71. Cycle Suppressed: What Birth Control Isn't Fixing

In this episode of Cycle Wisdom, Dr. Monica Minjeur takes a deep dive into the hidden costs of hormonal birth control. From its impact on mental health, fertility, and overall well-being to how it masks underlying health issues, she shares practical insights and actionable advice. Hear Giselle's inspiring journey of reclaiming her natural cycles and discover empowering alternatives, like fertility awareness methods, to improve menstrual health and achieve long-term balance. Take charge of your reproductive health today!

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Transcript

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Welcome back to Cycle Wisdom, where we empower women to restore natural menstrual cycles to improve health and promote fertility. I'm your host, Dr. Monica Minjeur, and I'm so glad you're listening today. For decades now, hormonal birth control has been marketed as a fix all for everything from acne, PMS, and certainly as a contraceptive. But what if the very pill that's supposed to bring you freedom and control comes with hidden costs to your mental health, your fertility, and your overall well being? Today, we're taking a closer look at hormonal birth control, its downsides, and what you need to know to make an informed decision about your menstrual cycle and overall health. So, let's get started as always with a patient story about a past client of mine who we'll call Giselle. Now, when Giselle first came to my clinic, she was frustrated, exhausted, and unsure of what to do next. She had been on hormonal birth control for over a decade, which was originally prescribed to regulate her irregular periods as a teenager and to help with her acne. Over the years, Giselle stayed on the pill even after getting married because it was convenient and felt like the responsible choice to avoid pregnancy until they were ready to start having children. However, Giselle never realized how much it was impacting her health. She explained to me over time that she had begun to feel like a shadow of herself. Her moods were unpredictable, and she ranged from anxious to depressed and irritable. She often felt disconnected from her body, experienced significant fatigue, and had nearly completely lost her libido. On top of that, Giselle started to worry about her long term fertility. After a few years of marriage, she and her husband were planning to start trying for a baby soon, but she had no idea what her natural menstrual cycles were like, because she had been on birth control for so long. When Giselle stopped taking the pill, she hoped that her body would bounce back, but instead, things got worse. Her periods were incredibly irregular, her acne flared up even worse, and she started experiencing severe PMS symptoms like she had never had before. It felt like her body was struggling to find balance and she was lost. Giselle and I started working together after she had been off of birth control for a few months and my first step was listening to her story, her frustrations, And her goals. Together we developed a plan to support her body as it transitioned off hormonal birth control. We started off with getting her charting education to track her cycles and help to make sense of what was going on on a daily basis. We then turned our attention to replenishing her deficient nutrients, balancing her blood sugar and food choices, and evaluating her hormone levels further. Over the course of the next several months, Gisele finally began to notice some changes. Her cycles became more regular, her PMS symptoms reduced, and most importantly, she felt like herself again. Her mood stabilized, her libido returned, and she regained confidence in her body's natural ability to heal. When she and her husband decided to start trying for a baby, she felt empowered and informed, knowing that she was in tune with her fertility. Now, Giselle's experience is not unique. There are many women out there who feel stuck between managing symptoms of menstrual periods and dealing with hormonal birth control side effects, as well as having concerns about the fallout when you decide to come off of something. However, Giselle's story shows that with the right support and tools, it's possible to restore balance, improve overall health, and take control of your reproductive journey. So let's talk a little bit about the role of hormonal birth control. And I want to start with Giselle. talking a little bit about how hormonal birth control actually works. Now, there are a few different mechanisms of by which the hormonal birth control works as a contraceptive, as well as to regulate your cycles. And one of the most common things is that it is designed to suppress ovulation by changing your natural hormone patterns. So most birth control pills have both synthetic estrogen and progesterone in them, and it's designed to basically make your hormone levels. stable all the time. Now, the upside to this is that you don't experience significant mood shifts from day to day, but the downside is that we're suppressing ovulation. We're suppressing those natural rhythms that should be happening on a regular basis. Another way that hormonal birth control works in order to avoid pregnancy is that it actually thins the lining of your uterus, and it actually thickens your cervical mucus in order to prevent pregnancy. Now, we all know that there have been cases where women still get pregnant when they're on birth control, so we know that these mechanisms don't work 100 percent of the time, but for most women, This is how birth control is designed to work. Now women are prescribed oral birth control pills for many different reasons. Certainly some are prescribed it specifically for contraception, but we are seeing more and more that any hormonal abnormality, any menstrual cycle abnormality, or quite frankly, any symptom that may be hormonal is getting prescribed birth control. So I see women all the time come in that are prescribed birth control because they're using it to treat acne or migraines. or possible endometriosis that may or may not be diagnosed yet, irregular cycles, PCOS, painful periods, and while all of these things are being used to say, hey, this is what could be helpful to treat it as birth control, none of those treatments are getting to the root cause. And so, although I realize that for many women it's convenient, it's easy, it's pretty simple to get a prescription for birth control, I want you all to know that that can come at a significant cost. So let's talk a little bit about some of those hidden costs of hormonal birth control that may or may not be fully explained to you when you're given that prescription at your doctor's office. One of the most important ones that I want to shout from the rooftops is the significant impact on mental health. There have now been multitudes of studies done that have been long term over time, as well as shorter studies, that link hormonal birth control to increased risk of depression, anxiety, and mood swings. And we know that this is significantly worse, especially when women are started on it at a younger age, like when they are teenagers. For more UN videos visit www. un. org We also know that hormonal birth control can disrupt neurotransmitters like serotonin. Now, serotonin is one of those good endorphins in your brain that helps you to feel nice and calm and relaxed. It helps to regulate depression and regulates your mood. And we know that synthetic hormones across the board can disrupt those neurotransmitters, which can then throw things off. We're When it comes to your mental health, another hidden cost of hormonal birth control is that it can have a significant impact on your fertility long term. Now, some women, as soon as they stop birth control a month or two later, they get pregnant when that's their intention. And that can certainly happen. However, because birth control is shutting down ovulation, it's. stops that process in its tracks, and that process itself is critical for natural hormone balance. So if you're not ovulating regularly, the hormones go out of range. If the hormones are out of range, you don't continue to ovulate. And so when we just stop taking birth control, that ovulation can take quite some time to return. And there's a phenomenon that we call post pill amenorrhea, which basically just means that after I stop taking the birth control pill, my period just doesn't come back. I just don't get periods. And it can take many cycles to return. Again, sometimes this happens right away, but for some women, this can be up to 18 months or more until they start having a period again. The other things that birth control can do long term is it can have an impact on egg quality and cervical mucus production. So certainly if you're planning to get pregnant again anytime in the future, even if it's not right now, know that birth control can have a negative impact on your fertility for the long term. And then the final piece as far as the impact on fertility is that when you're on birth control, women think, oh, I'm having a regular menstrual cycle because I'm having a bleed every month. And that's not actually the case. When you're on birth control, that's actually a withdrawal bleed, and it's, that's the time that you aren't taking any hormones, and that is not a true menstrual cycle. And so there can be a significant difference between that and that your body's natural feedback of saying, hey, this is a true menstrual cycle, and I should ovulate, versus being on birth control where your body is having a bleed, but ovulation doesn't start. Other impacts of hormonal birth control that may not be present for everybody but definitely have good documentation are physical side effects. So the common ones that I hear are weight changes, headaches, and decreased libido, among many other complaints. There are also more serious potential side effects, things like increased risk of blood clots, stroke, or heart disease, especially if you're somebody who's also a smoker or if you're over the age of 35. Another important consequence to be aware of when you're on hormonal birth control is that they oftentimes will deplete your key nutrients like your B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and selenium. And all of these deficiencies will further impact your mood, your energy, your fertility, your thyroid function, all of which can have significant long term consequences on your health. And then the final concern that I have with being on hormonal birth control long term, or even short term, is that we're oftentimes masking the underlying issues. So if your body is expressing things like an irregular cycle, or acne, or PMS, and we're not addressing the root causes, we're just covering up those symptoms and delaying the diagnosis rather than treating them. And so it's really important to understand that those symptoms. symptoms that you are experiencing. Yes, they may be annoying, but they're trying to tell you something. And that's why it's incredibly important to work with a knowledgeable healthcare professional who can understand the nuances of determining what's going on. What's the underlying cause of this. Is there PCOS? Is there a thyroid imbalance? Are there nutrient deficiencies? Is there estrogen dominance? What else is causing these issues so that we are addressing those root causes rather than just masking them by going on birth control? So what is a woman to do? We go to the doctor. We tell them all of our symptoms and the only thing they offer us is hormonal birth control. And I would support a better way forward with fertility awareness methods. So tracking your cycles by observing your daily biomarkers, things like tracking your cervical mucus, basal body temperature, even things as simple as your cycle length and the different phases of your cycle, all of these things can empower you to prevent pregnancy or plan for natural conception down the road. Again, we want to make sure that you're looking for root cause treatments of these irregular cycles. By addressing these hormone imbalances, focusing on dietary changes, lifestyle changes, supplement or food choices, as well as prescription strength medications when they are necessary, helps to improve the root cause, which can then help with the imbalance of the irregular cycles or symptoms. Again, we focus within our practice through restorative reproductive medicine in treating things like PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, and really getting to the root cause of those in order to be able to impact change, to help reduce your symptoms, to help get regular cycles back on track, and in order to help maintain your fertility for the long term, even if the intention right now is not to get pregnant. And then as far as trying to come off of birth control, I would refer you back to my episode from a few weeks ago, episode number 65, where I talk all about how to come off of birth control. And again, we talk in that episode about how to restore your hormone balance after stopping birth control, specifically in regards to prioritizing nutrient replenishment, balancing blood sugar, and reducing inflammation to help regulate your cycles naturally. Now there are certainly some other things we can do from self care. specifically a supplement standpoint and prescription medication standpoint if needed. But again, that's where it becomes important to work with a knowledgeable healthcare professional one on one, evaluate your cycles, evaluate your labs, look at what's going on with your charting in order to help you get things back on track naturally. So I want to just acknowledge that every woman's journey is unique. And although oral birth control is one of the most commonly prescribed medications to women across the entire country. It is sold as a fix all for any menstrual cycle or hormonal abnormality, but it's crucial to be aware of the potential impacts that you may or may not be fully explained. I would encourage you to weigh the pros and cons before committing to anything, ask your doctor for other options. I just want to encourage you to be your own advocate. You know your body best, you know what works for you, and you know when something doesn't sound quite right. So seek the care that aligns with your values and your long term healthcare goals. I would encourage you to track your cycles through a fertility awareness method as a good starting point. Research your options. Consider working with a healthcare professional who can help uncover the root causes of hormone imbalances. One of my very favorite resources in order to track your cycles is through an app. It's called Chart Neo. That's N E O. Chart Neo. And this is a great download and you can download it on the app store on whatever your device supports. or you can go to chartneo. com, that's C H A R T N E O dot com. Again, the first 45 days of this app is free so that you can check it out. If you are a client that's working at our clinic as far as for medical evaluation, we'll include the next year's worth of subscription because it's a great tool that you are able to share directly with the healthcare professional that's working with you. So we can see your charting in real time and work together in order to be able to understand what's going on with your cycles and get you back on track without having to go the route of birth control. Imagine if you had a better way to address your menstrual cycle concerns rather than just going on birth control. You don't have to suffer with side effects and unintended consequences. Let's create a personalized plan for you to improve your menstrual cycle health and maintain your long term fertility. If you're ready to work with our elite team of healthcare professionals, go to our website, radiantclinic. com, to schedule a free discovery call with me and learn more about our package based pricing for comprehensive care. We are currently able to see people for in person appointments in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. or can arrange for a telehealth visit if you live in the states of Iowa, Illinois, or Minnesota. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Please share this podcast with someone in your life who would benefit from our services. Remember to subscribe to this podcast for more empowering content that I look forward to sharing with you on our next episode of Cycle Wisdom.