Oral Contraceptives
Regardless of what decision you make about oral contraceptives there should involve a thorough risk/benefit discussion as part of informed consent.
The decision made should also take into consideration a woman’s health.
Approximately 25% of women aged 15 to 44 who currently use contraception reported using the pill as their method of choice.
OCP’s are often used to address health conditions, such as menstrual pain, irregular menstruation, fibroids, endometriosis-related pain, and menstrual-related migraines. The issue here is that often OCP’s are prescribed without fully looking at what I causing these issues in the first place. A good root cause dive. Without it a bandaid is just being slapped on the issue, and I am for bandaids, but only when all other options are explored.
When a young woman goes on OCP’s for the above issues it doesn’t “fix” the issues. What we see later on when they come off to start a family is these issues that were masked by the OCP come right back. What if we changed the approach and dove into root cause at the beginning which may change that woman’s course.
When used for pregnancy prevention Progesterone is primarily responsible for this. The main mechanism of action is the prevention of ovulation by inhibiting follicular development and prevent ovulation.
This, in turn, will reduce the secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and decreases the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH).
Oral contraceptives increase all binding hormones, influence metabolism of all other hormones. Affect thyroid hormone function over long term. Risks of breast and cervical cancers are increased, whereas the risks of endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal cancers are reduced.
Increase risk of gallbladder issues, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease (increase inflammation) and depression.
A couple non-hormonal alternatives to OCPs for pregnancy prevention include:
- fertility awareness (natural family planning). Can use calendar method, basal body temp tracking, cervical mucus tracking.
- condoms. Some safer options are Glyde and Unique.