The Backlash Against Birth Control: The Spread of False Information and Manipulative Medical Practices
Those that dare openly discuss their experiences of adverse effects from hormonal birth control are too often declared right wing purveyors of misinformation.
Health Viewpoints
There’s no denying the epidemic rise of hormone problems, autoimmune conditions, and digestive disorders, but just don’t dare ask the question, “Why?”
The issue is worth taking a deeper look at, as, at its heart, it affects so many Americans and their health choices, regardless of whether those choices involve taking hormonal birth control. The “misinformation” the article focused on was primarily discussions on social media where women have begun sharing stories of suffering from the symptoms caused by hormonal birth control or not being listened to by their conventional doctor about problems with the medication.
Misinformation or Recognized Side Effects?
Quite the opposite of misinformation, most of the symptoms being discussed on social media by women—and the doctors, practitioners, and nutritionists that actually listen to them—are openly listed as common side effects by the birth control manufacturers. Hormonal forms of birth control such as the pill, vaginal ring, skin patch, injections, implants, or intrauterine devices, include common side effects such as headaches (including migraines), nausea, vomiting, and other digestive problems, painful menstrual periods, weight gain, mood swings, depression, acne, and low sex drive. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Shouting “misinformation” when women who have these common side effects dare share their experiences is the height of medical gaslighting. Shaming women for their lived experiences is regressive and reprehensible. Apparently, “believe the women” only applies when it’s used as vapid virtue signaling.
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As someone who is personally very much left-of-center on social issues, I can tell you health symptoms and healthy food are apolitical. This is not a left or right issue—this is a human health issue—and an informed consent issue.
From my functional medicine telehealth center (7), I have seen countless cases of women from around the world, of all political persuasions, struggling with unexplained symptoms—and seeking answers. Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal.
Problems like digestive troubles, autoimmunity, fatigue, painful, irregular periods, mood swings, migraines, cyclical acne, and trouble losing weight are certainly ubiquitous, but should not be normalized. Sometimes hormonal birth control is causing or contributing to their symptoms—sometimes it’s not. But to ignore it as a potential variable when these are known common side effects is cognitive dissonance at best and malignant propaganda at worst.
It’s estimated that up to 80 percent of women experience some type of hormonal imbalance in their life. Autoimmune disorders, digestive disorders, and other chronic health problems have been on the rise for decades, with far too many people not even knowing that their symptoms have a name because they’re either ignored by their doctor or they are told to just take a medication—and offered no real answers.
Close to 70 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug, and more than half take at least two. (8) The United States spends more on health care than any other country, yet we have the most chronic disease and the shortest lifespan of all industrialized nations. Despite this, seeking alternative solutions when you’ve fallen through the gaping cracks of this broken system is increasingly frowned upon—and on top of that—you’re reprimanded in articles like the Post’s and others.
A Confluence of Epigenetic Variables
So why, now, are so many struggling with these chronic hormonal and inflammatory issues?
The causes are complex and multifaceted—it’s not just one thing. A confluence of epigenetic variables is the cause for the rise of chronic health problems—the foods we are eating, the foods we are not eating, environmental toxins, chronic stress, unresolved past trauma, and yes—medications and their potential side effects—all need to be looked at on an individual basis. For reporters or writers to ignore any one of these factors is dishonest and plain bad journalism.
When women experience significant symptoms resulting from factors such as birth control, they should be listened to, not shamed or written off. Wanting agency over your health and having an open, honest dialogue with your health care provider should be the right of any person seeking care. Informed consent should be at the heart of any discussion about health decisions. That requires knowing the relative risks and side effects of treatments and medications so that each individual can make the right decision. For some that may include choosing to take hormonal birth control. For others, it may not.
The authors of the Washington Post article argue the importance of women staying on hormonal birth control because of reproductive rights being taken away, while ironically shaming women when they choose not to take a pharmaceutical. “Pro-choice” seems only to apply when you make the choice the establishment wants you to make.
Functional Medicine–an Integrative Approach
In functional medicine, we are not anti-medication. We simply encourage people to ask the questions: “What are the benefits?” “What are the potential drawbacks?” “What is the most effective option that causes the least amount of side effects?” Radical, I know.
Rather than exploring the benefits and potential drawbacks of both pharmaceutical and alternative methods of supporting our health, legacy media tends to deify one and vilify the other.
The downside and limitation of alternative FAM options, like the symptothermal method, is that it requires some education and awareness of your body, so it’s not for everyone. It doesn’t have the appealing simplicity of taking a pill each day. But what the media and prescribing doctors should be doing is giving people a full picture of all the options and discussing the pros and cons of each. Instead what tends to happen is the cherry-picking of data that pushes a certain, sanctioned narrative.
Now more than ever before in recent history, people are asking for more options for their health because they are sick of being gaslit, ignored, or shamed. Long-form contextual conversations on podcasts and the free exchange of ideas on social media are often treated with disdain by industries that are accustomed to being the gatekeepers of information.
There are pockets of hope within conventional medical systems with mainstream institutions such as The Cleveland Clinic now having functional medicine centers. We are not “fringe,” “quacks,” or any other pejorative slung by those who protest too much.
Words like “misinformation” have become weaponized to silence those who dare to speak up, a euphemism for any unapproved or unsanctioned experience, voice, or thought. Why is it that those who overuse the word “misinformation” spread it the most? It’s a sort of Orwellian double-speak, intent on distorting the truth.
