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Is Hormonal Birth Control Good or Bad for You?
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Is Hormonal Birth Control Good or Bad for You?
Birth Control is neither good or bad. But we’ll dive into down sides and up sides of why we might want to consider hormonal birth control at different times of our life.
It gets a bad rap because it's been overprescribed for everything from painful periods to curing acne.
That doesn't mean it shouldn't be used for those symptoms, but because doctors are usually too busy to talk through options, it is often presented as the ONLY option.
Hormonal birth control is great if:
You want to avoid getting pregnant.
Have stubborn hormonal acne that doesn't get better with topical treatment or diet changes.
You want to skip your period (yes, skipping is safe! We’ll have more on that too).
You and your doctor have decided after thinking through other approaches that birth control is best for your body for whatever reason.
The problem with birth control.
It's literally prescribed for everything if you are in your reproductive years:
Painful periods, hormonal acne, mood swings, any "hormonal issues", etc. And sometimes it works for those issues BUT it shouldn't be the one-size fits all solution. Our bodies are amazing, and a hormonal pill (or ring or implant) doesn't have to be our first go-to.
And for some issues like PMDD, it is prescribed even though data doesn't support it.
But does it cause cancer?
More research needs to be done, but the short answer is yes and no. Overall, it makes you more likely to get some types of cancer, and less likely to get others. Chances of breast and cervical cancer increase, but the risk of endometrial, ovarian and rectal cancer drop.
Source
Does it cause blood clots?
It can. Estrogen helps promote blood clotting, and so most hormonal birth control increases your risk for getting blood clots.
There are some birth controls that don't include estrogen, so if you are at high risk for blood clots, you should probably use those (if you need hormonal birth control).
Is safe to skip periods?
Yes! In fact, in 2022, we have more periods during our lifetime than our forebearers because we are better fed and healthier, so we start our periods earlier, are pregnant way less, and keep our periods longer. So if you aren't pregnant a lot or skipping your periods with birth control, you are having about 3-4 times more periods than if you were a hunter-gatherer.
Source
It's YOUR choice.
Not your partner’s, or your parents’ or your doctor's choice. It's yours. If it doesn't feel right to you, never feel pressured to get on birth control. On the flip side, if you feel like you aren't "natural" enough because you're on it but it's helping you, know that “natural” doesn’t mean anything scientifically. And there are great reasons to use birth control.
We just touched the tip of the iceberg here and we know people have some strong feelings about it.
We always advocate for what's best for YOU and the more you know, the easier it is to make that right choice for you.
We will welcome more thoughtful discussions in the comments below or feel free to DM us if you'd rather stay anonymous.
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