Aside from pregnancy prevention, birth control pills are often prescribed to menstruating women to attempt to control the symptoms associated with estrogen dominance. Unfortunately, since these drugs contain synthetic forms of estrogen, often with little or no progesterone, they often make estrogen dominance worse.
The issue is that synthetic birth control hormones promote continuously higher-than-normal levels of estrogen in a woman’s body. As we discussed in Estrogen Dominance During the Menstrual Years, a woman’s natural cycle is composed of rising and falling levels of estrogen and progesterone. Birth control pills work by keeping estrogen at a sufficiently high level to fool the body into thinking that it is pregnant, thereby preventing a natural pregnancy. In essence, it’s trying to fool Mother Nature, and this rarely works like we want it to.
While an extremely effective form of contraception, there are a number of side effects associated with the use of synthetic birth control. Several of the published side effects include:
- Increased risk of breast cancer
- Increased risk of cervical cancer
- Increased risk of blood clotting
- Increased risk of heart attack and stroke
- Migraines
- Gall bladder disease
- Increased blood pressure
- Yeast overgrowth and infection
- Weight gain
- Mood changes
- Nausea
- Headache
- Irregular bleeding or spotting
- Benign liver tumors
- Breast tenderness
- Lower bone mineral density
In addition, the liver’s metabolism of birth control pills requires extra amounts of many vitamins and minerals, including the B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium and zinc. This means that long-term use of these synthetic hormones can create nutrient deficiencies and imbalances over time. Many conditions, including weight gain, fluid retention, mood changes, depression and even heart disease can all arise from these nutrient imbalances.
If birth control pills have been recommended to control your menstrual cycles, for irregular bleeding, cysts or endometriosis, you need to determine the underlying factors that are causing those conditions and address them. Working with a qualified health care provider with experience in these areas can save you a lot of time and make this an efficient and effective process.