the past, and didn’t really experience problems with our reproductive systems until years later. While on birth control, you don’t realize that the birth control is actually harming your body.
The modern practice of delaying childbirth by suppressing ovulation–sometimes for 10 or 15 years with the birth control pill, may result in lack of proper synchronization–or the working together for the good and complete functioning of–the hypothalamus and pituitary hormones that direct ovulation. In other words, by messing with your body’s ovulation cycles with birth control for years, you could mess up your hormones responsible for natural ovulation, making it very difficult to get pregnant.
Taking birth control pills or any other form of hormones can shut down normal ovary function. A diet full of xenobiotics (which are chemical substances not naturally produced or expected to be in a person) and prescription drugs can also negatively affect the menstrual cycle by impairing the function of the hypothalamus. As it pertains to the reproductive system, the hypothalamus directs ovulation.
Xenobiotics can also hinder your metabolism, thereby causing you to get fat. And since the liver can/will become compromised while on BC, it won’t effectively burn fat as quickly as would if it were functioning optimally. This makes weight-loss very difficult.
Birth control also damages liver function to the point where it doesn’t function optimally. The liver is essential to recovering your hormonal balance, and improving your fertility. After years of being exposed to the toxins and synthetic hormones in birth control, the liver becomes sluggish, and it won’t deactivate and filter those hormones from your system as effectively as it should. Toxins build up in your body, and throws not only your reproductive system out of whack, but your entire body!
High toxin buildup due to the chemicals in the birth control can weaken the immune system. In this state, the body cannot defend itself and cannot control the process of toxic elimination and hormonal balancing as it could if the immune system was at its peak performance.
Estrogen dominance is the cause of of anovulatory cycles. An anovulatory cycle is when a women skips ovulation. In order to become pregnant, you must first ovulate. During ovulation, the ovary releases an egg to travel via the fallopian tubes to the uterus to be fertilized by sperm. Since we know certain birth control pills work directly on ovaries to stop ovulation, it’s certainly easy to see why this can be become problematic.
The natural, proper functioning of every organ of the female reproductive system is responsible for the prevention and formation of uterine fibroids, and/or keeping your uterine fibroids symptoms under control if you already have them.
Uterine Fibroids & Birth Control
So, what does this all mean for women with uterine fibroids? Women suffering with endometriosis, PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), infertility, and more?
As a woman who took birth control for years and suffered the ramifications of it, I truly believe the start to your overall health is to get rid of the chemicals that you’re flooding your body with. Contrary to popular medical belief, birth I firmly believe that birth control is not necessary for your body. You can gain all the benefits of birth control and none of the cons simply with taking responsibility for your body (and sex life) and restoring your body to a state of balance where disease cannot exist.
You don’t have to take my word for it. There are TONS of medical research on how birth control negatively affects the body.
Think about it: birth control directly affects the reproductive system of women, causing it to operate in a way that isn’t natural. Flooding your body with artificial hormones and forcing your body to operate in a way that it wasn’t naturally programmed to do, especially for prolonged periods of time as some women stay on birth control for over 10 years, reproductive disorders are almost always inevitable.
There are still a few forms of birth control to consider that we did not discuss.
- Condoms
- Diaphragm
- Fertility awareness-based methods
- The ever-effective abstinence
While a lot of doctors will admit that they don’t know the exact cause of fibroids, they do know this: a woman’s hormones can–and do–affect the rate of growth of fibroids, and may even be an underlying cause of their formation in the first place. Thankfully, more and more health care professionals are finally becoming educated to the fact that the real culprit of fibroids lies in her out-of-balance hormones.
Chronic exposure to man-made hormones can cause hormonal dysfunction, ovary damage, and infertility problems. EVERY SINGLE WOMAN I KNOW that has been on birth control, or is currently taking birth control has had some serious problems with their reproductive system, or experienced at least TWO of the known side effects of birth control. With this in mind, it’s not quite so far-fetched to wonder if, or even assume that connection between birth control and uterine fibroids are much closer than you think.
Sources: Essentials of Maternity, Newborn, and Women’s Health Nursing, Susan Scott Ricci; Hormone Balance: A Woman’s Guide To Restoring Health and Vitality; Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.;
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