Birth Control And Female Sex Hormones

Hormones are given a bad rap. When they are not in balance they can cause undesirable symptoms, however those symptoms are often messages to you from your body that something is not quite right. Many females starting at a young age have irregular and/or painful periods. When they go to an allopathic or conventionally trained doctor, one of the first forms of “treatment” is birth control. You will commonly hear people say they are on birth control to regulate their hormones. Unfortunately, birth control doesn’t promote normal fluctuationsin your hormones as demonstrated in Dr. Spencer’s video last week. Birth control provides your body with synthetic hormones, which shuts down your natural hormone signals. The consistent introduction of synthetic hormones (birth control) lowers estrogen and progesterone to menopausal levels.

When we look back at our PTSD construct for analyzing hormones (Production, Transportation, Sensitivity, and Detoxification), birth control affects three out of the four areas.

• Production is impacted by the influx of synthetic hormones. The body stops natural production of hormones because it is receiving signals that there are already enough hormones in the body.

• Transportation becomes affected as the body increases the production of sex hormone binding globulin, the protein transporter of sex hormones. Once, birth control is stopped, sex hormone binding globulin goes down which increases free hormone in the body. This can lead to acne, heavy periods, irritability, mood swings, hair loss, etc.

• Detoxification is also affected as the synthetic hormones create more work for the liver in that the synthetic hormones must be metabolized and eliminated. Compound this with the toxic load many women carry from pollutants in our environment, toxins in our hygiene and beauty products, as well as drinking alcohol to destress and we can see how our liver becomes overworked and less efficient with all that it needs to process.

If you are currently using birth control, here are some tips to support your health:

• Detoxification support is extremely important. The more load we can take off the liver, the better it can work for us. This includes:

  • Eating a high fiber diet to encourage daily bowel movements

  • Eating green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables, known for their detoxification properties

    • Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli Sprouts

  • Eating organic, drinking filtered water, replacing toxic beauty and hygiene products with cleaner ones, etc. Every little bit you can do to remove daily toxins and decrease your toxic load will aid your liver.

• Ensure you are taking a high quality multivitamin to replenish the nutrients depleted by birth control. Make sure your multi includes absorbable forms of Zinc, Magnesium, and B6.

If you have been suffering with symptoms, please reach out to our office today. Dr. Spencer can create a plan with you to take back control of your hormones so that they are in balance and fluctuating normally, not just masking the symptoms and creating a cascade of other unwanted symptoms.

Please note: Our goal with this newsletter is to educate our patients and support them with making the best decisions for their personal health and wellbeing. If you are currently on birth control, please speak with your doctor before making any changes to your prescription.