Learnt something new (that’s apparently not very new) this week -Dec/23! Hormonal Contraceptives (HC’s)dampen the stress response. Meaning, your body is less capable of (or just doesn’t) release the amount of Cortisol needed to help you cope with stress.
More on Cortisol and your stress response here and here. Also cortisol isn’t a bad thing. It’s only bad when it’s too high or too low relative to your needs!
Plus, it’s a major contributor to major depressive disorder -an effect that tends to linger long after the HC has been discontinued (especially if it was started before 19yoa). To learn more on this slightly controversial take on HC’s see Dr. Sarah Hills Book: “This is Your Brain on Birth Control“.
“Women using hormonal contraceptives (HCs) exhibit numerous signs of chronic inflammation, including elevated C-reactive protein levels and greater risk of developing mood and autoimmune disorders.” Pubmed: 37914104
“Results demonstrate that OCPs blunt cortisol reactivity” Pubmed: 34922094
On depression and HC’s:
“Use of hormonal contraception, especially among adolescents, was associated with subsequent use of antidepressants and a first diagnosis of depression” Pubmed: 27680324
“a clear temporal relationship between starting or using a hormone contraceptive and the development of new or worsened depression [in some cases].” PMC9218393
“[Progestins] might affect brain structure and function, even though the meaning of these changes has yet to be clarified.” Pubmed: 32980990
If you’d like to discuss the pro’s and con’s of Hormonal Contraceptives and alternative options, see me! If you’d like to get off it & worried about the acne, mood changes, irregular cycles, etc that may result, we’ll figure it out together and treat the root cause of the imbalance.
That birth control pill/IUD/ring was never addressing the root cause anyways. It had simply shut OFF the Hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis and hijacked your natural cycling. That ‘period’ on the OC was never a period. The pill never actually “regulated” anything. Yes, you may have had irregular periods when you first started menstruating but that’s normal as the body is learning how to manage the periods. And a few years later -after the birth control pill- your cycles may have been more regular but that was wrongly attributed to the hormonal contraceptive, when all along your body would have naturally adjusted regardless.
Here’s a study Abstract that paints another dismal picture regarding use during puberty:
“Millions of women worldwide use oral contraceptives (i.e., birth control pill; OCs), often starting during puberty/adolescence; however, it is unknown how OC use during this critical period of development affects the brain, especially with regard to emotional working memory. Here, we examined stress reactivity, and brain structure and function in OC users using the Trier Social Stress Test and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our results show that OC use during puberty/adolescence gives rise to a blunted stress response and alters brain activation during working memory processing. OC use, in general, is also linked to increased prefrontal brain activation during working memory processing for negatively arousing stimuli. OC use is also related to significant structural changes in brain regions implicated in memory and emotional processing. Together, these findings highlight that OC use induces changes to brain structure and function and alters stress reactivity. These findings may provide a mechanistic insight for the increased vulnerability to mood-related mental illness in women after OC use.”
It’s also noteworthy to remember than anabolic steroids (testosterone) are illegal in males because of how they negatively impact male health, but all the while estrogens and progestins are completely acceptable and considered “medicine”? Something to ponder! Why is our first response to anything hormonally abnormal with females is hormonal contraception?
Ontario Naturopathic doctor
Yours in Health,
Dr. Negin
