HORMONES -
ARE BIRTH CONTROL PILLS SAFE?

Back in the early 1990’s we stopped selling OC’s in our retail pharmacy. We received a wide range of reactions to that. Some people suggested that we were somehow obligated to sell them. Others were offended that we had made a public statement about these drugs. And others applauded our actions. Those who cheered us were in a very small minority.

The PILL is gone from our shelves but there are a LOT of women who use them every day. And they have used them for years. Recent advertising suggests that THE PILL can even help young girls have clear skin. An article in a women’s magazine pointed out that by using THE PILL every day - without a break - a woman can avoid having to deal with her period for months or even years. These are alarming! Why?  Well, it is based in the mechanics of HOW these drugs work in the human body. 

BC’s are drugs. They are presented to the world as hormones, but they are synthetic compounds that mimic some of the actions of hormones. Never in the history of the human race have the drugs found in BC’s every been detected naturally in real people. In the early part of the 20th century Russell Marker discovered a chemical process for converting plant oils into progesterone and the other human hormones. This was a major breakthrough but there was a catch. Human hormones could not be patented. In order to achieve a patent the original, natural hormones were subjected to further chemistry. What developed were drugs that could be patented. They were enough like natural hormones to have some of the effects of our own hormones but they were different enough to provide a whole range of side effects that were never associated with natural hormones.

I want to describe HOW the BC’s work and I need to set the stage. The normal human menstrual cycle is designed to allow for times of fertility. When an egg is fertilized it needs certain hormones - progesterone in particular - to allow for implantation in the womb and for development. (In fact, the word PROGESTERONE is a combination of PRO {derived from the Latin word meaning ‘in favor of’ or ‘for’} GESTATION {the term used to describe pregnancy}). If the mother does not produce sufficient PROGESTERONE the pregnancy is probably terminated - naturally. In addition to ‘not enough’ progesterone, a mother may have other hormones in her body in quantities so high that the pro-gestational nature of progesterone is inhibited. The interfering hormones are referred to as estrogens. The balance between progesterone and estrogen is very important for maintaining a pregnancy for full term.

In the ‘early days’ of OC development, the PILL contained relatively high doses of estrogen substances (not real hormones, but synthetic compounds that mimicked the actions of real hormones - and there were a lot of SIDE EFFECTS. The idea behind the PILL was to elevate estrogen levels and inhibit ovulation - the releasing of an egg that is ready to be fertilized

There were the primary effects of those early PILLS. First they did interfere with ovulation. The synthetic estrogens stopped eggs from ripening. Second, the PILL seemed to thicken cervical mucous, making it more difficult for sperm to make contact with the target. Third, the womb was made inhospitable to implantation by the action of the drugs.

Over the years the industry recognized that many women experienced side effects and there were conflicting reports that suggested that use of BC’s was also damaging to overall health - of the woman who used them. Consequently, the doses of synthetic hormones were reduced to very low levels. Research showed that the rate of pregnancy with the low dose PILLS was about the same as when the dose was higher. Side effects were reduced and pregnancy did not occur. Further study showed, amazingly, that the rate of ovulation was higher than with the old pills. Women were producing viable eggs but they were not getting pregnant. Concern about cervical mucous became less of an issue because it just didn’t seem as thick as it had been with the early PILLS. Pregnancy rates remained low.  What was going on?

The three main effects of BC’s were 1)inhibition of ovulation 2) thickened cervical mucous 3) interference with nidation (the implantation of the baby into the wall of the womb). Effects one and two were reduced by the low dose PILLS. That left effect three as the remaining explanation for few pregnancies. The pill was exerting a effect on the lining of the womb, making it inhospitable to any new fetal life that may ‘want’ to implant.

The hormone that supports nidation (implantation) is progesterone - and estrogen inhibits it. The low dose PILLS exert a strong enough estrogen effect to override the progesterone needed to support new life in the womb. With no place to implant the tiny life is swept from the mother’s body during menstruation.

This should be of concern. Women who use BC’s are using a drug that acts like estrogens and inhibits a natural body function. They are in a chemically induced state of estrogen dominance.

I suspect that short term use of the drugs in BC’s is fairly benign - for most women. But I am not so sure about the safety of BC’s when they are taken daily for years and years. Some women probably suffer little but I’d suspect that there are some who react poorly to years of drug use. The industry warns of long term use of ‘street drugs’ but there is scant mention of the problems that can develop from years of ingesting synthetic hormones.

The consequences may be serious and information about them is just now beginning to surface. It will be years - if ever - before the majority medical paradigm shifts against the PILL in all its forms. In the meantime it up to each woman to decide about these potent drugs herself. I hope to be posting more material about this topic as time goes on. Check back often and sign up for our electronic newsletter to keep abreast.