The Truth About Birth Control And Your Period
Many women in this day in age struggle with menstrual irregularities. With diet culture and the promotion of fad diets, its no wonder so many women deal with period problems. Birth control seems to be the answer most gynecologists are prescribing to women with hormonal disturbances. It needs to be known that gynecologists are not dietitians. While they specialize in women’s health, they are often taught to treat period problems with medication, such as hormonal birth control, without diving deeper as to why those hormone problems are there in the first place.
Oral Contraceptives
A lot of women (including myself at one point) think "I can just take the birth control pill to start up my hormones and I'll get my period back and that means I'm healthy again". Ehh, it’s not that simple. In most cases, women are taking the pill to “regulate” their periods, to prevent pregnancy, to reduce PMS or heavy flows without knowing the risks associated with it.
Birth control is a form of synthetic hormones that your body does not produce itself. When you take the birth control pill, it tricks your body into thinking it's pregnant, stops ovulation, and you will not go through a normal cycle. Then usually after 21 days you start a new set of pills that do not have the hormones in them, giving you a withdrawal bleed. While you may think this is normal period and your body is in a healthy place, if you would not get your period without the pill, your body is not in a healthy place.
The problem with hormonal replacement is that is gives the body an abnormal amount of synthetic hormones that causes responses in the body such as reducing receptor sites and inhibiting natural hormone regulation.
The two main hormonal regulators in our brain, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, provide constant communication to our brain and our ovaries to secrete the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. Under normal circumstances, when the brain senses there is not enough, it will signal for more production. In the case of taking artificial hormones, the body recognizes that those hormones are there and shuts down its own production the longer its used.
Getting To The Root Cause
Think of the pill as a band-aid to the problem. Itself will not heal the wound, but cover it up until you really have to check on the wound again. I recommend looking into WHY you are having hormonal imbalances (amenorrhea, heavy periods, irregular cycles, PMS, period pain, etc.) and get to the root cause of the problem. Having a regular menstrual cycle should not be painful nor should it be non-existent. A healthy cycle tells you a lot about your health and how well your body is responding to the food you eat, your mental state, and the environment.
If you are restricting calories, over-exercising, purging, have a history of restrictive eating, or really stressed out, I do not recommend relying on synthetic hormones to regulate you. The pill bleed does not protect you from osteoporosis and puts you at an increased risk for breast and cervical cancer.
No clue what goes on in during your menstrual cycle, watch Understanding The Menstrual Cycle: What is Healthy??
Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA) is a very common hormonal imbalance in active women and those who are chronically dieting. These women are often told to go on the pill to "get their period back”, however, it is 100% possible to get a natural healthy period back no matter how long it has been missing. This can be achieved when you stop harming your body in negative behaviors and reaching a healthy weight.
Many things need to be taken into consideration such as intake, exercise, stress levels, sleep, and sometimes individualized supplementation to further support the body.
Are you struggling with a hormonal imbalance that is impacting your day to day life? Apply for 1:1 nutrition coaching to get help from a qualified professional who can help you get to the root cause of your hormonal imbalance.
