Guest Post by Holly Grigg-Spall, freelance writer (“Sweetening the Pill“)
The popularity of the birth control pill is an essential element of our cultural attitude towards menstruation, and women’s bodies as a whole. After taking the pill for ten years I recently decided to stop, for good. I have this month had my first real period in a decade. I didn’t decide to come off the pill because I want a baby, it’s because I want to blog, and have been blogging about the pill for several months. My blog ranges from my own personal ramblings about taking the pill, to adventures in the world of women’s studies. I am not religious, pro-abstinence or anything like a hippy, I just came to realise that I was taking a very powerful medication every day and I wasn’t sure exactly why.
I had an understanding that the pill was a wonderful invention that liberated womenkind, but ten years in and on Yasmin I was experiencing panic attacks, constant anxiety, paranoia and depression, as were many of my friends and friends of friends. I began to research how the pill actually works and was amazed to discover the whole body impact and potential side effects of this impact. I didn’t know the pill suppressed my hormone cycle every month and that this suppression had consequences for many functions of my body, most interestingly the system underpinning my mood and sense of well being. I didn’t know this, and soon discovered most women didn’t know this either and were blithely popping a pill they thought safe, easy and effective, and not even just for contraception when contraception was needed – they were taking it at fourteen years old and continuing for a large part of their lives. Aside from internet forums for medications discussion I could find no one intelligently criticising, analysing or considering the potential effect of the pill’s impact. Anyone who did so was considered to have a conservative, anti-women agenda.
Considering the pill’s mythology and legacy it has been hard to get the word out there that some women will experience insidious effects on their mood and emotional state and that women should know more about the pill if they are to truly be making an informed decision about their bodies. Margaret Sanger fought for education, availability and freedom of choice – the dominance of the pill, and the culture of pill pushing has created a situation in which many women do not know what they are taking, what it does to their bodies or what they could use as an alternative that would be just as effective, or even get hold of these alternatives if they do know and want them. There are still many women out there who are unnecessarily suffering as I did with depression and anxiety, doubting themselves and their sanity. I always say – yes women who don’t take the pill feel bad sometimes too – but it’s very important that women taking the pill know that if they do feel bad it could be that medication they take every day, so casually, it seems odd to even call it a medication.
Coming off the pill I have been experiencing what I can only describe as withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms are similar to what I experienced at my worst points on Yasmin – a growing sense of dread, insecurity and anxiety. When on the pill it’s hard to decipher these feelings but retrospectively it’s not so much a matter of your feelings of sadness or worry being abnormal in every day life, it’s more that the extreme levels of these states and your inability to cope with such feelings is definitely abnormal, a side effect. In life you may feel low sometimes or angry sometimes but there’s always a mooring of the wider perspective, a strength in your sense of self, a foundation of reality – the pill’s effect on your hormones and endocrine system cuts you off from this mooring, making the experience like quicksand in your mind with nothing to hold you steady.
Studies show many women start the pill and stop because of side effects and this leaves a very wide survivor effect gap, where their experiences aren’t registered. However I think that there may be more women stopping the pill now than previously – I think the negative press around Yasmin has a lot to do with this, and I wouldn’t underestimate how many women were seduced by that pill’s clear skin and weight loss promotion and subsequently had problems. If one pill is questioned it’s not an easy leap to question them all, and unfortunately the few articles that have been in women’s magazines have offered other hormone-based methods as alternatives, rather than non-hormonal. The injection, the ring, the implant – they all suppress the hormone cycle just like the pill, and if women begin to feel unwell they can’t just come off it the next day. The injection Depo Provera is used for the chemical castration of sex offenders in some US states and some European countries. It worries me that women concerned about the pill and not knowing enough about how it works might take these options from their doctors.
A piece on ABC News recently spoke of the withdrawal symptoms experienced by women on Depo Provera. Because the injection does not contain estrogen it has been considered safer, due on the lack of blood clotting risk which is usually associated with the estrogen element of the pill. Although with the current seventy plus law suits against the makers of Yasmin the case is against the type of progesterone used. Drospirenone is also the reason behind the particularly extreme emotional side effects experienced by some women on this one brand. The progesterone in the injection acts on the adrenal glands to wipe out testosterone production – testosterone is not just a male sex hormone, it effects energy levels, cognitive function, body strength, motivation, drive and life interest in women.
The side effects experienced after this treatment are similar to those experienced from the pill – nausea, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression and it’s no wonder – hormone based treatments are very crude, aggressive methods of preventing pregnancy and have whole body, insidious effects. I have had many women write to me in the last couple of weeks about coming off the pill. I am glad they can find support and comfort in hearing others are going through the same, and maybe find resolve, but unfortunately when women want to know how long it will last, there’s little to tell them. Every woman’s body is different, every cycle is different and so although anecdotally it tends to pass after three months, some women might not get their normal menstrual cycle back for much longer. It’s this difference, and uniqueness, this delicacy of balances, that makes taking the pill akin to a bodily lobotomy. The pill keeps your hormone levels low and flat and when you stop there will be an increase in estrogen all of a sudden, then your endocrine system will need to rebalence and find the rhythm that keeps you healthy. Some of the new feelings won’t be side effects at all, they’ll be how a woman’s natural body normally feels, but it’s hard to know this when you have taken the pill from fourteen years old.
Although I have been feeling pretty bad of late, I am determined to put a stop to what I see as my ‘addiction’ to the pill and raise awareness of society’s addiction to this method of contraception and question what women’s health activist Barbara Seaman called all those years ago its ‘diplomatic immunity’.
I think back to when I first started the pill for birth control (we’re talking 30 years ago here), and had such severe emotional symptoms and was led to believe I was “unusual” by both doctors and nurses. I don’t know how many times, as a woman, the health care system led me to come to the belief I was crazy. Another insideous method of keeping us quiet. Thank you for this blog, I will share it. We have come so far and yet have so far to go. Women are still led down the path of “convenience” with little valuable information and a little pat on the back.
It’s funny, I’ve always been seen as abnormal because I WASN’T on the pill. I can’t tell you how many friends and doctors (and midwives, I might add) have taken a second glance at me when I haven’t wanted to go on a long-acting hormonal contraceptive. I’ve always felt like I’ve had to argue why I can manage without being on the pill. The pill is to contraception as the epidural is to labor/birth — if you don’t accept it, then you’re the problem.
I went on the mini-pill (progesterone only) recently. I don’t use it for contraception, but to try to control my period pain. I have been put on various different painkillers, but they are not effective enough, so the pill was considered the “next step” to try.
I was really nervous about going on, because I know how much hormones affect… I feel trapped, because I don’t really want to be on the pill, but I really don’t want to lose a day a month to period pain, and none of the drugs seem to be working (and even when they do, taking strong painkillers longterm isn’t great for you either!)
I was very interested to read about the psychological side effects of birth control pills. I went on the pill at 17 and after one day I anxious and depressed so badly I had to get off of them. I didn’t know this was common.
I love that you posted this! I went on the pill at age 17 and 2 months before my 23rd bday the type was switched due to Planned Parenthood no longer carrying my other kind. Googling the new kind was when I first learned that my pill can cause depression. (This was 6 months ago) I have been in treatment for depression for the past 3 years, and looking back on it have been depressed since very soon after going on the pill. While I do believe that I have lots of issues that I need to work out and that I am easily triggered in to depression I now believe that my birth control had a lot to do with it. Especially since I big time crashed on once the type was switched. I really wish I would have known more and that when I first got treated for depression that doctors would have suggested that my birth control could have been contributing. I am someone who hates taking drugs in general but b/c of the way I was taught that birth control is no big deal I put it in another category all together. Luckily I have not had any withdrawal symptoms yet, but I am looking forward to seeing how being free of the birth control affects me.
I went off the pill about 2 months ago when I came to the realization that I had been suppressing my ovulation for most of my adult life. I was on the pill from 16-18, and then went back on it later in the year while I was 18 until now, when I’m 25. I had a fairly good experience aside from the fact that I had absolutely no appetite for two weeks. The most difficulty I had was explaining to my friends that I was going off the pill.
“What do you mean you’re going off the pill? There aren’t any effective alternatives! Why stop using it if it’s working (IE I’ve never been pregnant)? There aren’t any really negative side effects!”
As individuals I am sure we are addicted to the pill, but I would say that we’re socially addicted to it too. And the most incredulous person I talked to was my best friend, whose father is a doctor.
I’m another who has to be on the pill because of painful periods. I mean so painful I can’t work, and rather than try to convince my boss to let me take sick days every month (ha), I opted to go on the pill. I was on progestin-only for a while (the mini-pill), but I really didn’t like the effects. It made me sluggish and foggy-brained, gave me yeast infections, made me grow hairs on my chin, and made my skin break out.
So when my prescription ran out, I tried being pill-free for a couple of months, but the debilitating pain came back just as bad as before. So I went back to my gynecologist and she put me on Yaz. Despite the horrible reports coming out where Yaz is causing blood clots and even death in some women, it’s been great for me. Then again, I don’t have any risk factors for blood clots–I’m under 35, don’t smoke, etc. Anyway, Yaz cleared up my skin and doesn’t give me yeast infections, and it got rid of most of the pain. I haven’t noticed any negative mood effects from it, but I’m on a bunch of antidepressants and have been since before I started taking birth control at all, so I’m not the best judge.
I do like the way my body cycles naturally when I’m not on the pill, but I just can’t live with the painful periods. Maybe if I had a couple of days every month to rest at home with my hot water bottle and lots of Moon Cycle tea, I’d be able to go off the pill, but as of now I don’t see an end to hormonal birth control for me. I’m all for questioning our societal dependence on the pill, but just remember that some women really do need to be on it, and don’t have a viable alternative.
I read an article a couple of years ago that said a nasal-spray birth control was being developed. The spray would suppress hormones rather than adding them to your body, which carries its own risks but maybe not as many as taking hormones every day.
The pill destroyed my perfectly predictable cycle, and it made me grow hair on my stomach and doubled my volume of pubic hair. It was the worst thing I ever did.
You’re mistaken- NuvaRing, the ring you mentioned, is not a long-term hormonal method that you can’t stop immediately. It is a small plastic ring that you insert into your vagina each month and leave there for three weeks. Unlike Implanon (the implant) and Depo Provera (the shot), women can discontinue NuvaRing easily without a doctor’s assistance. It’s as simple as removing the ring.
I tend to question the accuracy of your information. If you missed something as simple as this, what else have you skimmed over? You make some pretty extreme statements, but don’t seem to show and sources for this other than your own opinion.
While I totally support your right not to use hormonal birth control, I do question the validity of your information. Also, why not suggest other non-hormonal methods in your article?
https://www.sweeteningthepill.blogspot.com/
Thanks MsLaynie, you are right about the ring – although the chemicals have a more direct route into your system than if they are taken orally, and so I would be concerned about that.
Please read my blog, this post is just a tiny amount of my writing on the subject. I do not claim to have any ‘sources’ as such, other than case studies, interviews with doctors in the field. I find it very worrying that there are very few sources for me to refer to – that’s kind of the point of my blog – there is so very little research, that we really only have our own stories, and those of women we know, or come to know. There isn’t enough information, there is too much complacency, so yes for now I only have my ‘opinion’ based on my own frightening experiences with the pill, alongside the experiences of other women hoping to be heard, and not shut down for their lack of knowledge, or medical background.
I have looked over your blog, and I wasn’t terribly impressed. There is almost 100 years of research about the hormones involved, as well as the 50 years that women have been using the pill legally. Some of your premises are simply faulty, others are just fanciful. Instead of relying on anecdata, I recommend you do some serious research- read the medical journals, the actual data you’re claiming doesn’t exist. You might be surprised at what you find.
As you will see in my blog, I am concerned mostly with the effects of the pill on mood. There is very little research into this area, partly because it is somewhat difficult to gather such data, but also because there is a definite gender bias when it comes to discussions of mental and emotional health. There has been far more research into the mood effects of the yet unreleased male pill. Perhaps I should say ‘published’ research, there may have been much research undertaken and left unpublished as it would be damaging to the sales of oral contraceptives. I am supported by a number of practicing medical professionals in my understanding that there is little research reading to be found. I would hope you understand much medical research is funded by the pharmaceutical companies who have a vested interest in continuing to pull in the billions.
I am not denying their is knowledge of the workings of synthetic hormones, I am more so doubting the implementation of these hormones in suppressing women’s natural cycles as a method of contraception.
I, and many other women, have experienced the negative emotional impact of the pill. My intention with my blog is to raise awareness of the potential problems the pill may cause so that if a woman is suffering she will consider her contraception could be a cause and not spend months believing she is losing her mind, as I did. I repeatedly state that women not taking the pill do feel bad sometimes too.
I am not looking to ‘impress’ anyone. I have never claimed to be a doctor. I am very honest about my position and my beliefs. I don’t see what damage I could possibly be doing. I am however unsure what you stand to gain from taking your stance? Why is it important to you that women who have experienced side effects do not speak out?
I have no problem with women speaking out. I do, however, have a problem when women make outlandish claims based on no valid data. You imply that there’s a huge coverup, all the while ignoring the decades of research (research NOT all done by pharmaceutical companies, I might add). Instead of looking at things rationally or scientifically, you seem perfectly willing to accept any and all stories, including those by women who seem to be blaming basic human biology on their birth control pill.
Unfortunately, I’ve known medical professionals who simply have no clue about much of anything. They aren’t saints or all knowing, they’re simply people who’ve gone to school more than the rest of us have. Also, I think you should examine your argument- either there is no information and research, or there is and the evil people are hiding it.
I apologize, I don’t mean to attack you. I do, however, think you would be well served to do some reading of the research you say doesn’t exist. As I said in my earlier comment, I tihnk you might be surprised at the information that is readily available.
Have you read this ‘readily available’ research? Research that I am assuming suggests the pill does not stop ovulation and has no impact on women’s bodies? Research that I am assuming says the pill merely regulates women’s cycles, rather than replacing them?
The pill shuts down women’s natural cycles. This is a scientific fact. And my discussion of the pill’s potential effects stems from this fact and the implications of this fact.
Back before the pill was released, it was thought that women would not submit to taking a medication each day when they were not sick. Now the pill is making women sick. I’m not writing a blog that criticises a drug used by cancer patients, or even a drug that acts as a painkiller, I’m writing about a drug that healthy young women take every day of their lives for years on end, which has an impact on their healthy bodies and can have some nasty side effects on their quality of life. They don’t need to take the pill to be well – there are many just as effective alternative contraceptive methods that do not shut down a vital part of their biology.
I am concerned with raising awareness that the pill can have side effects on mood and well being, so that women who do experience these problems do not spend months searching for answers as to why they feel that way and suffer. That’s my main motivation. Have you ever read the acclaimed cultural analysis work The Beauty Myth? Is that ‘rational’ or ‘scientific’? I’d be interested to know if you think that to be just the ‘fanciful’ ramblings of a hysterical woman, too.
As far as research goes, I have indeed read the relevant research and spoken with researchers. A couple of months back I spoke to a research scientist about her very recently released data which showed almost half of the women studied experienced depression and anxiety when taking the pill. I spoke to another research scientist this summer who discovered a large number of women experiencing very low libido and energy levels when taking the pill. I spoke to another research scientist earlier this year who found similar findings as part of her extensive work with the Kinsey Institute.
As I said, I am being honest, and my blog is riddled with straightforward declarations of my motivations. You know my name, you know what I do, as do the readers of my blog. You’re now raising questions I’ve already answered as an undermining tactic.
So then: who are you? What are your motivations? You say ‘I have no problem with women speaking out.’ You mention ‘women who seem to be blaming basic human biology on their birth control pill.’ I have to say, Ms. Laynie, you kinda sorta write like a man.
You’re actually attacking me because I disagree with you? Now you admit that there’sa lot of research available. You now say you’ve read lots of research, which before you said wasn’t available. Do you realize that you’re now contradicting everything that you’ve said before?
I haven’t once called you hysterical, or anyone else. Yet you feel the need to put words in my mouth- are you that insecure about what you’re writing?
Fine. Call me a man. It won’t make your premise any more realistic, nor will it help your reading comprehension. I think we’re finished here, since you don’t seem to understand how to have a rational conversation.
Now now, I’m not attacking you. I ‘disagree’ with you. We are having a debate, there was nothing personal in my arguments. In fact, within the definition of ‘attack’ it was you who made the first move, therefore I am merely defending my blog – a blog you called ‘fanciful’, ‘unimpressive’,’outlandish’,’extreme’, ‘inaccurate’ and ‘faulty’ – a blog I have put much time and thought into. I don’t take kindly to being called irrational, no. Irrational is what many women are called by their GPs when they find the pill makes them depressed, anxious, panicky, suicidal. So who is ‘attacking’? And who is crying ‘attacker!’ as another tactic in undermining my stance?
There would be nothing wrong with you being a man, I wouldn’t assume that to be an insult – only I find your stance perplexing in its intensity, considering that I am doing no harm, and may, I hope, be helping some women, and I am wondering what your mysterious motivations might be. Your lack of sensitivity to my own experience, and those of the women who have commented here, intrigues me. I think I, and these women, are ‘rational’ enough to, at least retrospectively, discern between our natural responses and our unnatural pill-imbued responses.
Over the years how many drugs can you think of that have been released and ended up being withdrawn because of side effects? The pill itself was released and then reevaluated at the end of it’s first decade because the high dose of estrogen was causing blood clots, strokes and heart attacks.
I am not contradicting myself, I said there was very little research, which is correct, and I happen to have read most of this research and spoken with the researchers. The research happens to back up the stories of the women I have spoken to, as do the plain and simple facts – for some, possibly many, women shutting down their natural cycles might at some point provoke a negative impact.
I am not ‘insecure’ about my writing at all. I’m certainly not anonymous, for starters. And I would love for you to send me over the research you seem to know so much about. My blog has my email on it. I would also wonder, for the third time now, what exactly is your particular area of expertise and your interest in these matters? Thanks!
Holly, brava to you for having the time, interest and inclination to blog about the Pill, it’s side effects, your research and your experiences. As a veterean sexual and reproductive rights advocate, with over 20 years investment in volunteering and working with Planned Parenthood affiliated organizations, I am also an avid advocate for holistic reproductive health care. I am constantly trying to challenge my sexual health colleagues to rethink our community’s over-reliance on hormonal birth control, and to think critically about the (to quote Barbara Seamon) “diplomatic immunity” we provide to these drugs. It’s a hard slog. You are providing an invaluable service in supporting other young women’s knowledge and awareness about the potential and real side effects of these medications and by acknowledging the validity of their own concerns about taking these drugs.
My position is that young women seeking to effectively and confidently use hon-hormonal methods of birth control, should be supported by their physicians and sexual health care providers. Yet, they come up against docs who try to overcome their objections to the Pill at every turn. One young woman I talked with told me that after much frustration she finally answered the doc who asked about her reasons for not wanting to use hormonal birth control was: “My reasons are none of your business.” It’s not a bad answer if you want to avoid being “sold” on pharamceutical contraceptives.
As for evidence about side effects or concerns over long term use of birth control, the research is mounting. I’ll be sure to forward some of the research I’ve collected to Holly so she can add it to her blog.
Thank you Laura, I would be very grateful if you could pass along that research. My email is under my profile on the blog. I look forward to hearing from you.
really like what you’re saying Holly. It’s so important to support women in trusting their own experience. Too often when women complain of side effects their experience is dismissed, denied or diminished. And because our understanding of contraception is so narrow – variations on the theme of hormonal contra – women hesitate to come off the Pill because they don;t know what else to do. It’s great you offer a place for women to share their experience and a chance to think through alternatives. I’d recommend (naturally!) my coauthored book on the pill The Pill: are you sure it’s for you? (Allen and Unwin 2008) to help women do just that.
To those who have pains associated with menstruation — have you tried exercise, especially stomach – strengthening exercise, such as stomach crunches (I do not recommend sit-ups since they can strain the back). Good exercises include lying on the back with the knees bent, feet on the floor, buttocks tightened. Be sure you are lying symmetrically. Press your spine into the ground, keep head on the ground, lay arms to the side, bent at the elbows, in a gentle “u”-shape. Gently raise one leg at a time, “walk” or “bike” in the air, or bring legs apart and then together, all the while keeping spine and head on ground. Or do the stomach crunches, but keep the head on the ground so as not to strain the upper back. Lie on a soft, firm surface — like a good rug on a hard floor. Swimming also strengthens the stomach, and perhaps there are exercises out there to be found on the web that strengthen the stomach without straining the back.
It is very possible that for some, exercise will not do, but everyone to whom I have recommended this has experienced improvement in pains related to menstruation. I myself have done this since I was a young teen, recommended by my German physical therapist (I was living abroad) every time I experienced pain associated with menstruation. It has become a habit, and also helps with post-partum recuperation, as well as strengthening my stomach and back so that I can hold babies and toddlers — who so need to be held — without suffering back pain.
I do not mean to be insensitive to those who do need medical intervention, but as someone who tries to stay off medications in general, I wish I could find my physical therapist I had thirty years ago and thank her on my knees. Not only has she kept me off medications, but she has helped me give this advice to others who have profited as well.
I just went off birth control after 5 yrs (from age 29-34) and the side effects are awful. I took it problem-free for almost 5 years. I stopped taking it bc I was having unexplained anxiety, increased heart rate, and mild dizziness. I was also having terrible headaches that did not respond to a prescription dose of Advil (600 mg) when I was on the placebo pill. I will NEVER take this stuff again. Since stopping it, I have felt much better at times but then, esp at night, I will have anxiety, increased heartrate, and wake up in the middle of the night in a panic for no apparent reason. I have also had vertigo that ranges from mild to extreme and comes and goes. I am also extremely dehydrated and am drinking 3x the water I usually do. I am a healthy, smoke-free, mostly vegetarian who is active and who is 5’6″ and weighs 115. I have never had any of these symptoms before until being on birth control for an extended period of time. These are real side effects that need to be discussed and considered when going on birth control. I simply had no idea. The point of the sexual revolution was for us to be in control of our bodies. This is NOT control when we are not given complete information about potential long-term side effects.
I recently stopped taking BC and have noticed a HUGE decrease in my depression and anxiety symptoms. I had been taking it for about 4 years, and although I have had issues with anxiety and depression my whole adult life, I definitely experienced a huge uptick in the severity of my symptoms. I had to go on antidepressants and Xanax as my symptoms worsened. Neither my do for nor my psychiatrist, ever suggested that my birth control pills might be to blame. They never suggested I go off them, even for a trial period. I simply had no idea that these side effects could be so severe. I’ve only been off them for about a month, so I’m not sure if things will continue to improve or not. Even if they don’t, I am feeling significantly better and do not wish to go back on them, even if this does mean I am back to more painful periods and ovulation. I have had some side effects that I am chalking up to try body trying to readjust to natural hormones and cycles, but from what I am reading, that’s normal for a few months? Anyway, thanks for the article and everyone who has commented. It’s so nice to know this wasn’t in my head!
wide-spread utilization of birth control pills problems me because lots of women have no idea of the serious health ramifications of these kinds of prescription drugs. Furthermore, I believe oral contraceptives in many cases are prescribed by doctors to cope with symptoms (like cramping, spotting, irregular periods and acne) rather than the underlying causes of the symptoms.
Lots of women tend not to evaluate the very real (and sometimes very hazardous) unwanted side effects of these kinds of synthetic hormones, but you owe it to your body, and to your future children, to gather more information.