Taking the contraceptive pill can have many benefits such as preventing pregnancy and regulating your period. But what about the side effects and what it physically changes? Today we're gonna look at what the pill does to your body.
Today the pill is the most popular form of birth control for women who use contraceptives, and more than half of pill users take it to help with heavy periods, cramps, and acne, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute. It can be great in some ways, and not so great in others, as you'll see below.
Here's what the pill does to your body:
1. It can make your breasts larger
Most women know that the pill can increase the size of your boobs but is there actually evidence? Sort of: according to Dr. Anne Burke, an associate professor of gynecology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, “Most scientific studies indicate that the Pill does not cause weight gain. In the few studies that have shown an effect, it's been in the range of 3-4% [percent of women who gain weight on the Pill]. I never say never: some women may gain weight on the pill, but most really do not,” she says. So basically if your breats grow larger, it's probably down to gaining weight generally.
2. It doesn't make your body believe you're pregnant
It's a common misconception that the pill makes your body believe it's pregnant. So let's lay it down for ye: your average pill is composed of two different hormones: estrogen and a synthetic version of progesterone (called progestin), and they prevent you from ovulating by thickening your cervical mucus to make it into a sperm-barrier. Yay.
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3. It can decrease natural lubrication and your libido
You may have noticed if you've been taking the pill for a while that you feel a bit dry down there and you really don't feel like having sex. Dr. Andrew Goldstein, who runs the Center for Vulvo-Vaginal Disorders, has found many young women taking low-dose pills experienced symptoms of dryness and lack of libido. This is because pills lower the amount of testosterone produced by the ovaries and increase a protein secreted by the liver known as sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). The synthetic progesterone in pills actually poisons the testosterone, making you dry as a desert and switched off to sex. But it's not all bad news: according to Dr Oz,, most pill users have more frequent sexual thoughts and fantasies, and better orgasms!
4. Your bones make become weaker
Osteoporosis is a condition that a lot of older women experience during menopause due to decreases in hormones, but have you ever thought about it in your teens and 20s? According to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism by Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) scientists, pills may reduce bone density. With that said, impacts on bone were small, depended on the woman's age and the pill's hormone dose, and did not appear until about two years of use.
5. Your risk of blood clots is slightly higher
A study in the British Medical Journal found that women on pills with drospirenone—a new type of artificial progesterone—were about three times more likely to develop venous thromboembolism (VTE), blood clots that form in the legs, than those who took Pills with an older progesterone called levonorgestrel. Thankfully, even with drospirenone, the rate is only three in 10,000. That "shouldn't be a deal breaker or paralyse someone from taking the Pill," says ob-gyn Ashlesha Patel, M.D., M.P.H., a Women's Health advisor.
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6. It might make you smarter
A study discovered that users of oral contraceptives had larger volumes of gray matter (brain tissue consisting of nerve cell bodies) in certain areas of the brain. Awesome.
7. The pill reduces your risks of endometrial and ovarian cancer
According to Dr. Sara Gottfried in The Hormone Cure, “five years of birth control pill use is associated with a 90% reduction in future ovarian cancer.”
8. You could be low in Vitamin B
Researchers at Tufts University found that 75% of women taking oral contraceptives, who were not supplementing were deficient in B6. It is actually correlated to decreased energy and depression, so it could be worth considering some supplements.
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9. You might choose the wrong partner if you're on the pill
In Woman Code, Alisa Vitti writes that “the more genetically dissimilar two partners are, the lower their rates of miscarriage and the greater their chances are of having a healthy baby as well as happier relationships, more satisfying sex, and a greater likelihood of female orgasm. However, women on the Pill tend to unconsciously seek out men with more similar genes…”. Interesting!
10. It can weaken your sense of smell
A University of Catania study found that women who did not take the pill had the most sensitive sense of smell around the time of ovulation. But, after just three months of going on the pill, women showed no increased sense of smell at the time they were most fertile.
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Food for thought: everyone is different, and the pill may be awesome for some women and not for others. If you're considering going off the pill, make sure you talk to your doctor first to explore your options.
Research and comments in this article are intended as such, and not as medical advice.
