When I was on the birth control pill during part of my twenties, I told the gynecologist that I thought it had decreased my libido, made me less orgasmic, and turned me into a moody, emotional basket case. Just based on my common sense belief that anything that affects hormone levels could likely affect libido, I asked her innocently, “Can the pill cause those symptoms?”
As if she had stock in the very company that made them (and she probably did), she insisted that there was no evidence that the pill could cause any of the symptoms that I described.
I never researched it; I just chalked it up to her being stupid, went along my merry way and stopped taking the damn things. Thanks to incessant media coverage of the AIDS epidemic when I was a teen, I was already a diligent condom user, regardless of how much I trusted my boyfriend, so stopping the pill didn’t cause a disruption to my normal routine.
As it turns out, she was uneducated about the issue, because I now know that studies existed from years prior to that conversation, which reported the negative effects of oral contraceptives on sexual function, including diminished sexual interest and arousal, suppression of female initiated sexual activity, decreased frequency of sexual intercourse and sexual enjoyment.
But a 2006 study in The Journal of Sexual Health goes one step further, in saying that the pill may have permanent negative effects on a woman’s health, leading to ongoing sexual, metabolic and mental health issues, even after pill use is stopped.
Of chief concern is the effect on SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) levels. The study, which compared women who never took the pill, women who were currently on it, and women who had stopped taking it, showed that in women with sexual dysfunction who had discontinued use of the pill, elevated levels of SHBG did not decrease to the levels that might be expected had they never taken the pill.
Dr. Claudia Panzer, endocrinologist and lead author of the study said, ”An interesting observation was that the use of oral contraceptives led to changes in the synthesis of SHBG which were not completely reversible in our time frame of observation. This can lead to lower levels of ‘unbound’ testosterone, which is thought to play a major role in female sexual health.”
She added that longer term studies are needed to assess whether these increased SHBG changes are permanent, but researchers theorize that prolonged exposure to the synthetic estrogens of oral contraceptives induces gene imprinting and increased gene expression of SHBG in the liver.
I’ve said before that I think the birth control pill is absolute poison to a woman’s system and that in my opinion, the benefits do not outweigh the consequences of using it. I believe most women prefer hormonal contraception over condoms and the IUD, because they are unaware of the negative effects the pill has on their health. Maybe this will help make a few more of you aware!
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Not everyone takes the pill for reasons that can be replaced with condoms or a non-hormonal IUD. Many women, myself included, are on it for health related issues, such as ovarian cysts. As someone who has had the unfortunate experience of winding up in the ER on two separate occasions due to a burst cyst, I am quite positive that the benefits of preventing the worst pain I have EVER been in in my entire life far outweigh any long-term side effects from being on the pill. By far.
As I am aware of the possible increase in SGHB levels, however, I do have blood work done on a yearly basis to see if mine have increased. Thus far since I have been on the pill, my levels have remained completely normal. Rather than telling women that the pill has negative consequences on their heath, perhaps it would be wise to suggest for those who do wish to remain on it, that they can look into having blood work done to look at their hormone levels to see if they are at risk from long term birth control use?