"Are Birth Control Pills Hormone Blockers: What You Need to Know"

Opinion

If they called Birth Control Pills what they really are which are "Hormone Blockers" would we still take them?  

In my free, private app community, Hormone Harmony Collective with

Coach Lo we have young women in their early reproductive years and we also have Moms of young girls and women who may be contemplating hormonal birth control pills aka hormone blockers.

We will also focus on peri and post menopause, weight gain, and hot flashes in our group but let's look at what may have caused some of our hormonal imbalances by rewinding back years to when it may have started for many of us.

I think it is vital that we talk about birth control pills and their effects.

It is so important that we discuss contraception methods and the influence it has on our hormones especially for those who are still using or thinking about using it for birth control pills for themselves or their daughters.

Please keep in mind I am only here to inform, not to make any judgements for or against but rather to enlighten you because I never was and as the saying goes … "if I would have known then what I know now"  well maybe I would have made different decisions.

I have been working with health coach clients who are over 18 years old now but who were prescribed hormonal birth control to address symptoms including acne, heavy periods, ovarian cysts and even taking them for no periods, all this before they even turned 18!

The use of hormonal birth control for these clients, caused them to experience weight gain, depression and a general feeling of "I just don't feel like myself."

Unfortunately, their particular medical practitioners weren't educated, incented or didn't have the time to discuss or look for root causes for their original symptoms.

It is generally well know that these pills can cause vitamin and mineral deficiency, and they should also be monitored by your prescribing health care practitioner with regular lab work but they are usually are not unless you are your own health advocate.

None of these clients that I am referring to were looking to actually "control birth" at the time that they were put on these hormone blockers, however they were told this will "fix your problem'"  

Well it hasn't "fix" anything.  It has only exacerbated the situation for these young women!

Back in the old days .. when I was being taught about my menstrual cycle as a young girl and I use the term "taught" loosely because there wasn't much education going on...

You got your period, your wrote down the dates and kept it quiet! 

End of story.  

Someone might have said something about ovulation around day 14 but that was still sketchy at best.  I never understood my cycle. I didn't know that my hormones were changing throughout the month. I didn't know I could only get pregnant one day a month.  I wasn't taught about estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone and how these all these hormones fluctuate throughout the month.  

I certainly wasn't taught that stress, food, how active I was would, toxins, a clogged liver (that can occur with any meds, including birth control pills) and lack of sleep would influence how I felt.   

If I would have know that I would gain weight, lose confidence in myself and never feel quite right, I may not have ever decided that birth control pills were my only option when I needed a contraception method.    

I wish someone would have taught me that the pill was going to suppress my estrogen levels in order to trick my body into not ovulating so that I couldn't get pregnant and my menstrual bleed wasn't really a real bleed but just happened when I took the sugar pills because my estrogen started to peak without them.

If I would have know that it would also make me feel sad, even depressed at times, and never confident enough to reach my highest potential, I may have looked for another method!   

Ladies, without estrogen, we don't feel our best!!!  

Estrogen is our confidence builder, bone builder, heart and tissue builder, controller of insulin levels to help us maintain healthy weight and our all around "feel strong" hormone.  We should want to be abundant in this hormone.  We should be our strongest in mind and body in our reproductive years not suppressing it!  

And ... that is also why when we start to decline in estrogen & progesterone after age 35 and when we are going into our peri and post menopause that we are irritable, gain weight, have hot flashes, brain fog, can't sleep through the night and the list goes on.

 

So whether you are 18 or 60 this should help you to understand why I referred to bcps as hormone blockers.   I know it isn't funny but it is ironic that we spent much of our reproductive years blocking estrogen and now for those of us dealing with symptoms of low estrogen, we would do anything to build it back up in order to lose weight/keep weight off and to feel better!

Again, I am not making any judgement or decisions for anyone on their choosen contraception methods but learning your cycle to help with fertility or avoid it, learning about low hormone, or copper/no hormone IUDs or any other contraception methods that are available, should be considered.  

I encourage questions, comments to this post!  

IF you don't want to post here on the website but would prefer a more private setting to ask questions and connect with like minded women,

I invite you the join us in our private, free app and off social media

Hormone Harmony Collective with Coach Lo

on the Mighty Network App

Learn more about the community

---