The Health Crazies

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, one of the most popular methods of birth control in the United States and an increasingly popular birth control method in the public health realm. While oral contraceptives have helped many women, they also contribute to many concerns. After half a century, these concerns about the adverse health effects of birth control still, in many cases, remain unanswered; although, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified birth control pills with combined estrogen and progestin (as well as combined-hormone HRT) as carcinogenic.

The answers to the risk factors involved with taking the pill are well defined, however, and some of those factors are listed below. Of major concern is the incidence of blood clots, as blood clots can damage lungs or the heart and some may prove deadly. Increasingly, these issues may be seen more often in obese women who take the pill or in smokers.

The following list shows the dark side of birth control, with 17 adverse health effects. Each link leads to a reliable resource with the most recent updated information available.

Overall Risk Factors and Obesity

1. The main risk involved in taking oral contraceptives, or the pill, is for women who are older than age 35, who smoke and who have a history of blood clots or breast cancer. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not include all these factors with any other contraceptive.
2. A new study (2010) states that women who take non-oral and oral hormonal contraceptives were at highest risk of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). FSD covers low desire, inability to maintain arousal during such activity, or no arousal despite a desire to have sex, inability to experience orgasm, pain during sexual contact etc.
3. According to Science Daily, any woman considering the use of contraceptives should be evaluated for cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, kidney problems, obesity and other vascular diseases, including migraines. Additionally, the CDC suggests [PDF] that women continue to monitor their health throughout the span of taking birth control pills.
4. Studies have shown that women who take the pill and who have migraines increase their risk for a stroke by two to three times. The risk of stroke in women who have migraines with auras is increased by a factor of about 6 to 8, and further increased in the presence of other risk factors. In some cases, oral contraceptives cause the migraines.
5. In 2004, a study revealed that overweight and obese women who take oral contraceptives are 60-70 percent more likely to get pregnant while on the birth-control pill than women of lower weight. As recently as last year, Science Daily reported that the reason behind this anomaly may be that the pill takes longer to concentrate in the blood stream in obese women.
6. Obesity increases chances for blood clots, heart problems, diabetes, kidney problems and other vascular diseases, so taking the pill could exacerbate the odds for these issues if the woman taking oral contraceptives is obese.
7. Warning signs that warrant a call to your doctor include unusual or severe headaches, severe abdominal pain, chest pain or shortness of breath, blurred vision or vision loss and severe leg pain. Other symptoms, which may indicate a pulmonary embolism (PD) include feeling anxious or on edge, sweating, feeling lightheaded or faintness and a rapid pulse or palpitations.

Blood Clots

8. A study at the Dutch Leiden University Medical Center showed that women taking birth control pills were five times more likely to have blood clot problems than women who were not on the pill.
9. Another Leiden University study concluded that birth control pills containing the ingredient drospirenone — like Yasmin — are two times more likely to cause blood clots than other birth control pills, which generally contain levonorgestrel.
10. In 2008, researchers at the University of Ghent found that, based upon a study of 1,300 healthy women aged 35 to 55 living in a small town in Belgium, women who take oral contraceptives may have more plaque buildup in their arteries. Every 10 years of oral contraceptive use was correlated with a 20 to 30 percent increase in plaque buildup.
11. In 2007, researchers from Ghent University found that women who had used the pills and stopped had an unexpected increase of artery-clogging plaque in key blood vessels in the heart and legs. The study was conducted on 2,524 apparently healthy women aged 35 to 55 who had previously used oral contraceptives, many who had used them for over 13 years.
12. In 2003, the journal Archives of Internal Medicine reported a study showing that women who use birth control pills greatly increase their risk of potentially life threatening blood clots when they travel by air. This information was reiterated in 2009.

Heart Problems, Cancer

13. A study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2008 conducted by the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies at the University of Udine, in Italy, concluded that the new, “third-generation” oral contraceptives elevate the levels of “C-reactive protein” (CRP) in women, which in turn raises their risk of cardiovascular disease.
14. According to the Mayo Clinic, birth control pills may increase blood pressure. The risk of high blood pressure in women who take birth control pills also increases with age and the duration of use.
15. According to the National Cancer Institute, several studies have found that oral contraceptives increase the risk of liver cancer in populations usually considered low risk, such as white women in the United States and Europe who do not have liver disease. In these studies, women who used oral contraceptives for longer periods of time were found to be at increased risk for liver cancer.
16. In 2002, the American Cancer Society reported that women with inherited mutations of the breast cancer gene BRCA1 have an even higher risk of breast cancer if they take birth control pills. Their already high rate of breast cancer was increased by 20 percent on oral contraceptive pills.
17. Women whose LDL cholesterol is over 160 mg/dL should avoid using the pill. Ditto for those with a family history of premature heart disease or those with an HDL level less than 35 mg/dL or a triglyceride level greater than 250 mg/dL.

Tagged as: blood clots, Female Sexual Dysfunction, liver cancer, obesity and the pill, oral contraceptives