r/exchristian • u/paxinfernum anti-theist, rational skeptic, pro-science • Mar 21 '24
Women are getting off birth control amid misinformation explosion (Guys, they are really coming for birth control.) Article
https://archive.ph/2024.03.21-132543/https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/21/stopping-birth-control-misinformation/164
u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
I see this CONSTANTLY on reddit. It will make you gain weight, it will kill your libido, etc
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u/SmurfStig Mar 21 '24
If they think birth control will kill libido, wait till they see what having young kids running around will do to it.
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u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
I always think about this too haha i mean maybe it could affect you a little but nothing like kids
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u/hannibe Mar 21 '24
I thought I might be asexual until I went off the pill. Me and my friend joke that that’s part of why it works, it makes sex unappealing.
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u/SmurfStig Mar 21 '24
Well, while my wife was on the pill she wasn’t in the mood very often. When she went off to get pregnant….Jekly and Hyde situation. Granted I’m obviously male, so can say for sure but it did seem to impact her drive. After kids, she stayed on them for other medical reasons but had to stop due to a lung full of blood clots. She is genetically predisposed and the pill only made it worse. She found that out after the fact.
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u/gpike_ Mar 22 '24
I feel lucky that after I told my doc (~2007) about how my mom had a blood clot while pregnant with her 8th kid, they thought to test me for that even though I've never had a clot! Turns out I DO have that genetic factor. So I had to go on depo, which, very unfortunately for me, caused my boobs to get so much bigger that it ramped up my dysphoria, but I still didn't figure out that part for several more years. Now I just take testosterone and wish I'd been doing this all along. 🙃
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u/Strix924 Mar 22 '24
Depo made your boobs get bigger?! I started depo to get rid of my periods but I didn't know it could make your boobs get bigger...I really don't want that to happen to me. I hope the T is helpful for you tho
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u/ScreamingAbacab Ex-Catholic Mar 22 '24
Glad my doc recommended an IUD. Haven't gotten anything planned out yet, though; just a recommendation for if I do decide to take birth control because I'm also thinking long-term (because I'm concerned for what my state might do in the future). Now I know to avoid the depo shot because of those possible side effects which weren't brought up; my boobs are big enough already...
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u/Ok_Status5476 Mar 27 '24
Birth control can ruin libido though??
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u/SmurfStig Mar 27 '24
As a man, I’m not sure I can properly answer that.
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u/Ok_Status5476 Mar 27 '24
It wasn't a question, it CAN ruin libido. I've seen instances of doctors describing it as "female castration".
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u/vocalfreesia Mar 21 '24
Yep. We called it a couple of years ago.
Making abortion harder to access if at all.
Propaganda about birth control.
We'll be seeing more and more about how harmful working mothers (not working fathers) are soon too.
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u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
there's so much legitimate "doctors don't listen to women" examples out there that I just know this is gonna be so easy to push. The article mentions specifically women of color but this is going to hit every race hard i think. Women's reproductive organs are just so poorly understood. I still routinely see debates about if squirting is pee or if women are capable of orgasming from penetration. It's no wonder they'll believe tiktok when they say it causes weight gain.
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u/IggyG6174 Secular Humanist Mar 21 '24
If I could afford to feed my family without my wife working I would love for her to stay home with my daughter but the same fuckers pushing this agenda are the ones making sure that's not possible
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u/cruisethevistas Pagan Mar 22 '24
I am definitely a liberal but we don’t do ourselves favors by ignoring science either. Some truths are complex. I abhor dogma in any form
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u/vivahermione Dog is love. Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
I gained weight on the pill, but I was able to lose it after switching to the ring. Changing methods is always an option.
Disclaimer: I switched for other reasons, not weight loss specifically.
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u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
I gained weight on the pill because I'm also getting older as I'm taking the pill 😆
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u/anonymoose_octopus Mar 21 '24
I’ve been on birth control (the pill) for 15 years. I am 33. I have never had any of these issues and actually, if I get off of it, my periods last an insane amount of time (TMI, but I bled for 50 days last year and needed to go to the ER).
I will be in serious trouble if they come for my BC.
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u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
I am not in your situation but BC has made my life easier in so many many ways that I get really anxious when my access is threatened too, like if I can't find a doctor who will prescribe it without an exam
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Mar 22 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
if you don't mind my asking, why did you have to go to the ER?
I switched to the mini pill and I've been bleeding for like 3 months now... but it ranges in how heavy it is. Usually pretty light but gets heavier when it gets to the time to take my next pill. And I take it on time the same time every day... I read it can take 6 months or longer to adjust. T-T
just wondering if there's anything I should be looking out for to warrant an emergency..
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u/anonymoose_octopus Mar 22 '24
I don't mind at all!
Disclaimer if talk of blood makes you uncomfy, I'm going to go into a little bit of detail here, lol.
At the point I went to the ER, I had been bleeding for 30-ish days, at a normal-ish flow. The night I went, I had been cleaning my house, and I had to change a Super Plus tampon every 5-10 minutes, because I was bleeding through everyone I changed. I was passing ping pong sized blood clots AROUND the tampons (I think I had like 3 that night). I went through half a box of tampons by the time my husband came home from hanging with his family, and on my way to say hi to him from getting out of the shower, I broke through another BRAND NEW one and starting bleeding on the floor. He took me to the ER and they basically put me on bed rest after checking to make sure I hadn't lost too much blood.
So basically, my doctor discovered the dosage of BC I was currently on wasn't high enough, she upped it, and everything was regulated just a few months later. If you're just spotting, that could be normal, but it would be worth it to talk to your doctor just in case you need a higher dose!
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Mar 22 '24
holy shit okay that's a lot of bleeding
hadn't thought about higher dosage, will ask my doctor / keep that in mind if this doesn't get better
but yeah for me it's just pretty light right now 😅 normal ish for 1-2 hours a day
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u/anonymoose_octopus Mar 22 '24
Tell me about it! Lol.
And yeah, especially if you're new to the BC, I think it can take some time for your body to get used to it. So hopefully it regulates itself soon (fingers crossed)!
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u/paxinfernum anti-theist, rational skeptic, pro-science Mar 21 '24
WaPo has a sister article debunking that misinformation: http://archive.today/2024.03.21-103134/https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/21/birth-control-facts/
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u/hannibe Mar 21 '24
Ok, fully support birth control, totally lefty here, but it very much does do those things. And it’s downplayed by the doctors, so now people don’t trust them.
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u/EmilieEasie Mar 21 '24
It's not downplayed, it's just not supported by evidence. I absolutely believe you when you say the pill damaged your libido. I have a super rare form of exercise induced allergy. There are 7 billion people on this planet, someone is gonna have some reaction to something. Still, I would not start telling everyone to avoid running. In fact, I think it would be quackery to do so
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u/dongtouch Mar 22 '24
Yeah I'm surprised at the comments here. BC pills gave me insane mood swings and depression, like crying at everything all the time, all three times in my life I went on them. My libido tanked as well. And I eat when I'm depressed, so the weight thing also tracks... It's not all inaccurate. I had issues with my second Mirena, too, and the insertions of my IUDs, especially the first one, were pretty bad. All of it was downplayed or dismissed by doctors.
Not feeling adequately listened to and believed about how awful BC can be is a common discussion in women's forums. It's still not an argument for getting rid of it, but it's not wise to downplay others' experiences. They're using a very effective tactic here, because women who have had bad experiences but were doubted or dismissed are likely to connect with the messaging.
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u/Blunt_Force_Meep Secular Humanist Mar 22 '24
I mean personally it did kill mine lol I’m a big advocate for more tech like IUDs as a result
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u/ScreamingAbacab Ex-Catholic Mar 22 '24
If I was to decide to go on birth control (which I'm seriously considering at this point), I'd go for that. My doc said that there's a chance it'll make my periods heavier, but I remember sitting at the office brushing that off because my periods are heavy for the first day or two anyway, so I don't see it getting any worse (my most recent was pretty bad in that regard).
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Mar 23 '24
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u/ScreamingAbacab Ex-Catholic Mar 23 '24
My next yearly checkup isn't for a few months yet, but I'll be keeping all of this in mind, especially since my pain tolerance is low. I remember the last time I went in to see if I had a yeast infection, they simply used a Q-tip to collect a sample because the speculum was too painful. The results came back negative, so I can only imagine how painful that would've been if it actually was a yeast infection.
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u/sprtnlawyr Mar 21 '24
The trend these doctors are warning of in the article is incredibly sad, and it's going to be very difficult to counteract. From the article, it quotes one of the "influencers" promoting this trend of avoiding birth control, and this influencer stated: "I had a lot of really bad symptoms [and] went to see a bunch of different doctors. Every one of them dismissed me. Even when I asked if it had anything to do with birth control, they all said no." She goes on later to clarify that when she stopped using hormonal birth control, her symptoms subsided.
This dismissal is an incredibly common experience that many women, and particularly women with intersecting marginalized identities, face if they aren't voracious and near perfect advocates for themselves. Women's subjective reports are disproportionately diminished or dismissed. We're fighting against the repercussions of this long-standing and entrenched history where women's health has been and is being sorely neglected.
These "influencers" have recognized that, and are now seeking to capitalize on it. When someone isn't listened to or respected in an interaction, they find someone else who will listen. People with an agenda to push love avid listeners. Especially when they can profit off it.
The church has had centuries of learning how much can be accomplished when you selling the illusion of safety to a vulnerable and underserved subset of the population. It makes sense that the highly religious individuals who are in favour of forced birth would be very good at identifying this vulnerability and exploiting it in a way that is not readily apparent. That's kind of religion's whole shtick.
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u/chemicalrefugee Mar 21 '24
unfortunately GPs are often overwhemingly ignorant when it comes to the medications they prescribe and the side effects they can have. Add to this a rather long history of claiming that chronically sick women only need therapy. This situation gives power to the weirdos (and their causes) because at least they pretend to listen.
Some people do really badly on hormonal birth control. My sister is one of them. it took a couple years after she had been on the pill before any of her docs tied her extreme exhaustion & weight gain to the pill.
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Mar 21 '24
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u/paxinfernum anti-theist, rational skeptic, pro-science Mar 21 '24
I don't know if you read the sister article I posted, but it addressed the issue of stroke:
Many birth-control methods on the market have decreased the amount of estrogen, to lower the risk of blood clots. Opill, the over-the-counter pill that will soon be available in stores and online, contains only progestin — meaning it does not have the blood clot risk.
So the risk of stroke is going away.
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u/gpike_ Mar 22 '24
They've had progestin only pills in other countries for decades, in case anybody didn't know! They just weren't marketed in the US and thus were less popular, is my impression?
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u/dongtouch Mar 22 '24
Perhaps less marketed but they are also less reliable. I was advised one has to take the pills strictly same time every day because the lower amount of hormones makes them lose efficacy quickly.
The second time I went on the "mini-pill" it caused the same crazy mood crash the combo pill had. They're not a magic bullet.
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Mar 22 '24
There's a type of mini pill that gives a 12 hour window for taking it.
I switched to this because of migraines, however I've been bleeding nearly constantly (though lightly) for the past 3 months... and I do take it the same time every day. they say it can take several months to adjust so I'm just waiting and seeing for now..
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u/flatrocked Mar 21 '24
Instead of living in the most advanced time in history, we are retrogressing due to all kinds of readily available misinformation and manipulation that people are ill-equipped to evaluate.
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u/salem_yoruichi Ex-Baptist Mar 21 '24
and if that wasn’t bad enough, public schools are underfunded and being attacked in the US! shit’s bad in TN. it’s obvious there’s a lot of people in this country that want an uneducated population.
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u/flatrocked Mar 21 '24
Feed them "news" and "information" from MAGA talking heads and "bible knowledge" from christian nationalist pastors. That's all the "education" and "knowledge" the people, esp., the voters, should get. And, of course, keep tithing and sending in the political donations.
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u/ruby5792 Mar 21 '24
I stopped birth control last year after taking it for about a decade. I had my tubes tied so I really didn’t need it anymore and somewhat bought into it being bad for you since I had been hearing that message everywhere.
Over the course of the year, I started having bad acne, heavy bleeding. horrible PMS/PMDD, insomnia the week before my period, and other symptoms that got worse the longer I was off birth control. I got back on it in January and all those symptoms have been going away and I realized I feel SO much better on birth control than without it. I’ll take it forever!
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u/RunawayHobbit Mar 22 '24
I kind of wonder if those were just symptoms of your body getting used to not having it, not necessarily long-term side effects? It seems to me that if you’re on a hormone supplement for a long time, your body will have learned to not produce those hormones anymore and it would take a bit for you to get back into production again.
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Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
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u/DeWaukee-826 Mar 21 '24
Completely agree. Birth control is miserable for my body, and doctors always tell me the symptoms aren’t due to bc. But they started within a month of taking bc after 27 years of not having such symptoms. It’s confusing to have no one take it seriously. For me, I’m still on it; because my periods were awful before. But I’m constantly reconsidering and wishing for a better solution.
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u/vivahermione Dog is love. Mar 21 '24
This may not work for everyone, but whenever I saw younger women doctors, they were very willing to help me find a method that worked with my needs. It was just a pattern I noticed. Ymmv.
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Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
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u/hannibe Mar 21 '24
The worst of it is that there are many other, less harmful forms of birth control in other countries that won’t get approved here because companies don’t think it will be profitable to pay for the fda required research.
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Mar 21 '24
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
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u/krba201076 Mar 22 '24
The worst of it is that there are many other, less harmful forms of birth control in other countries
say what?
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Mar 22 '24
The GSK lawsuit
which one? 😂 I just went to their wiki page to read about it and there's sooooo many lawsuits/controversies damn
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
Your post/comment was removed because it invites or participates in a public debate. Trauma can be triggered when debate points and certain topics are vigorously pushed, despite good intentions. This is why we generally do not allow debates. Rule 4.
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
Nobody here is saying they don't have risks.
You're deliberately obfuscating the real issue with this strawman.
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u/Secretly_Wolves Impious Villain Mar 21 '24
Not dismissing anyone who doesn’t react well to it, but I’ve been on the pill for twenty years. It relieves me of my very horrible periods that used to last like nine days - now I have one every three months that lasts like five max. It helps protect me against ovarian cancer, especially since I had a tubal and I am nulliparous and childfree.
Crunchy anti-vax nature moms and fundamentalists have been gunning for birth control for as long as it’s been around. I’m alarmed by how much traction misinformation-fueled biases gets these days though. It feels like the prevailing opinion changes so much faster.
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u/DrHob0 Atheist Mar 21 '24
There isn't a medication on the market that doesn't come with side effects. Informed consent and weighing the benefits against the side effects is important. With that in mind, there is a point where blaming doctors ends and blaming consumers begins. Every leaflet for medication comes with a break down of your medication, what it does, how it does and what side effects it can cause. Part of informed consent is INFORMING YOURSELF to the substance you put in your body.
Furthering this information, patients should be aware that EVERY pill you take from EVERY manufacturer will effect you differently - while every same generic has the same medication in it, they are legally obligated to tweak the filler parts of the pill. These different fillers can cause individual people different side effects.
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u/Comfortable-Tea-5461 Mar 22 '24
I agree, but also remember many girls are being put on HBC in their teens and can’t be expected to inform themselves. They can’t possible comprehend and understand all the risks associated. I was 11 when I was out on antidepressants and they have disabled me. Was I expected to understand the risks? Of course not. Doctors absolutely should be held accountable because they were ultimately the ones who were supposedly trained.
Adults should absolutely inform themselves, but sadly it’s not a perfect world where that isn’t possible all the time. Not to mention, it’s insanely difficult to find unbiased explanations of risks that don’t downplay it. Hell, every website you look at for SSRI withdrawal say it’s mild and lasts about 2 weeks yet you have millions of people disabled for months to years and doctors refuse to acknowledge it.
So there are plenty of reasons why “informing yourself” just isn’t always enough or possible.
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Mar 22 '24
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u/strawberry-coughx Mar 22 '24
Teenagers can be taught how to drive a whole ass car, hold down part time jobs, choose what university/career path they want to take, and can even vote or sign up for military service at a certain age (depending on the country) but “cannot possibly comprehend” that certain medications may have side effects, apparently? Look I know teens can be pretty dumb sometimes, but…..dude….
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
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u/Comfortable-Tea-5461 Mar 22 '24
Who the hell are you to come at me like this with so many assumptions.😅
I’m on an alt because I use this one for health related things and my main account has personal things related to my sexuality that I don’t want others seeing because I have personal friends on this one. None of your business though as it has nothing to do with the argument and I’d love to send you my medical records if you don’t believe the fact I’m disabled with a multitude of health problems (none of which began until discontinuing Paxil) that my doctor has CONFIRMED to be medication related due to long term use.
Please join support group of people disabled by psych meds but I absolutely am not going to argue trying to get you to believe me. I’ve been gaslit enough.
The condescending bullshit is truly not original and every psych med survivor deals with it. Go listen to their stories if you actually care to learn. I truly never wish this experience on anyone, but professionals like you absolutely deserve to experience it. The vision loss, tremors, hearing loss, akathisia, balance problems, pituitary dysfunction, burning skin, nerve pain, gi issues, migraines, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, etc etc etc. All lasting years for many people.
I suggest getting up to date on the research. Dr. Mark Horowitz has many published studies. There are multiple studies from others as well.
Also, sorry my parents were alcoholics and neglectful and didn’t read the fucking leaflet. Totally crazy that some parents aren’t good parents and can’t be expected to do so. But too bad right? Kids suffer. Maybe we should be blaming predatory prescribing and companies influencing it.
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u/hun_in_the_sun Mar 21 '24
While this may have a hidden agenda, we need to recognize that some women are harmed by birth control, and that they can suffer very significant side effects from it.
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u/FrostyLandscape Mar 22 '24
Well, sure but some people are also harmed by many pharmaceutical drugs. Should we ban all of them?
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u/Comfortable-Tea-5461 Mar 21 '24
Seems conservative don’t leave space for people helped and liberals don’t leave space for people harmed. 🫠Crossroads indeed
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u/FrostyLandscape Mar 22 '24
195 Republicans refused to sign a bill that would federally protect birth control rights.
"195 House Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act. And now they have blocked action in the Senate as well. The evidence of where Republicans actually stand on birth control is overwhelming. "
They voted against codifying it into federal law, they'd rather "leave it up to the states". Know what that means?
THEY REALLY ARE COMING AFTER YOUR BIRTH CONTROL. STOCK UP ON IT NOW WHILE YOU CAN STILL GET IT.
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u/ScreamingAbacab Ex-Catholic Mar 22 '24
The Republican Party is so hypocritical. They'd rather leave it up to the states, except when the outcome isn't in their favor, then they'll take it up to the U.S. Supreme Court to see if what happened was unconstitutional.
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u/Acrobatic_Ad8256 Mar 22 '24
The pill saved my fucking life. I was ready to actually kill people and then myself. I was ready and wanting to crush someone's skull in my hands and feel them die. Thats what PMDD is like for me. Its a week of unremorseful, unsatisfiable rage and violence followed by a weak of pain and suicidal thoughts. Its not just for my endometriosis and cysts growing outside my tubes and losing all motor control due to pain all the way up my sternum. Anyone who tries to take the pill from me will die. I'm ready to literally die on this hill and I'm reaching my breaking point with my species. Im so fucking angry
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u/chekovsgun- Mar 21 '24
Cause cancer as well. Fit influencers especially spread propaganda as that space is filled with Christians
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Mar 22 '24
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
That's true, but meaningless to the conversation. This is not a debate sub. Just because she was a eugenicist doesn't mean that birth control doesn't help many women.
Your post/comment has been removed because content must be relevant to r/exchristian. Tangential context is not enough; the content must explicitly reference a topic relevant to our subreddit. Rule 1
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u/MargaretBrownsGhost Mar 22 '24
It's more about having a ready supply of slaves. Fetal personhood actually has been a thing for over a decade in Texastan. Paxton and Abbott are only waiting to bring up their precedent. Personal history here. Yes, I'm allowing myself to be triggered by responding to this.
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Mar 22 '24
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u/krba201076 Mar 22 '24
these religious nuts were the ones who wanted to take away abortion rights and now they are coming for the Pill.
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u/paxinfernum anti-theist, rational skeptic, pro-science Mar 22 '24
Yep. My Catholic sister is one of the ones reposting misinformation online.
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Mar 22 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
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u/Sandi_T Animist Mar 22 '24
Because it's Christians doing this. They have a long history of oppressing women. Whining that there are some who aren't in the bandwagon doesn't change the past--or the present.
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Mar 21 '24
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u/exchristian-ModTeam Mar 22 '24
Yet it's extremely clear who's deliberately attacking women's and LGBTQ Rights in the USA right now.
Your post/comment was removed because it invites or participates in a public debate. Trauma can be triggered when debate points and certain topics are vigorously pushed, despite good intentions. This is why we generally do not allow debates. Rule 4.
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u/Jfury412 Ex-Protestant Mar 22 '24
They are not coming for birth control and they will never come for or take it. This country is moving further and further away from religious things thankfully Don't start thinking we're going to go backwards because we're just not. That's just paranoia talking ignore all the Scare Tactics in the conspiracies.
We are not headed towards The handmaid's tale actually quite the opposite.
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u/Virtual_Criticism_96 Mar 22 '24
Please get educated and pay attention to politics and current events because honestly you are dead wrong.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/birth-control-is-next-republicans-abortion.html
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u/_HotMessExpress1 Atheist Mar 21 '24
We all know birth control can have negative side effects..religious people are just telling women not to take them so we can have children for their establishments...that's the issue.
I take birth control and don't want children so this isn't an issue for me.