Ask Women on Sidechat | I see a lot of women who are against hormonal birth control and see it as some inherently harmful thing but I don’t really get why?

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Ask Women 14h

I see a lot of women who are against hormonal birth control and see it as some inherently harmful thing but I don’t really get why?

Anonymous 13h

as someone who has been on the pill for years and it has improved my general quality of life, what a lot of women are scared of is potential side effects. i was really scared of them when my mom was trying to convince me to try it (i get horrible painful heavy periods), but im very glad i decided to try it. my guess is that the fear of those side effects overlaps with the scared of vaccines, all-natural crowd, as well as lowkey the RFK Jr crowd, so theres a conspiratorial element to it

Anonymous 13h

These comments are NOT it. As someone who has dealt with the side effects and had to go through it, it doesn’t stem from the anti vax crowd, the under educated crowd, etc. I gained weight (50lbs), mood swings, I bled for a year straight, acne like a teenager again, bloating like no other, etc. just because YOU didn’t deal with the side effects doesn’t mean it’s not real. These side effects were debilitating for me and I had to get off hormonal birth control and deal with my menorrhagia again.

Anonymous 13h

i’m not sure either tbh. ts saved my life

Anonymous 8h

because it destroys your body for the sake of corporate greed. most issues could be boiled down to deficiencies but it’s really hard to get drs to do a full blood panel because they’re lazy and want to make bank.

Anonymous 9h

I don’t think it’s inherently bad but I don’t recommend it for anyone. I think it causes fertility issues once you get off and a bunch of other bad symptoms (it made me suicidal with the pill, and other bad symptoms with the rest of the ones I’ve tried) I don’t think the majority of women think it’s inherently bad, it just is high risk and low reward. You generally don’t wanna have sex when you’re in pain and wanna die, so you end up getting nothing out of it. Everyone’s different though

Anonymous 9h

Maybe it stems from the fact that if you’re on it for a long time it can increase your chance of cancer. It’s not a definite thing but it definitely raises the risk

Anonymous

#2 13h

Same, which is why it’s so upsetting to see people discouraging its use :/

Anonymous

#3 13h

I’m not trying to contradict your experience at all, because you’re 100% right that it can have real consequences, but I have to admit that I do think some of it is because of stigma against birth control in general. It wasn’t that long ago that we had to fight for the right to it, so I don’t think it’s crazy that there are people who are against it for reasons other than quality of life. I’m sorry your experience sucked ass, and I hope you found a better way that worked for you. Again,

Anonymous

#3 13h

hey i’m not saying the side effects aren’t real, but some ppl treating it as a inherently bad thing for all women can have a line of reasoning along the lines of “it’s not natural”. like i’ve seen ppl say things with a sentiment of “why would i pump my body full of hormones”, treating hormones as an inherently negative thing. i’m very sorry that u had to deal with the side effects, they are a very real fear.

Anonymous

#4 13h

You’re absolutely valid, just adding in another perspective.

Anonymous

#1 13h

to be clear: fear of the side effects is valid! however, i’m saying that the hostile attitude towards BC in general could partially come from an overlap with valid fears and some “big pharma wants to ______” kind of conspiratorial thinking

Anonymous

#3 10h

I myself did deal with the side effects and had to be put in the psychiatric hospital which is part of the reason why I’m so confused, I know it can be a traumatizing experience but I would never act like hormonal birth control is inherently bad or discourage someone from trying it just because of the risks. Sometimes your body is just incompatible, not at the fault of the meds or systemic misogyny, but some people just don’t seem to get that

Anonymous

#1 10h

I see ordinary, non-conspiracy-type people say this as well, but I do think you have a point because I don’t know a whole lot of people who actually know how birth control works and I myself didn’t know until I actually researched it a couple months ago. Things tend become much less scary when you know how they work

Anonymous

#5 9h

I don’t care what other women do, but the women I actually am close to and care about I would tell them not to use it and be careful, but it’s still their decision

Anonymous

OP 9h

exactly!! discussing side effects is one thing and it’s also valid to demand more research and effort put into our medical care than just telling us to go on birth control to solve any issue. but the rhetoric around it being “bad for you” def does pipeline from/to a creepy conservative mindset

Anonymous

#6 8h

it also lowers the risk of some kinds of cancer! which is interesting

Anonymous

#2 8h

It’s also a class a carcinogen according to the UN… so it’s a fucked situation. I think it helps endo slow down though right? I don’t have endo so idk

Anonymous

#2 8h

Man the human body is so weird

Anonymous

#5 8h

Anonymous

#2 8h

“In 2005 the World Health Organization added combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and combined hormone replacement therapy to its list of group 1 carcinogens, citing the former as a risk factor for cancers of the breast, liver and cervix.2 COCs appear on the same list as tobacco, asbestos, cadmium and benzene.” -https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11065395/ (national institute of health)

Anonymous

#5 8h

Class A carcinogen means there’s just a confirmed link between the substance and cancer, not how likely you are to get cancer. There are things like the sun and wood dust on the class A list

Anonymous

OP 8h

For breast cancer and oral contraceptions, there is a 7% increase of getting breast cancer if you have stopped taking it (compared to women who have never taken it) and 24% increase while you’re on it according to the national cancer institute

Anonymous

#7 8h

Do you have an example of how a blood panel would help?

Anonymous

#5 8h

I don’t really know why that would be a reason to discourage people from using it though, I think if someone knows the risk and still chooses to move forward that decision should be respected

Anonymous

#5 8h

Also,

Anonymous

OP 8h

Yeah I think so too, but with informed consent. If they know the risk then let people do what they want. Idc what others do with their body as long as they what they’re doing

Anonymous

OP 4h

you’d be able to see your cortisol, vitamin b, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, iron, etc. low vitamin b can lead to extreme brain fog which could be easily treated by supplements. these levels would also show things abt gut health which can affect acne, stress, etc. basically it’s comprehensive so you’d know what specifically needs medication vs lifestyle changes. not as lucrative as pushing prescriptions onto you

Anonymous

#7 1h

Absolutely 0 negative health effects btw

Anonymous

#5 1h

The carcinogen thing is specific to breast cancer due to the fact that it’s a synthetic estrogen, which was based on junk science. They rolled that back this year! 🎊🎊

Anonymous

#7 1h

how would a full blood panel (which i have done) have helped with extremely heavy and painful periods?

Anonymous

#1 1h

and how does it “destroy” your body?