The Pill
Hey Gorgeous
I want to step outside of the nutrition field for just a second here, (well for a blog post actually) and talk to you about something you’re probably taking, have taken or thought about doing so. I am talking about hormone contraceptive pill, affectionately known as the pill by most women.
How many of you know how the pill works? That it switches off hormones and why that should matter to you? I first went on the pill at 15 years of age, it was given to me by the school nurse, and it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I switched to a non-hormonal birth control method (more about that another time). I took a medication, every day, for 8 years, and non-one ever told me how it worked.
The pill works by switching off hormones, because it switches off ovulation (otherwise it wouldn’t be called birth control). Most of you will read the word ovulation and think of its role in making babies. But gorgeous it is so much more important than that!
Ovulation is the only time you make a hormone called progesterone, which is important for sex drive, metabolism and boosting your mood. The replaces the hormones we naturally make during our monthly cycle with synthetic versions which have been associated with common side effects such as depression, weight gain and hair loss.
The pill is also all too commonly used to treat heavy periods, a common symptom of Endometriosis.
This doesn’t fix or remove Endo, but masks the symptom of the disease as long as the women continues to take the medication. In some cases women are not diagnosed with Endo, but told to take the pill for heavy periods and sent on their merry way.
If you take the pill as a form of hormonal birth control, this post wasn’t meant to create feelings of guilt, but rather to inspire you to notice any side effects of this medication and consider asking more information either about the pill you are on, or about what other options are out there for you.