By Janice Johnson
Did you know that an estimated 67% of young girls in Nigeria take birth control pills without medical supervision? In a desperate move to avoid unwanted pregnancies, many young girls have resorted to self-medication. Such widespread use of birth control pills worries me because many of these girls are not aware of the very real and sometimes dangerous health implications of these drugs.
Taking more birth control pills than recommended can bring several undesired effects. Birth control pills may improve your symptoms for a short time, but your body and its overall health is at risk when you consider the long run. These pills can cause side effects such as urine discoloration, excessive vaginal bleeding among others. They can also cause ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside uterus) which can be fatal.
Normally, your body is supposed to ovulate once a month by releasing a new egg that will then travel down a fallopian tube. Eventually it reaches the uterus, where it would implant, if fertilized by a sperm.
However, if the egg is not fertilized, the lining of the uterus that had built up in preparation for the fertilized egg and the egg itself leaves your body. That is what comes out as menstruation.
When you take birth control pills, you impose synthetic hormones on your natural cycle. This is because, many birth control pills contain high levels of estrogen that effectively convince your pituitary gland that you are pregnant and that you don’t need to ovulate. As a result, your normal menstrual cycle is affected.
Here is an overview of the reported risks and side effects of birth control pills which many young girls do not know.
- Increased risk of cervical and breast cancers
- Increased risk of heart attack and stroke
- Migraines
- Higher blood pressure
- Gall bladder disease
- Infertility
- Benign liver tumors
- Decreased bone density
- Yeast overgrowth and infection
- Increased risk of blood clotting
Now that heart disease has become the leading cause of death among women, one begins to wonder if this is unconnected with the widespread and long-term use of oral contraceptives.
Yeast overgrowth and yeast infections (candida) too, are particularly dangerous to your overall health.
Birth control pills actually destroy the beneficial bacteria in your intestines, making you more susceptible to yeast overgrowth, lower immunity and infection.
With a healthy inner ecosystem, good bacteria and yeast (microflora) thrive in your intestines, helping you to digest food, protect you from illness and disease, and absorb and manufacture vital nutrients.
After prolonged use of birth control pills over the years and creating an imbalanced inner ecosystem, with an overgrowth of bad bacteria and yeast, it is not surprising that women are at greater risk for infections as well as chronic diseases like cancer.
Sometimes birth control methods are very necessary for preventing unwanted pregnancies, but I urge you to learn more about other natural options that do not damage your health. If you must take birth control pills, do contact your doctor first because experts caution against self-medication. The fact is, no pill will shield you from pregnancy 100 percent. The best way to avoid unwanted pregnancy is to stay away from unprotected sex because apart from unwanted pregnancy, you are at risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
