Birth Control: An Individualized Experience For All Women
Since its release in the 1960s, birth control has not just been a way to prevent pregnancy, but also a way for women to become empowered with the ability to make their own choices about their bodies and futures. Choosing to take birth control is not just a purely physical decision, it is also a psychological, emotional, and political decision.
Furthermore, birth control is not a one size fits all type of contraceptive. With the option of hormonal or non-hormonal, and the ability to choose the way it is administered, by oral pill, IUD, patch, implant, or shot, birth control is extremely individualized. Every single woman will experience birth control differently because every single woman's body has different hormone levels and metabolizes hormones differently. The option that works best for you might not be the first one you try, finding the right one is more-so about knowing your body and using a trial by error method until you find one with the results you are looking for.
Types of Birth Control & Side Effects
For women, birth control comes with a plethora of side effects and sometimes the side effects are the reason some women start using it. Birth control can regulate menstrual cycles and offer lighter periods (and sometimes the elimination of a period altogether), ease cramping and other painful pelvic symptoms caused by endometriosis, stabilize mood swings, and reduce acne.
For other women, the side effects of birth control can potentially create negative impacts on their body and mental health. Since hormonal birth control contains different doses of hormones like estrogen and progesterone, which affect your brain's way of processing emotions, there has been recorded correlation between taking birth control and worsening mood swings, anxiety, and depression. Though, this does not mean that birth control is the direct cause for depression and anxiety, if you feel like you are experiencing declining mental health while on birth control you should talk with a trusted doctor about your symptoms and what to do next.
Each type of birth control comes with its positives and negatives. The pill is a hormonal form of birth control. There are two types of pills you can choose from, combination pills and progestin only pills. Combination pills provide both estrogen and progestin, while progestin pills only contain progestin. Both pills have to be taken daily, around the same time each day, and prevent pregnancy 93% of the time. Both types of pills can reduce cramps, periods, and lower risks of ectopic pregnancy. Though, they can also cause nausea, headaches, and sore breasts. Combination pills specifically help with acne, PMS, bone thinning, iron deficiency, and reduce risk of endometrial and ovarian cancers. Unfortunately, there is a chance combination pills can slightly higher your risks of health problems. Complications are extremely rare but can include heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, and liver tumors.
An IUD, or Intrauterine Device, is a long term, reversible, form of birth control that is inserted into the uterus. You can choose between a hormonal IUD and a copper IUD. Both prevent pregnancy 99% of the time and can be extremely painful during insertion. Hormonal IUDs help lessen cramps and PMS and create lighter periods or even stop them altogether. Copper IUDs often do the opposite and cause heavier bleeding and more cramps, especially during the first 3-6 months, but this can last longer.
The implant, also known as Nexaplanon, is a small, thin hormonal rod inserted into the arm by a doctor where it releases progestin. It is reversible and prevents pregnancy 99% of the time. Side effects include temporary bruising, infection, and/or pain where insertion occurred, headaches, nausea, possible weight gain, and breast pain. For some, it can cause longer and heavier periods, though for most it lightens or eliminates periods and lessens cramping.
The Shot, Depo-Provera, is a hormonal shot containing progestin that must be administered by a doctor once every 12-13 weeks. It prevents pregnancy 96% of the time and can create lighter periods for some or eliminate them altogether. Periods can often get worse during the first year of use but as the body gets used to the shot, effects will lighten. Nausea, weight gain, headaches, and sore breasts are common side effects for long-term users.
The vaginal ring is a small, flexible ring inserted into the vagina and prevents pregnancy by releasing hormones into your body. There are two different types of rings, NuvaRing and Annovera. NuvaRing has to be replaced about once a month while Annovera lasts about a year. They prevent pregnancy around 93% of the time. Positive side effects of the ring can include help with acne, bone thinning, PMS, iron deficiency, and reduce risk of endometrial and ovarian cancers. Though some negatives are spotting/bleeding between periods, headaches, sore breasts, nausea.
The effects of birth control are complex and extremely personalized to every woman’s body. As of right now, we have variations of a product that only works for a portion of the women who need it. What women really need is more funding towards women’s health research and studies that explore a deeper understanding of how birth control affects women's bodies so that in the future we can become more innovative and improve upon birth control and its effects.
Male Birth Control Options & Effects
Birth control is not just for women, men too have options that can help prevent pregnancies and the list of side effects is much smaller than those for women. The only two contraceptives for men that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration today are condoms and vasectomies. Condoms are only around 87% effective and when used as the only form of birth control about 13 out of 100 people a year will get pregnant. Vasectomies on the other hand are almost 100% effective. Both of these forms of birth control produce virtually no side effects besides a small amount of pain directly after the vasectomy procedure is performed. Vasectomies are also made to be permanent but can potentially be reversed depending on a few factors, including how long ago the treatment took place.
Additionally, there are male hormonal birth control gel and non-hormonal pills currently being tested. The gel has already shown promising results after recent trials conducted just last year with the only side effects being potentially a small amount of weight gain and some upper back acne. Developers hope to conduct the final stages of testing later this year and have the product ready for production within the next few years.
The pill, YCT-529, works by blocking retinoic acid receptor-alpha, a protein essential for sperm production. When tested on non-human subjects, the pill produced virtually no negative side effects and worked efficiently in blocking sperm production. Results from a recent trial involving humans also proved to show promising results and no harmful side effects. This pill is still in its early stages and likely won’t be accessible to the public for at least a few more years.
For women, the choice to start using birth control is more than simple, having the choice means the ability to have autonomy over our own bodies and to be able to decide our futures. Our government should be funding women’s health research and helping provide wider access to contraceptive methods and informational content about birth control. There are many women out there who experience negative side effects from using birth control. We shouldn’t stop researching and funding until all women are able to safely use birth control.
