What I Really Think About The Pill

The pill was an amazing invention that changed society, took away the burden of biology from women, and furthered the feminist cause. Our society probably wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for the pill, and I am grateful for that.

But it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. There are some undeniable negative aspects of the pill and the industry surrounding it. So, what do I really think of the pill? How do I balance the good with the bad?

As a Fertility Awareness and Sexual Health Educator my main goal is to educate and empower people to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. This means giving people all the information so they can decide what birth control method is best for them, in their situation, at that time of their life, be it the pill or something else.

My main concern with the pill is that most people actually don’t have all of the information and are not making fully informed decisions. Most people don’t realize the pill shuts down their hormonal cycles to the point where their body is in an induced post-menopausal state (not a pregnant state like many of us were taught) which brings along lots of unpleasant side effects.

I also know many people are not told the full extent of potential side effects. And, unfortunately, when patients bring concerns about side effects to their doctors, they are often not taken seriously. Instead of looking at the pill as a potential problem for that person and investigating other methods of contraception, they are simply told to try another brand of the pill. This leads to many years of switching between brands, never being satisfied, always suffering some form of side effect.

Another concern is the hidden side effects. In addition to low sex drive, mood swings, acne, depression and others, there are things going on in our body that we might not be aware of when we are on the pill. For example, most people don’t know that the cycling of hormones has many benefits to our bodies. Having a regular cycle has benefits for our heart health, breast health, and bone health. Shutting down the hormonal system with birth control has follow-on effects in all these other systems of our body that may not be apparent for many years.

Many teenagers are given the pill to “regulate their cycles.” But it’s actually totally normal to have irregular cycles in the first few years of menstruating. And by taking the pill they are shutting down their cycles completely, so their body won’t have a chance to mature. When they eventually get off the pill as an adult they will be right back where they started and will have to wait (again) for their body to mature before they have normal cycles.

The pill doesn’t fix polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Whatever hormonal imbalance is causing it is just masked temporarily. When they stop the pill all those symptoms will still be there and the underlying issue will still be there. If they had instead focused on addressing that underlying problem from the beginning, they would be much healthier by now.

The real way to address health issues is not to cover them up and hide them away by suppressing the hormonal system, but really look at what’s going on in the body and why there might be a problem in the first place. We need our hormones, and the fluctuations we experience every cycle have many, many benefits for our overall health. So if something is wrong with that system it’s important to know it can be improved naturally. Many people reduce and even eliminate problems like cramps, PMS, heavy flow, endometriosis, PCOS, thyroid issues, and others through balancing hormones with nutrition and lifestyle.

Another problem that really gets me is the fact that many people are on the pill for years, stop when they want to get pregnant, can’t get pregnant, and go on to have stressful and expensive infertility treatments that may or may not work. The fact is that many of these people weren’t actually “infertile” but instead their body was just taking some time to get regular cycles back after being on the synthetic hormones.

While it’s true that some people can get pregnant right away after stopping the pill (some even get pregnant while taking it!), for others it can take about a year or so to get their natural cycles back. The problem is you won’t know until you try. What this means is many of these people aren’t actually “infertile,” they are simply “recovering” from the pill. If they had known this earlier they could have saved a lot of time, money, and emotional anguish, by waiting a bit longer for their body to regulate, and they could see their return to fertility through observing their body.

If you have a hormonal imbalance that you are dealing with, getting to the root of the problem is going to be much better for your health in the long run. And, if you’re not dealing with hormonal imbalance issues, is it worth shutting down your entire hormonal system when you can only get pregnant for about a week each cycle?

So, all this being said, what’s my conclusion? I don’t believe the pill is all bad and I don’t believe it’s all good. It’s just a medication after all. The real problem is the lack of information and lack of consent in conversations around the pill.

If someone was given all the information and wanted to take the pill anyway then I would totally and completely support them. If it’s what they think is best for them in their situation then that’s great. But the fact is many people don’t really know how it works, and many would have made a different choice had they been more informed.

But it feels like there’s a little revolution brewing and many people are starting to realize that the pill may not be the best thing after all. It served it’s purpose in history, it was amazing for the feminist cause, and yes, it is still very helpful in many cases. But medical history shouldn’t stop with the invention of the pill. We are always learning more about our bodies and hormones, and perhaps now is a time where we can admit the pill might not be as great as we thought it was. Keep in mind there are alternatives for birth control and menstrual health management, and the pill is just one of many options.

As well, there are many doctors that are well-informed and try to work more holistically or in partnership with their patients. Part of the problem is that most of them don’t have time or knowledge to address health holistically and get to the root cause of the problems – because of how the medical system is designed they only have time to deal with symptoms. But I do see this changing and I do see more functional and holistic medicine happening around us.

Ultimately, people need to be given all the options, and all the information, so they can make truly empowered and informed choices about their reproductive and sexual health (whether they choose to take the pill or not).

Looking for a natural method of birth control as effective as the pill? Contact me to learn more about fertility awareness.