Linnea Hoops
LBST 2101 - 19H
Women all over the world rely on birth control to help
regulate their periods, stop cramping, spotting, acne and the obvious keep them
from becoming pregnant. A lot of girls and women are so eager to get on it they
don’t realize the dangers and health implications that come along with taking
Birth Control.
Some of the changes that come along with take birth control
pills include larger breasts, weight gain or loss, reduced or increased acne, slight
nausea, mood swing though out your cycle and irregular bleeding or spotting
1. These side effects only break the surface of the different dangers of
contraceptives.
Most of the previous side effects are pretty normal and at
least one happen to all women, but there are much more severe and scarier
dangers out there that women are not aware of. These include increased risk of
cervical and breast cancer, migraines, high blood pressure, infertility, benign
liver tumors, blood clots, and yeast overgrowth and infection. 2
It has recently been discovered that taking birth control
can destruct and harm helpful bacteria in your intestines, which lowers your
immunity to infection and enables you to be more likely to experience yeast
overgrowth. This perhaps starts to explain why women who have been taking birth
control pills for years are more at risk for things like cancer infection and
blood clots. 3
Being a young woman that takes birth control, these findings
have been pretty eye opening to me. It’s scary to think that when I want to
settle down and try to have kids I might not be able to because I have been
taking the pill for so long. Also, learning that I am more susceptible to
cervical cancer or breast cancer is frightening. The breast cancer part really
stands out to me because it prominent in my family history.
Even though the most popular contraceptive is the birth
control pill there are many different ones out there.
Another familiar contraceptive is the injectable birth
control method. This method is given in the arm or buttocks once every 3
months. Some dangers that come along with this method are loss in bone density,
unexplained vaginal bleeding, liver disease, breast cancer and blood clots. 4
Some less severe side effects include irregular menstrual periods, headaches,
nervousness, acne, change in appetite, weight gain and hair loss. 5
Another contraceptive that can be used is the Female Condom.
This is not very popular and not many people know about it. Some of the dangers
of this contraceptive are that it isn’t as effective in preventing pregnancy as
any other contraceptive, and it is more costly than male condoms and can cause
extreme discomfort to the woman using it. 6
A not so popular contraceptive is the NuvaRing. After researching
this product I don’t think I would want it anywhere near me. When looking up
information about the NuvaRing it came up with the most dangers and side
effects. There were the common side effects that come along with any
contraceptive like weight gain and nausea and cramping, but there were some
that were a lot petrifying. These dangers included blood clots, strokes and
heart attacks, high blood pressure and heart disease, cancer of the
reproductive organs and breast, gallbladder disease, liver tumors, lipid
metabolism and inflammation of the pancreas. 7
Even though there are so many dangers to birth control and
other contraceptives there are also positive effects. If you are a college
student and sexually active I think it is important for a young college woman
to be aware of the dangers that come along with taking it or injecting it, but
also want to protect themselves from getting pregnant or getting an STD or STI
(which you need to use a barrier method contraceptive like a condom to prevent
an STD or STI).
1 http://bodyecology.com/articles/dangers_birth_control_pill.php#.Uur-4BaRPzI↩
2 http://bodyecology.com/articles/dangers_birth_control_pill.php#.Uur-4BaRPzI↩
3 http://bodyecology.com/articles/dangers_birth_control_pill.php#.Uur-4BaRPzI↩
4 https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/contraception/conditioninfo/Pages/types.aspx↩
5 http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/birth-control-depo-provera↩
6 http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=109↩
7 http://www.nuvaring.com/consumer/risks-and-side-effects/index.asp↩
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