Dear friend,
You may have noticed that Opill was in the headlines again this week. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Perrigo announced that the U.S.’s first-ever over-the-counter hormonal birth control pill would be hitting shelves later this month. While this progestin-only birth control pill is touted as safer than combined estrogen-progestin pills, it’s worth pointing out that it actually still carries most of the same risks as combined pills (sans the blood clot-related ones). Given that Opill will make hormonal birth control readily accessible to girls and women of reproductive age without so much as a pharmacist’s consult—let alone a doctor’s—this week, we’re diving into some of the latest research surrounding birth control risks and side effects.
Our Managing Editor, Anne Marie Williams, has two brand-new articles for us this week. The first is on the (many) medications that interact negatively with hormonal birth control, which can make birth control less effective at preventing pregnancy and/or increase a woman’s risk for serious things like blood clots and sedation. The second article focuses on the data behind hormonal birth control’s negative effects on the ovaries, including the potential to accelerate ovarian aging, thereby leading to infertility. (For anyone who’s ever been assured that hormonal birth control has no effect on fertility, that second article is a particular must-read.)
Our third new article of the week comes from writer and certified FEMM Fertility Care Practitioner, Melayna Alicea, who breaks down for us the results of a recent Canadian study which found a measurable, physical impact that hormonal birth control has on certain parts of the brain, making users’ brains less capable of processing fear healthily. As it turns out, doctors who assure their patients that some of birth control’s side effects are “all in their head,” might not be completely wrong.
Best,
Grace
Grace Emily Stark
Editor-in-Chief and Public Relations
Natural Womanhood
| Can birth control cause infertility?:How hormonal contraception may prematurely age the ovaries Experts say birth control doesn’t cause infertility. But it might contribute to infertility by prematurely aging the ovaries.. Click here to read the full article. |
| What medications interfere with birth control?Which medicines interact with hormonal birth control? Do they make it ineffective at preventing pregnancy, or cause serious side effects, or both? Click here to read the full article. |
| What does birth control do to women’s ability to process fear? Is hormonal birth control preventing women from letting go of fear in everyday life and from being resilient to trauma? And are these effects reversible once a woman stops taking the Pill/patch/ring/shot? Click here to read the full article. |
| From the Archives: Reasons Women Need Periods: The role of the menstrual cycle in brain health and development Why is ovulation so important for brain health? And how might hormonal birth control harm your ability to process fear and regulate your emotions healthily? Click here to read the full article. |