CAN BIRTH CONTROL CAUSE INFERTILITY?

Are you or have you ever been on the pill? And have you ever wondered if there’s a link between hormonal birth control and fertility issues? Long story short—yes, there is. But it’s not as simple as saying that birth control causes infertility. 

However, there is a connection. And there’s a good chance you’ve never heard anything about how many risks come with taking the pill considering so many doctors are prescribing birth control to young girls in their early teens for things like heavy periods, irregular periods, cramps, and acne. 

They’re practically handing it out like it’s candy these days. This is bad news for a lot of reasons. And fertility is just the beginning . . .

CAN THE PILL CAUSE INFERTILITY?

Approximately 15% of infertile couples have been diagnosed with “unexplained infertility.” Some sources say that number might be as high as 30%. This diagnosis (if you can even call it that) comes after trying to conceive for more than 6 months for women over 35 and after trying for more than 12  months after the age of 40.

Is birth control what’s causing these unexplained infertility issues? 

The short answer is that prolonged use of hormonal contraceptives can indirectly cause infertility. Since so many women’s hormones get thrown off at such a young age and stay that way for years, there’s no clear way to say definitively that birth control is to blame. Hence, the unexplained part of the diagnosis.

The longer answer is that we don’t believe in unexplained infertility at Magnolia Wellness because there is always a reason why a woman is not getting pregnant or able to stay pregnant. Even if you’ve got the diagnosis, you can still get pregnant. You just need to work with someone who will help you understand your baseline hormones, your methylation pathways, and your body's ability to signal throughout your endocrine system. 

Because when you look at what infertility is, it’s an amalgam of hormone imbalances, detoxification blockages, elevated stress levels, and inflammation. All of these things are reversible. And that means infertility is reversible.

But just because fertility issues can be reversed, it doesn’t mean taking hormonal birth control comes without other risks. There are more potential side effects besides birth control making you infertile. And for some women, they may not even notice they’re experiencing them. But they’re still there . . .

WHY SOME WOMEN FEEL BETTER ON BIRTH CONTROL

There’s no such thing as hormonal birth control with no side effects. Even if you feel great taking it, you’re not the exception. That might sound harsh, but it’s true.

Even if you’ve had a positive experience taking birth control, it doesn’t negate the fact that hormonal contraceptives destroy your gut health, alter your brain chemistry, and essentially trick your body into thinking it’s already pregnant.

Since so many women have been on the pill since middle school or early high school, they have nothing to compare life on birth control to. This is why it’s so common for women to not fully understand how their birth control is negatively affecting them until they come off of it.

But none of this is meant to say that no woman should ever take the pill. 

The one positive thing about birth control is that it offers sexual autonomy and that is so important for women, right? It gives you the opportunity to have sex like a man. And if you want to be able to do that, you should be able to do that. However, what’s even more empowering than being able to have sex without the fear of getting pregnant is being fully informed about the business of birth control. 

In addition to preventing pregnancy, many women go on birth control to make their period more manageable and clear up their skin. And if you are one of these women, please don’t feel any shame or blame about taking this route. 

But here’s the thing—there are much safer ways to clear up your acne and take control of your menstrual cycle that don’t involve flooding your body with synthetic hormones. And if heavy bleeding and cramping are why you were put on the pill, birth control might seem like it’s helping things, but it’s not getting to the root cause of why your period is so gnarly in the first place.

Women are told that birth control makes their period better, when all it really does is mask symptoms.

It may feel like birth control is working for you, especially if your periods are lighter and more predictable while on it. Some women choose to skip their period altogether. While this is super convenient, preventing the body’s natural functions is not healthy—and certainly doesn’t come without consequence. 

Whether you take the placebo and experience a bleed or take the active hormones continuously, the birth control pill works by shutting down ovulation. And without ovulation, there is no period. The bleed that happens is a withdrawal bleed and is not a true period—which means that the pill doesn’t relieve your pesky period symptoms. It’s actually a way to cover them up.

The pill may be the greatest lie women were ever told. It doesn’t solve or get to the root cause of anything. It only suppresses symptoms. In fact, over time—birth control is more than likely going to make things worse.

So while you may feel better in the moment being on the pill, is it really worth the risk?

RISKS AND SIDE EFFECTS OF TAKING THE PILL

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), roughly 14% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 are taking hormonal birth control pills. What’s important to understand is that taking it beyond 6 months is considered chronic birth control use, and that’s when a lot of these side effect profiles start kicking in.

There’s a misconception that birth control is perfectly safe as long as you don’t smoke cigarettes or have any blood clotting disorders. But unfortunately, the list of side effects is rather long and they happen more often than you think.

The following list is not meant to create fear, but to create awareness. Knowledge is power. And it’s time as a society we stop empowering big pharma companies and start empowering women.

Because when considering the pros and cons of taking birth control—especially through the lens of fertility—women deserve honest answers and full transparency . . .

THE PILL IS A GROUP 1 CARCINOGEN.

According to the World Health Organization, there is enough evidence to conclude that birth control can cause cancer in humans. It’s not probably carcinogenic to humans . . . that would be a Group 2 A Carcinogen. Group 1 Carcinogens are statistically known to increase the risk of cancer, and in birth control’s case—it raises a woman’s chances of breast and cervical cancers by approximately 20%

A Danish study discovered that a woman’s cancer risk increases with duration of use. Fortunately, the risk of developing cervical cancer declines after discontinuing the pill. But regarding breast cancer, the results are mixed. 

Birth control pills work by keeping estrogen levels unnaturally high all the time. And the same synthetic estrogen that’s responsible for raising a woman’s risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer, also contributes to increased risk of gallbladder problems, liver tumors, blood clots, heart attack, and stroke.

Defenders of birth control love to mention how the pill can also reduce a woman’s risk for certain cancers like endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal. They’re also big fans of reminding people that cigarettes and  processed meats like bacon, ham, sausage, cold cuts, and hot dogs have been categorized as Group 1 Carcinogens as well. 

But when was the last time your doctor prescribed you to eat hot dogs and smoke cigs everyday for the next 1-2 decades?

WOMEN PRESCRIBED BIRTH CONTROL IN THEIR TEENAGE YEARS EXPERIENCE A 130% HIGHER RISK FOR DEPRESSION.

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. And both birth control and mental health are sensitive topics. But up until a recent study was published in June 2023, women had no real evidence to support why they feel depressed and out of control with their emotions.

This study tracked over 250,000 women from birth to menopause and is one of the most extensive and comprehensive to date. And it turns out that women who were given birth control as a teen are 130% more likely to experience depressive symptoms. So, needless to say—the pill is one of the most life altering medications . . . and not in a good way. 

HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL CAN SHRINK YOUR CLITORIS, LOWER YOUR LIBIDO, AND MAKE YOU ATTRACTED TO MORE FEMININE MEN.

One of the most common side effects women experience while on the pill is a decreased sex drive. And a randomized controlled trial discovered that one potential cause of this decrease in libido is because birth control can shrink the size of a woman’s clitoris by up to 20%. Testosterone is a major contributor to the size of your clitoris, and hormonal birth control causes testosterone levels to drop big time. This tank in testosterone also contributes to vaginal dryness, but the travesty doesn’t stop there.

The birth control pill contains synthetic estrogen, and any time you take oral estrogen, it causes your sex hormone binding globulins to rise. Think of sex hormone binding globulins like little sponges that soak up free testosterone, leaving your body with less it can use. This study shows that birth control dramatically increases sex hormone binding globulin—by as much as 250%—and can contribute to low libido, fewer orgasms, as well as thinning hair. And unfortunately, the levels aren’t automatically restored once a woman goes off the pill.

And if a shrunken clitoris, vaginal dryness, fewer orgasms, and thinning hair wasn’t bad enough—hormonal birth control can also change who you’re attracted to . . . and maybe even cause you to choose the wrong mate. 

Until recently, we knew very little about how birth control affects the non-reproductive systems of the female body, but Dr. Sarah Hill is blazing the trail by studying how the pill influences women’s brains. 

And it turns out that taking birth control changes your sense of smell and your sexual preferences. Dr. Hill has found that women who are on the pill are more likely to be attracted to more feminine men and/or other women. And when these same women later went off birth control, many of them realized they’re not attracted to their partner after all!

This may seem inconsequential at first, but this study found that women who were not on hormonal contraceptives had the most sensitive sense of smell when they were the most fertile. But after 3 months of being on the pill, those same women showed no increased sense of smell during this time. 

The standup comedian Taylor Tomlinson said it best . . . when a woman is on birth control, her partner smells like her future. And when she gets off birth control, he smells like the past.

ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES DEPLETE NUTRIENTS, DESTROY YOUR GUT MICROBIOME, AND CAN AFFECT YOUR METHYLATION PATHWAYS.

If you’ve been on contraceptives for a long time, there’s a very high chance that you're nutrient deficient, which will in fact contribute to your fertility. Studies have shown that the pill impairs micronutrient absorption of important vitamins and minerals such as folic acid, B2, B6, B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, magnesium, selenium, and zinc. These all play a key role in your menstrual cycle, which is why it’s common for your period to be irregular (or not resume at all) after stopping birth control.

Another common problem for women who have been on birth control for a long time is gut issues. There’s still more research that needs to be done here, but women who have taken the pill almost always have altered gut flora (I’m one of them). And once the microbiome is affected, it will begin to negatively impact hormone regulation and detoxification.

And speaking of detoxification . . . a woman who’s been taking the pill for a while has  an accumulation of excess hormones that have been building up. 

And one of the most important processes that controls detoxification is methylation. Methylation is responsible for breaking down and removing various hormones and toxins by transforming them into a form that is easier to excrete. Methylation helps to power our cells and organs, repairs DNA, and is essential for inflammation and immune responses. 

Everything in your environment impacts your methylation, and hormonal birth control is no exception. Working with a functional medicine practitioner here at Magnolia Wellness, can help you identify any methylation issues so you can then begin to properly detoxify.

If you’re having a difficult time following along with all of this science stuff, all you need to know is that methylation is extremely important for embryo development and plays a role in your inflammatory response, stress response, and detoxification processes . . . all of the things mentioned above about the reversible causes of “unexplained” infertility.

SO, DOES BIRTH CONTROL CAUSE FERTILITY ISSUES?

Can birth control make you infertile? Indirectly, yes—the pill can cause infertility. But your only options aren’t to be on the pill or to get pregnant before you’re ready to. Once you learn how your menstrual cycle really works and know when your fertility window is, you’ll have actual empowerment regarding your body.

As a mom of 3 daughters, I know that the earlier they’re educated on what their period is supposed to be like, the better they’ll be set up for good fertility. 

Because it’s their menstrual cycle that determines their fertility. And slapping a bandaid on the symptoms with birth control is only going to cause more things to be out of whack down the road when and if they’re ready to start having children of their own one day.

I don’t want them to have to go through what I’ve been through. I was on birth control pills for 10 years (from the time I was 16 to 26). And then when I went to acupuncture school, I started to learn about the side effect profile and why it's not good for you. 

When I got off  the pill, my sex binding globulin hormone was really elevated—among other things—and my gut microbiome was destroyed. It’ve been 20 years now since I’ve been off birth control, and it’s taken me the better part of this time to regulate my gut microbiome, my hormones, and sex hormone binding globulin.

But now I can offer such a better upbringing for my own girls which means teaching them about paying attention to the color of their period, noticing when the cramps start, and tracking their cycle to know when they ovulate (long before they’re thinking about pregnancy). 

I want to set an example for them that a woman’s menstrual cycle and fertility are meant to be nourished, not just controlled. 

And I want that for you too. That’s why I’ve created this quiz that I encourage you to take for yourself and then share it with your daughters, sisters, and female friends. It’s technically a fertility quiz by its title, because helping women overcome infertility and get pregnant is my specialty. But really, it’s a period quiz.

Take This Quiz to learn what’s out of balance with your period to learn how to heal yourself.

READY TO GET OFF OF BIRTH CONTROL, DETOX YOUR BODY, AND BALANCE YOUR HORMONES?

If you're looking to get off birth control pills, you don’t have to quit cold turkey and do it alone. Book a one-on-one Fertility Consult so you can have expert guidance about what solutions are recommended specifically for you and your unique circumstance so you don’t have to struggle with birth control infertility. It’s okay if you don’t want to have a baby yet. This is a great step to take to make sure you’ll be able to when you’re ready.