Side effects of birth control pills

The birth con­trol pill was intro­duced to the Unit­ed States in 1960 and has grad­u­al­ly spread through­out the world since then. They are often used as the pri­ma­ry method of con­tra­cep­tion, and they are also con­sid­ered the most effec­tive avail­able. How­ev­er, are they real­ly good for your body?

In every bar­rel of hon­ey there is a fly in the oint­ment. There­fore, birth con­trol pills have their own side effects. Some­times they are pos­i­tive, such as the absence of acne, and some­times they are extreme­ly neg­a­tive. We list the most com­mon.

1. Softer periods

Women who take birth con­trol pills often notice that their peri­ods become less painful. This is all because the hor­mones con­tained in the drug make the lin­ing of the uterus thin­ner. How­ev­er, if men­stru­a­tion has com­plete­ly stopped, you need to talk to your doc­tor.

2. Nausea

Some peo­ple feel nau­seous when they start tak­ing oral con­tra­cep­tives. Some­times the body adapts, and some­times you need to change pills. Some doc­tors advise tak­ing the pill before bed to reduce the symp­tom.

3. Bloating

Tak­ing addi­tion­al hor­mones can lead to bloat­ing, espe­cial­ly if you have irri­ta­ble bow­el syn­drome or any oth­er gas­troin­testi­nal dis­ease. Doc­tors believe that after six months this symp­tom dis­ap­pears.

4. No problems with vaginal lubrication

Accord­ing to a study, tak­ing cer­tain birth con­trol pills can increase the amount of vagi­nal lubri­ca­tion, mak­ing inter­course a lit­tle more enjoy­able. Espe­cial­ly if pre­vi­ous­ly there were prob­lems with nat­ur­al lubri­ca­tion.

5. Dryness in the vagina

Some birth con­trol pills can actu­al­ly cause vagi­nal dry­ness. Here you need a con­sul­ta­tion with a doc­tor or the choice of a good lubri­cant.

6. Mood improves

Some pills can improve psy­cho­log­i­cal well-being. One study says the pill can reduce symp­toms of depres­sion.

7. Strong ligaments (or vice versa)

Some research sug­gests that estro­gen reg­u­la­tion may loosen lig­a­ments in younger women. In old­er women, on the con­trary, they can reduce the inci­dence of knee injuries.

8. Significant reduction in the chance of unwanted pregnancy

Yes, that’s what they are for. It would be strange if they did the oppo­site.

9. Facial pigmentation

Some oral con­tra­cep­tives increase the risk of get­ting melas­ma. This is a dis­ease that caus­es brown spots on the face. If the fam­i­ly has prob­lems with skin, pig­men­ta­tion, it is worth approach­ing the choice of birth con­trol pills respon­si­bly.

10. Reduced sex drive

These are hor­mones, so it is only nat­ur­al that at the begin­ning of tak­ing birth con­trol pills, sex­u­al desire may decrease or fall to zero. How­ev­er, after a while every­thing returns to its place.

11. More regular periods

If the peri­ods are irreg­u­lar, it increas­es the risk of endome­tri­al and ovar­i­an can­cer, so when birth con­trol pills set­tle the cycle, they also have a pre­ven­tive effect.

12. Spotting

This symp­tom usu­al­ly resolves with­in three months of using birth con­trol. But yes. This also hap­pens.

13. Breast tenderness

This side effect also dis­ap­pears after a few months.

14. Absence or appearance of “menstrual migraine”

If you’ve had a headache before your peri­od before, breathe out. Con­tra­cep­tives will help to cope with it. But if men­stru­al migraine did not occur before, pills can cause it.

15. Prevention of certain types of cancer

For exam­ple, the like­li­hood of get­ting endome­tri­al and ovar­i­an can­cer is reduced by 30–50% accord­ing to this study.

16. Clear skin

Birth con­trol pills have a pos­i­tive effect on the skin if you have had hor­mone-relat­ed acne. If not, and acne appeared due to prob­lems with the liv­er, then the sit­u­a­tion will not change.

17. Fewer period cramps

It’s nice too. Since the peri­ods have become a lit­tle less, you no longer need to suf­fer from painful cramps.

18. Increased Susceptibility to Vaginal Infections

For exam­ple, the risk of yeast infec­tions or bac­te­r­i­al vagi­nosis is increased due to the effect of hor­mones on the vagi­nal tis­sue. Try to use less tam­pons when you’re on birth con­trol.

19. Appetite increase

Because of hor­mones, you often want to nib­ble on some­thing that was not on the menu for the day. This also occurs after tak­ing birth con­trol pills.

20. Risk of thrombosis

Very often, if there was a prob­lem with blood clot­ting before, blood clots can begin to appear in the legs and lungs. It’s because of the estro­gen pills. There­fore, dur­ing the selec­tion of con­tra­cep­tives, do not for­get to talk to the doc­tor about this. This is very seri­ous!

Are you tak­ing birth con­trol?