Did you know that an estimated 150 million women worldwide take birth control pills?
Such widespread use of birth control pills worries me because many women are not aware of the serious health implications of these drugs. I also believe that birth control pills are often prescribed to address symptoms (like cramping, spotting, irregular periods and acne) instead of the underlying causes of the symptoms.
Many women do not consider the very real (and sometimes very dangerous) side effects of these synthetic hormones, but you owe it to your body, and to your future children, to find out more.
BIRTH CONTROL: SYNTHETIC HORMONES
First, let’s understand how birth control pills work in your body.
Typically, your body ovulates once a month, ripening a new egg that will then journey down a fallopian tube. Eventually it reaches the uterus, where it would implant, if fertilized.
If not fertilized by a sperm, then the lining of the uterus that had built up in preparation for the fertilized egg is unnecessary. Both egg and uterine lining leave your body, cleansing your system and preparing for a new month.
When you take birth control pills, you impose synthetic hormones on your natural cycle.
Many birth control pills contain high levels of estrogen that effectively convince your pituitary gland that you are pregnant (this explains some of the side effects of the drugs) and that you don’t need to ovulate. Because your body thinks you are pregnant, the uterine lining thickens. Once you start the placebo pills, however, your estrogen level drops suddenly, and your body menstruates “normally.”
This abnormal cycle is what millions of women experience every month, and yet few doctors discuss the consequences of taking these prescriptions for year after year.
REAL RISKS
Here is an overview of the reported risks and side effects of birth control pills.
Some physical and emotional changes take place that are permanent while you stay on the pill. Many of these changes occur as your body’s response to synthetic estrogen.
These changes include:
Larger breasts
Weight gain or loss
Reduced or increased acne
Slight nausea
Emotional sensitivity right before your period
Mood swings throughout your cycle
Irregular bleeding or spotting
Breast tenderness
Decreased libido
The above side effects might be enough to deter some women from taking birth control, but many women are just not aware of them, while others justify the side effects because the pill is so convenient.
But imagine taking your birth control pill, feeling depressed and then taking an antidepressant to handle your mood swings and hypersensitivity. Adding an antidepressant could then contribute to even lower libido, which would surely be noticed by you and your partner.
My point is that birth control pills are a prescription drug with very real ramifications on your overall health.
And even scarier than the “mild” side effects are the serious health risks that accompany birth control pills. These include: ,
Increased risk of cervical and breast cancers
Increased risk of heart attack and stroke
Migraines
Higher blood pressure
Gall bladder disease
Infertility
Benign liver tumors
Decreased bone density
Yeast overgrowth and infection
Increased risk of blood clotting
Cancer, heart disease, stroke, infertility. Surely these side effects make birth control pills a less than desirable option for contraception. And now that heart disease has become the leading cause of death among women, one has to wonder if there is a connection between the widespread and long-term use of oral contraceptives, which debuted in 1960... just as the first of the baby boomers were entering their teens.
Yeast overgrowth and yeast infections (candida), too, are particularly dangerous to your overall health.
Birth control pills actually destroy the beneficial bacteria in your intestines, making you more susceptible to yeast overgrowth, lower immunity and infection.
The Body Ecology System for Health and Healing is unique because of our understanding and focus on the inner ecosystem. With a healthy inner ecosystem, good bacteria and yeast (microflora) thrive in your intestines, helping you to digest food, protect you from illness and disease, and absorb and manufacture vital nutrients.
You can encourage the health of your inner ecosystem by implementing Body Ecology’s Seven Universal Healing Principles, living a low stress lifestyle and avoiding recreational and medicinal drugs and empty, toxic foods that upset the balance of beneficial microflora in your body.
After years and years of taking birth control pills and creating an imbalanced inner ecosystem (with an overgrowth of bad bacteria and yeast), it is no wonder that women are at greater risk for infections as well as chronic diseases like cancer.