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I was in medical school and any doc reading this right now comprehends the level of debt you incur in year one alone. Ten years came and my doctor shrugged it off and told me that having a baby was far too big of a risk. At the time of starting the pill I was told my daily habit had a 10-year expiration date. I was passed the pill with zero discussion about how it could impact my health. And The Birth Control Side Effects Are Real Because the birth control side effects are real and you need to take special steps to support your body.
#Birth control pill free
If you're looking for a root cause approach to your health and breaking free from hormonal birth control then grab my free guide on hormonal birth control and take back your body!Īnd if you are using the pill for pregnancy prevention and feel it is your best option, my guide will support you too. Yeah, well they are your body giving you some serious data that can help you fix your own period and make your menstrual cycle work for you. Those symptoms that you hate? That we all hate. And while it can strong-arm your body into submission and make those symptoms be gone, it is a short-term (and short-sighted) solution to your hormone struggles. It tells your brain to stop talking to your ovaries and your ovaries that they've been replaced. Here's the deal, that pill, patch, IUD (fill in the blank) suppresses your hormones. The truth is, the pill will not fix your hormone imbalance, your periods, your acne, your PCOS…it will NOT fix your hormones.Įvery day in my medical practice I hear from women who have been told that taking hormonal birth control is not only THE solution to her hormonal problems, but it's the ONLY solution if she wants to “fix” her hormones. With that in mind, how could the pill fix a hormone imbalance when it is preventing you from making hormones in the first place? Ok, so you now know that the main mechanism of birth control is to shut down your natural hormones. It has been estimated that about half or more of women ovulate while using progestin-only contraception. The pill may also alter how your female reproductive tract functions in terms of escorting the egg to meet sperm. Progestin causes changes in cervical mucus so it is much more difficult for sperm to swim and make it to the egg. So yes, you could have a situation where a sperm fertilizes the egg, but the egg fails to implant. Progestin makes the endometrium (lining of the uterus) less favorable for an embryo to implant. Progestin-only is typically used in women with high risk of stroke, like in early postpartum.

If you're taking progestin-only then know that there is a different mechanism at play. Progestin-Only Birth Controlīecause the typical pill also contains progestin, the following also applies to the combination pill. In theory, the pill should shut down follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) as well, but in some women, they continue to develop follicles. This is where the combination pill shines and the progestin-only pills can fail. Without LH your ovaries don't get the signal to ovulate. The suppression of these hormones results in luteinizing hormone (LH) suppression. These are brain structures that control hormone production. The pill specifically suppresses hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and pituitary gonadotropin secretion. Your brain in turn does not secrete hormones and the ovaries receive no signal to make hormones.

Birth Control Pills and Ovulationīy taking birth control tablets you send a signal to your brain that there are enough hormones and no need to make more. The number one way is to prevent ovulation. There are several ways in which the best birth control prevents pregnancy. This is the most commonly prescribed type of birth control because it has a better rate of pregnancy prevention. Click To Tweet Combination Oral Contraceptives Curious how birth control pills work? Check out this article & get in the know. How does the pill work? By suppressing the signals from your brain to your ovaries and altering natural function of the reproductive system. And the progestin-only is exactly what it sounds like and does not have estrogen. The combination pill contains both synthetic estrogen and progesterone (more accurately progestin). There are a couple of options when it comes to the pill-combination and progestin-only. But I had to wonder as I entered medical school, “just how do birth control pills work?”Īnd it is one of the top questions I get from readers and patients. And what did I care? I just didn't want painful periods or a baby and the pill promised to deliver on both accounts. I don't know about you, but I wasn't told how the pill worked until my final years on it.
