Estrogen And Postmenopausal Depression
At menopause, estrogen levels fall to very low levels. Interestingly, taking oral estrogen does not improve depression in women after menopause. In large trials evaluating hormone replacement therapy, women taking estrogen reported the same mental health as women taking placebo. After menopause, women’s rates of depression fall, becoming similar to men of the same age.
Testosterone And Sex Hormone Binding Globulin
Testosterone is found as either bound or unbound in the body. Unbound testosterone is considered Free Testosterone. Testosterone that is bound to albumin, a transport protein, is also considered free since it is a relatively weak bind. Surprisingly, only about 3% of testosterone in the body is completely free, or unbound, and about 30-35% if bound to albumin. The remaining 70% is bound to sex hormone binding globulin, SHBG.1
How Do Birth Control Pills Work
For information, Birth control pills work directly on a womanâs hormones to stop ovulation, which is the process where an ovary releases the ovum. Without ovulation, there is no egg for a sperm cell to fertilize, so that you can not get pregnant. The pill also contains hormones that thicken the cervical mucus. Thicker mucus from the lining of the cervix becomes more difficult for sperm to swim up an egg.
Birth control pills usually come in two forms. Combination pills contain estrogen and progesterone hormones and work by disrupting ovulation, thickening of the cervical mucus, and thinning of the cervical mucosa. Combination tablets come in packs of 28 to 21. In both cases, only 21 tablets are active, which means they contain hormones. With 28 days of packs, the additional seven tablets contain hormones but are designed to help you preserve the habit of taking one tablet a day.
Combination pills have different amounts of estrogen and progesterone types. Monophasic pills have the same number of hormones for each day throughout the month. Other tablets, such as triphasic tablets, vary the hormone dosage and concentration throughout the month.
Don’t Miss: What Causes Testosterone To Be Low
How Does The Birth Control Pill Work
Before one can fully appreciate what makes low-dose contraceptives different than other forms of birth control, its crucial to understand how the birth control pill works.The female reproductive system operates under a cycle of rising and falling estrogen, progesterone, and androgen hormones. At the beginning of the cycle, hormones steadily increase until the ovary is prompted to release an egg. Once this happens, hormones influence the uterus to grow an endometrial lining in preparation for a fertilized egg. If an egg is not fertilized within about 10 to 14 days after ovulation, the endometrium sheds, resulting in a menstrual period.
The pill disrupts the rising and falling of reproductive hormones by a steady dose of synthetic estrogen and progesterone. The endometrium is not signaled to grow to prepare a fertilized egg, and when women who take the pill have a menstrual period, its not really a period because ovulation did not occur. Monthly bleeding on the pill is referred to as withdrawal bleeding.
Naturally occurring estrogen in the female reproductive cycle is produced in the ovaries. Estrogen helps the uterus grow the lining that is responsible for the implantation of a fertilized egg.
What Treatment Options Are Available
Birth control can be beneficial for conditions other than preventing pregnancy, including polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis pain. If you take birth control for health reasons, it may be important to continue even if your risk for migraine with aura is increased.
If youre on birth control, treatments which may reduce the symptoms and severity of migraine with aura include:
Recommended Reading: What Female Hormone Causes Weight Gain
When To Talk To Your Doctor About Birth Control Pills
Doctors advise using the oral contraceptives with 20mcgm of estrogen, to minimize the risk of weight gain. Currently, these are: Alesse, Levlite, Loestrin-Fe and Mircette.
Be aware that if you gained more than 5% of your current weight, you could be experiencing problems with abnormalities in the glucose metabolism or with insulin resistance. Consult your doctor about the possibility of these conditions. The solution could be the low carbohydrates diet. These patients are advised to avoid sugar and food rich in carbohydrates, since it could affect their weight and cause weight gain.
A Joint Problem: Rheumatoid Arthritis And Hormonal Birth Control
nearly 75 percent are women13 percent of women may get rheumatoid arthritis in their lifetime.
At this point in my research into hormonal contraceptives, any disease that affects women so much more drastically than men I find suspicious. While reading the Nelson Pill Hearings , the testimony of Dr. Giles Boles, a professor of internal medicine, caught my attention. He was discussing oral contraceptives and rheumatoid arthritis. Like diabetes, this is another connection I had never heard about before.
At the hearings, Boles describes a 24-year-old woman who was experiencing mild rheumatic symptoms. After running some tests, she showed three abnormalities commonly associated with lupus. She had been taking oral contraceptives for 8 months and was on no other medication. She was advised to discontinue her oral contraceptive therapy and within 6 weeks all of her laboratory abnormalities had disappeared. Doctors continued to monitor her for over 2 years and she remained disease-free.
He also spoke about a two-year study published in 1969 that showed rheumatoid arthritis in women taking oral contraceptives increased more than 50 percent. Another study from the same year reported that 22 women with rheumatic symptoms had their symptoms diminish or disappear after discontinuing the pill .
That study, which was originally published in the British medical journal Lancet,;was also discussed in Barbara Seamans book The Doctors Case Against the Pill :
Read Also: How To Know When Testosterone Is Low
Frequently Asked Questions Expand All
Combined hormonal methods are safe for most women, but they are associated with a small increased risk of deep vein thrombosis , heart attack, and stroke. The risk is higher in some women, including women older than 35 years who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day or women who have multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes; a history of stroke, heart attack, or DVT; or a history of migraine headaches with aura.
You should not use combined hormonal methods during the first 3 weeks after delivery because the risk of DVT is higher in the weeks after childbirth. If you have additional risk factors for DVT, you should wait to use combined hormonal methods until after the first 46 weeks following delivery.
The risk of DVT also may be slightly higher in women taking pills containing a progestin called drospirenone and in women using the patch. However, the risk of DVT is higher during pregnancy and in the weeks after childbirth than when taking drospirenone-containing pills or using the patch.
If you are breastfeeding, estrogen may affect your milk supply. It is recommended that you wait until the fifth week after delivery to start using these methods, when breastfeeding has been well established.
Headache
What Is Known About The Relationship Between Oral Contraceptive Use And Cancer
Nearly all the research on the link between oral contraceptives and cancer risk comes from observational studies, both large prospective cohort studies and population-based casecontrol studies. Data from observational studies cannot definitively establish that an exposurein this case, oral contraceptivescauses cancer. That is because women who take oral contraceptives may differ from those who dont take them in ways other than their oral contraceptive use, and it is possible that these other differencesrather than oral contraceptive useare what explains their different cancer risk.
Overall, however, these studies have provided consistent evidence that the risks of breast and cervical cancers are increased in women who use oral contraceptives, whereas the risks of endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal cancers are reduced .
Also Check: Does Blue Cross Blue Shield Cover Testosterone Therapy
Progestins And The Risk For Blood Clots
Deep vein thrombosis is a condition where blood clots develop in the veins , and can be life-threatening if they travel to the lungs, heart, or brain.
Progestin-only methods are generally not thought to increase risk for blood clots . But when combined with estrogen in combined hormonal birth control, the type of progestin may make a difference in the risk for blood clots .
A large study in Denmark showed that people using birth control containing the progestins desogestrel, gestodene, and drospirenone were twice as likely to develop a blood clot in a vein than people using birth control containing levonorgestrel . Another study that combined data from six studies did not find a connection between progestin type and the risk for blood clots .
Let’s support one another.
Is There Any Way My Daughter Can Lower Her Risk Of Getting Blood Clots While Taking The Pill
Make sure you let your daughter know if any of her blood relatives have had blood clots, especially when they were young . There are other factors that can contribute to the likelihood of whether a teen or adult woman develops blood clots such as a diagnosis of Factor V Leiden, trauma, or surgery, being overweight and smoking.
If your daughter smokes, encourage her to quit. If she is planning a flight or long car ride , remind her to get up and walk around and drink lots of fluids to lessen the risk of blood clots. If she is having surgery , talk to her health care provider about whether she should go off the Pill 3-4 weeks before the surgery.
Don’t Miss: How Does Testosterone Affect Males
Thyroid Disease And Birth Control
The links between hyperthyroid and hypothyroid disease and birth control use vary. Interestingly enough, combined hormonal birth control pills seem to protect you against the risk of developing hyperthyroid disease. However, combined hormonal birth control pill use does not appear to alter hypothyroid risk.
Can Birth Control Impact Migraines
Since around 1966, research has suggested that low-dose estrogen birth control pills can prevent migraines, while higher dose pills can sometimes make them worse. Every woman is different and will respond differently to hormonal contraceptives. Furthermore, it is important to consult a doctor about any history of migraines before trying a new hormonal contraceptive.; Some migraine sufferers experience visual disturbances during an attack. This is referred to as a migraine aura. For women with a history of this type of migraine, birth control may not be recommended, as it could lead to stroke.;
You May Like: How Can You Raise Your Testosterone
There Are Three Varieties Of Birth Control Pill
“In regards to birth control pills, there are the regular, low dose, ultra low dose, and progestin-only varieties. Some of the older, regular dose pills have 50 micrograms of estrogen; while low dose pills have 35 micrograms, and ultra-low dose only 20 micrograms of estrogen. Progestin-only pills have no estrogen,” Dr. Dunston says. “All birth control pills prevent pregnancy by the same mechanism: It is the progestin that prevents pregnancy. The estrogen component of the pill is typically what regulates blood flow and not contraceptive efficacy.”
Still don’t quite understand how progestin and estrogen work together in your body? Dr. Dunston lays it out like this, “I like to think of the progestin as the cake and the estrogen as the icing on the cake. That is why progestin-only pills are just as effective as combination pills.”
If you opt for a low-estrogen-dose pill, “The drawback to the lower estrogen or no estrogen pills is typically abnormal bleeding patterns. The benefits include fewer side effects such as weight gain, bloating, headaches, and others,” Dr. Dunston tells Bustle via email.
Birth Control Pills Replace Naturally
“Birth control pills prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation. This is accomplished by the progestin component of the pill. Stopping ovulation prevents a women from maturing an egg each month that could be fertilized and cause pregnancy,” Dr. Dunston says. “It also stops a women from producing her own sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. It is common to see women on the pill have the same low sex hormone levels as a women in menopause because of this suppression.”
In place of naturally-occurring hormones, the pill feeds the body artificial, chemically-altered sex hormones. According to Dr. Dunston, ” are similar enough to trick the body into thinking it doesnât need to produce its own but different enough to not successfully replace what a woman stops producing. Hence, this is partly the cause of the common side effects of low sex drive, fatigue, hair loss, headaches, and others.”
Read Also: How To Help Estrogen Levels
Progestins In Menopausal Hormone Therapy
Estrogen is sometimes prescribed for people experiencing symptoms related to menopause, such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness . Estrogen causes the endometrium to grow so that it builds a thick layer . Too much estrogen can cause an overgrowth of the endometrium, which is a risk factor for endometrial cancer .
Progestins are sometimes used as part of menopausal hormone therapy because they prevent the endometrium from building up too much and becoming cancerous .
What Are The Specific Symptoms Of Migraine With Aura And Birth Control
The timing of your migraine attack may be a clue that your birth control method is the cause rather than a typical migraine that may have other causes.
And if you have migraine with aura, you may be especially sensitive to the estrogen in birth control pills. Your migraine attacks may also feel more intense if youre sensitive to estrogen.
If you take hormonal birth control pills, you typically take an active pill containing estrogen and progestin for 3 weeks. During the fourth week, you take an inactive placebo pill which doesnt contain hormones.
During that week, your estrogen levels drop as they would if you werent taking birth control. When estrogen dips, you may experience migraine, with or without aura.
If you take an extended-cycle pill, this drop in estrogen occurs less frequently. This can reduce how often you get migraine attacks that result from a dip in estrogen.
Other possible side effects from birth control pills that may also occur along with migraine with aura include:
Migraine with aura can often be managed with medication. If your migraine attacks last longer than 1 hour or linger for an extended period of time, let your doctor know.
Seek immediate medical attention if you experience symptoms such as:
- weakness on one side of the body
- confused speech
- a reduction in alertness
If migraine with aura coincides with your menstrual cycle, talk with a doctor about your choices for birth control that wont increase migraine severity or your risk of stroke.
Also Check: What Does Estrogen Do For You
Birth Control Hormones Are Not Hormones They Are Endocrine Disruptors
If you went to the toxicology site at the US National Institutes of Health, you would find the ingredients of birth control pills listed as endocrine disruptors. You can look at;environmental;medicine research to see the impact of these birth control chemicals on wildlife. In the articles, these chemicals are always;labelled;as endocrine disruptors, not hormones. The fact that they are marketed widely around the world as contraceptives and are called hormones by most;doesnt make them natural hormones. You can call a piece of glass a diamond but its still just glass and doesnt have the beneficial properties of diamonds.
Something like 6 decades ago, research was underway on the use of these synthetic hormones, at a time when natural female hormones were barely understood. The health implications were not comprehended. Only the fact that pregnancy could be averted was acknowledged, and heralded. Fast forward to today though we know so much more of the negatives of disrupting natural hormones and rhythms, its all brushed under the rug, and the anti-fertility impacts are applauded for good reason, but at what cost to a womans health?
Low Dose Birth Control
Medically reviewed by Sophia Yen, MD, MPH Written by Pandia Health Editorial Team. Updated on May 26, 2021
When people talk about the dose of birth control, they mean the amount of hormones or active ingredients it has. Back in the day, low dose birth control had a higher amount of hormones . That said, if youre asking specifically for low dose birth control, you should know that most pills today are considered low dose.
Being that there are so many birth control options to choose from, its normal to feel confused or even overwhelmed. But have no fear. The following article will explore the pros and cons of low dose birth control.
Read Also: Does Melatonin Cancel Out Birth Control Implant
How Birth Control Affects Shbg Levels
One large meta-analysis found that total testosterone levels can decline by roughly 30%, while free testosterone decline by nearly 60% with the use of hormonal contraceptives. That is a huge reduction! It is thought that it’s caused by three mechanisms: 1) the suppression of testosterone production by the ovaries, 2) suppression of testosterone production by the adrenal glands, and 3) increased SHBG levels.1
SHBG rises dramatically with the use of some hormonal birth controlsby as much as 250%.1 SHBGs exists to bind to sex hormones, making it easier for them to safely travel through the bloodstream. It is produced in the liver in response to testosterone and estrogen, and since hormonal contraceptives typically include a form of estrogen, it makes sense that SHBG levels increase when hormones are added to the body.
Elevated SHBG levels can be alarming, especially without a known explanation. In men, they can be caused by a number of things, such as excessively high levels of testosterone, overtraining, undereating, and inadequate sleep. These things can also impact females SHBG levels, but to a drastically lower extent. Usually, in women, hormonal birth control can result in high levels of sex hormone binding globulin.