PCOS and Birth Control Pills

It is Inevitable. Once you get diagnosed with PCOS, the doctor will probably prescribe a birth control pill. They'll explain that the pill is needed to "shrink" the cysts, to "get your periods back" and to "balance your hormones"

Lately, I have been contacted by numerous women who say that they have been bouncing from doctor to doctor or they keep going back to their doctor and all they do is prescribe a birth control pill to balance their hormones in order to will sort out their PCOS symptoms. Women, particularly young women feel that this works for them for whatever personal reasons they have, may it be birth control (which is an excellent reason to take your pill), clear skin, thick hair, acne etc. but are not aware that taking the pill does not mean that your period has come back.

On the contrary, all the pill does is hit you with low doses of hormones so that your natural hormones and natural cycle are put on hold until the time comes when you need to either try for a baby OR just take a break from the pill. Women ALWAYS say this to me: "I stopped taking the pill but now my periods are irregular again"

The same thing happened to me. I was prescribed a birth control pill called Yasmin. I took it religiously for 8 years because it controlled my symptoms. 8 years is a long time but it was great. I didn't gain weight, I had no acne, no cramps, lighter periods, no issues. I knew EXACTLY when I was going to get a period, which was awesome. Until the time came when I decided to come off Yasmin to try and conceive. I started to gain weight fast, my periods became irregular again and all my hidden symptoms came back.

However, before I go on, I really must stress here. Whichever birth control method you decide to take, I am not going to bash you for it. We live in a time where women have control over their bodies and can decide whether they want to put themselves through having a baby and when they want to. I think that's empowering and amazing. So you do you. All I am aiming to do is to keep you informed on WHAT the pill does and HOW it works in the context of PCOS "healing". Because that's what we end up believing. That the pill will heal us. That taking the Birth control pill will magically cure your PCOS. Unfortunately, the birth control pill is only a Band-Aid solution. It masks PCOS symptoms.

How do Birth Control Pills work?

So let's look back at how the Menstrual cycle works. A shown below, we know that we need 4 key hormones for the menstrual cycle. Estrogen, Progesterone, Luteinizing hormone and Follicle stimulating hormone. If you read my post about the Menstrual Cycle, I explain how these hormones work together for menstruation to happen.

With a Regular Menstrual cycle the hormones work together as shown above. However with PCOS, we do not get the necessary spikes of LH and FSH hormones because we need Estrogen in the first half of the cycle and Progesterone in the second half of the cycle to initiate the two surges of LH and FSH. Because of this, no Ovulation occurs and therefore no Period.

With Birth control, especially a combined pill dosage, the body is introduced to a steady concentration of Estrogen and Progesterone components. So as shown above, there is no spike or drop in the two hormones thus keeping LH and FSH levels low so that no Ovulation can take place. During the one week break, the levels of Progesterone and Estrogen then drop which results in a "period". This is not a natural period at all. This is what we call a WITHDRAWAL BLEED, which normally lasts for about the seven days that you're off the pill until you start a new pack.

So, ladies, you need to remember one thing when you are on the pill. This is not a natural period but one that has been orchestrated by introducing a steady amount of hormones and then stopping briefly to take a break and get a "period". Some doctors don't explain this.

I hope that has cleared up a little confusion in that respect because it is important to note that when you make a decision to stop the pill all the PCOS symptoms that were being suppressed or masked will come to the surface again. This will have you running back to your doctor asking what to do only to have them prescribe the pill, this time it may be a different type, but at the end of the day it will still mask your issues and won't solve anything. I have had someone say to me: "I take the pill but I am not losing weight"

The pill is controlling your hormones. If you have Insulin Resistance, the pill can not make things better. In fact, by masking symptoms such as acne, hair growth and irregular periods you will never know whether you are Insulin Resistant or not. The only symptom that may give you an inkling is of course the weight gain.

So, Why does your doctor prescribe BC?

Well, Birth Control works in 2 main ways:

1. It helps to reduce Testosterone in the bloodstream: this means that symptoms such as acne, facial hair growth and hair loss are reduced.

2. It helps to protect the uterus by inducing a withdrawal bleed so there is no buildup of uterine tissue. (This is the main reason a doctor prescribes the pill, because without regular periods, the uterus lining keeps building up and can lead to endometrial hyperplasia, which may increase the risk of uterine cancer

• Birth Control is NOT regulating your normal cycles. It is creating a synthetic cycle with synthetic hormones.

• It does not FIX your hormonal imbalances

• Birth Control can create important vitamin and nutrient deficiencies (Will explain in later post)

• It is very likely your PCOS will come back after you stop taking the pill, because remember, most of the time PCOS is caused by genetic factors.

At the end of the day, nobody knows your body better than you do. Like I said earlier, I am not here to tell you not to take Birth Control. If you feel it helps for whatever reasons that are personal to you, I am all for it! However, if you work on the underlying issues of PCOS such as inflammation, Insulin Resistance and Hormonal Imbalances, it is a more rewarding experience and again, I am always here to help!!