5 Reasons to Stop Using Hormonal Birth Control

I’m sure by the young age of 15 or so, your primary care physician has recommended you start a hormonal birth control. I know mine did! I wasn’t even having sex yet but I told my mom I wanted to be on it! I mean, all the girls were on it. It must be good right? I fell into the trap and walked out of the door with a script in hand for a years’ worth of Yaz.

It wasn’t long after that I started noticing myriad side effects. That brought me to do research, and research HARD. This led me to stop using hormonal birth control altogether.

5 Reasons to Stop Using Hormonal Birth Control

1. Estrogen

The levels of estrogen in birth control artificially mimic pregnancy. They effectively convince your pituitary gland that you are pregnant which causes a whole host of permanent side effects, including but not limited to:

• migraines
• weight gain
• decreased libido
• irregular bleeding or spotting
• emotional sensitivity

Personally, my birth control caused severe emotional sensitivity and instability. My doctor then prescribed me a low dose antidepressant. I will never understand prescribing medication to mask the symptoms instead of trying to find the root of the problem. Birth control pills are pharmaceuticals and should be treated as such…they are not a mild medication by any means.

2. Health Risks

Long-term use of hormonal birth control can lead to an increase in hormone-related health risks as well as other generalized health risks such as:

• Infertility
• Breast Cancer
• Cervical Cancer
• High Blood Pressure
• Decreased Bone Density
• Gall Bladder Disease
• Internal and External Yeast Overgrowth and/or infection
• Increased risk of Heart Attack or Stroke (from the increased risk of blood clots)

While all of these are potentially very serious complications, yeast overgrowth is particularly harmful to your health. Yeast will eat away at your internal ecosystem, wreaking havoc on your intestines and stomach in the process. Yeast overgrowth will eat away at all your “good” gut bacteria which makes you more likely to have a lowered immunity which in turn will leave you more likely to pick up illness and infection along the way.

3. Lack of Effectiveness

It doesn’t actually prevent pregnancy 99.6% (or whatever) of the time IF you weigh MORE THAN 120lbs.

My doctor never discussed this with me so I had no idea. I weighed around 170 lbs when I got my first prescription. I thought that a dose was “one size fits all”…but it’s not. This is actually in the small print of drug pamphlet.

To some, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Before researching, I was using Nuva Ring. We were not using a backup method of birth control. Being overweight (especially for this particular birth control) caused my body to hyper-ovulate: “waaaaalaa, congratulations! You’re pregnant with twins!”

Fertile Focus Ovulation Microscope (available on Amazon)

4. Messing With Mother Nature

If your body was meant to go 3 months, 6 months, a year or 5 years without a period, it would. By preventing a period merely for convenience, you are not allowing your body to naturally cleanse itself. Your body becomes so accustomed to not getting a period that it can (and often will!) screw things up permanently. One of the major side effects of long-term use of hormonal birth control is infertility.

5. There Are Natural Ways to Prevent Pregnancy.

For a bit over two years, we have been practicing NFP (Natural Family Planning) and Fertility Awareness. I use a Fertile Focus Ovulation Microscope to track my body beginning to ovulate/ovulating. My midwives actually recommended this to me. I use an app on my phone to monitor all signs of fertility such as breast tenderness, cervical mucus, and discharge. After reading the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, it has helped me become more accustomed to my body and the signs it was giving me that I was fertile. We conceived our youngest daughter, Sophie, using this method. We have also abstained from pregnancy for 8 months using this method.

Have You Had Issues With Hormonal Birth Control?

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