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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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Anonymous 7w

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.

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Anonymous 7w

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

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Anonymous 7w

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

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Anonymous 7w

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

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Anonymous 6w

I have no problem with it being accessible to others but I’m not going to use it and I think it’s a load of crap that the FDA hasn’t approved hormonal birth control for men.

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Anonymous 7w

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

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Anonymous 6w

Everyone has their own reasons ranging from bad experiences to stigma and more, for me personally it’s a fear of the side effects because the list of them is so long and I really don’t want to mess with my hormones. I know too many people who’ve seen bad effects from it and don’t want to damage my body when using a condom has no side effects.

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Deleted 7w

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 7w

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,

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 7w

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.

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Anonymous replying to -> #4 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #6 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 7w

Man the human body is so weird

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 7w
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Anonymous replying to -> #2 7w

“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)

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 7w

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

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Anonymous 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 7w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 7w

Also,

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 7w

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

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Deleted 6w

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Anonymous 6w

Absolutely 0 negative health effects btw

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Anonymous replying to -> #5 6w

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! 🎊🎊

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Anonymous 6w

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

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 6w

and how does it “destroy” your body?

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Deleted 6w

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Anonymous 6w

The causes of PMDD, PMOS, and endometriosis aren’t actually known though, so how would a blood panel find the root cause?

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Deleted 6w

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Anonymous 6w

okay obviously it’s not going to SOLVE my problems, i’m asking how a blood panel might be able to find the root cause apart from the fact that some ppls bodies are just like that? and how would BC “destroy” your body?

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Anonymous 6w

Because medical conditions still exist even if the cause is unknown???

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 6w

oh yeah absolutely! i think a lack of robust education definitely doesn’t help, and someone who is already on the edge of conspiracy is more susceptible to believing that a tested medication is actually evil and bad for u. obviously BC doesn’t work for everyone and has a lot of potential side effects that a medication for men probably wouldn’t be approved for having, but that doesn’t mean it’s all evil.

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Anonymous 6w

It doesn’t tell you everything though, just what they can see from your blood. There’s plenty of shit wrong with me that doesn’t show in my blood

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Anonymous 6w

omg the question was “how would a blood test help find the root cause of very painful and heavy periods?” if BC is going to “destroy” my body (which u didnt elaborate on), then maybe i want further info??? or maybe BC is just useful for some ppl and problems and not an evil capitalist ploy. idk tho bc u got defensive and didn’t actually answer ppls honest questions

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