This is a spoken health-advice piece by Dr. Tabatha Barber discussing long-term risks of combined/synthetic birth control pills. Key claims: pills suppress the hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian (HPO) axis rather than "regulate" hormones, can lead to menstrual irregularity and fertility problems after discontinuation, may raise androgens/PCOS-like states, cause gut dysbiosis and leaky gut that elevate autoimmune risk and systemic inflammation, and deplete B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and selenium contributing to thyroid dysfunction and chronic fatigue. The speaker recommends short-term use for contraception, gut-supporting measures, and high-quality methylated B-complex-containing multivitamins if continuing pills.
Chapters
So birth control pills, this is probably where I get the most questions. So birth control pills, this is probably where I get the most questions. So, you know, birth control pills are great for birth control, they do prevent pregnancy. But I want you to understand what you're signing up for because so many of us are not on them for a short term. We're on them sometimes our entire reproductive life, you know, 20 years or more. So I really want you to know what you're signing up for. So birth control pills are synthetic hormones and they shut down the communication between your brain and your ovaries. So normally your brain and ovaries talk to each other by the hormones they produce. This is called the HP PO axis, hypothalamic pituitary, ovarian axis. And that communication is very important to keep your cycle balanced. So the birth control pill does not regulate your hormones. That is a myth. It shuts down their production completely and overrides the system. And so what we've come to realize is that you're on this for, you know, 5, 10, 15 years and you try to come off of it. Sometimes the brain and the ovaries, they don't talk to each other when you come off of that pill because that system has been down for so long, they don't even know how to communicate. And so often women will come off the birth control pill and not have a period and, or they'll have just skin scant bleeding here and there, or it's super irregular. And what's happening is your brain and your ovaries don't know how to communicate properly, they don't know how to respond to each other. And so you're not getting a consistent regular cycle. Sometimes your androgens can be elevated, your testosterone particularly, and that can cause PCOS induced birth control. So a lot of issues are associated with long term birth control use. I'm seeing fertility infertility just rise because of this. It's really important for you to understand what you're signing up for. And I recommend only using it for birth control for the shortest duration that you need it. The other main issues with birth control pills and all synthetic hormones that you're putting in your body are it causes gut dysbiosis and leaky gut. So it destroys the lining in your intestines called your epithelial lining. And if you have leaky gut, that makes you susceptible to turning on autoimmune diseases, if you have the genes for it, like Hashimoto's, celiac lupus rheumatoid and it creates food sensitivities and systemic inflammation in your body. Systemic inflammation is the root cause for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, all of these things. And so synthetic hormones, long term, are really not safe. I don't recommend them. So if you're on them, I definitely want you just to be aware of what you're signing up for. And I would say, like, focus on good gut health. Make sure you're not eating processed garbage food. Make sure you're doing everything you can to keep that gut lining healthy. And sometimes that looks like supplementation, managing your stress better, things like that. The other main issue with birth control pills is that they deplete really important vitamins and minerals, namely B vitamins and magnesium and zinc and selenium. So those are super important for energy production and thyroid function. So this is what I see go hand in hand, ladies. A woman is on a birth control pill for 10 or 15 years. She develops a thyroid issue. Her doctor says, oh, your thyroid is just sluggish. And then that woman gets exhausted, she can't function. She's barely making it through the day. She's gaining weight, she's losing hair. And. And so much of it can be attributed to that birth control pill that she was on for so long. Because that combination of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, leaky gut, autoimmune disease, all of it culminates into this thyroid dysfunction. Picture this chronic fatigue. Picture all of it. The amazing thing is it's all reversible. So please don't lose hope, okay? But I do want you to be aware that if you don't have enough vitamins and minerals, then your body can't do the processes that it needs to do all day long, every day. And so it's super important. If you are on a birth control pill and you're going to continue, please take a high quality, like nutraceutical grade multivitamin with methylated B vitamins. And that will make so much difference for you whether or not you're gonna, like, go on to develop this, like, fatigue picture like so many women are struggling with right now. They're just tired and they're overweight, and they can't, no matter what they do, they just can't figure it out. So that is one way to hopefully prevent that. If you're on the pillar.
