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Having recently decided to come off of the contraceptive pill, for no other reason than I refuse to continue to pump my body with a foreign chemical each and everyday, I have been compelled to talk about it.
Exactly three weeks ago I quit the progestogen only pill (also known as the mini pill or pop) Cerazette and let me tell you the transition has been less than smooth.
You see, I was one of the lucky ones (or at least I thought so) that didn’t experience many side effects while on Cerazette. One quick search of the web and you will be met with a plethora of women whose time on Cerazette was nothing but misery. Yet somehow I escaped all of the horrendous symptoms many of them reported; depression, hair loss, constant painful bleeds, debilitating headaches and mood swings so bad relationships began to break down! I got away with no periods at all and cleared skin, bonus right? Oh, and a lowered libido, but that was a small price to pay.
The story is this: for years I was taking no hormonal contraception at all, my family history of blood cots had stopped my combined pill days in their tracks at just 17 years of age. Back then I was taking Dianette, but after a scary episode of ill health I immediately stopped. Years later my doctor recommended I try the mini pill and since then I have been popping pills every single evening none the wiser to the damage they could be doing to my body and even my mental health.
However, now the pill is working its way out of my body I’m getting those dreaded side effects those women before me complained of and let me tell you it isn’t fun! Mood swings, headaches, muscle pain and sore breasts. Bloating, period pains but no bleed, acne, nausea and terrible fatigue. So you can imagine how infuriating it is when you read that the recent studies for the “ground breaking” male contraceptive have been cut short because the guys couldn’t quite hack it!
News flash, it takes two to tango, but the burden of birth control falls largely on us women. Although men can wear condoms to prevent both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections many choose not to because reportedly its detracts from physical sensations of sex – cry me a river! So in most committed relationships, those with a uterus choose to take charge of birth control. For years we have done it and put up with the symptoms just accepting them and ploughing on (pardon the pun) but today, in 2016 we were given a glimmer of hope.
Scientists have created a hormonal injection for men that works just about as well as the pill does for women. One injection to the rear every eight weeks works about 96% of the time to prevent pregnancies. Unfortunately, though, in a clinical trial of over 300 men published this October most of the men didn’t complete the full duration of the study because of side effects, which included mild to moderate muscle pain, mood disorders, acne, and increased libido…yep that’s increased ladies!
First, the researchers looked at the men’s semen to see if their sperm count had been reduced. They received injections every two months for an eight-month period, during which they only used non-hormonal contraception—like condoms—with their partners. Next, they stopped using all other kinds of birth control, while the men continued to receive injections every two months for 14 months. Part of the way through the study, though, 20 men dropped out claiming the symptoms were unbearable, pretty similar to what us women have suffered while taking the pill for years would you say ladies?! Despite the fact the researchers ruled our 39% of the 1,491 total complaints of side effects made during the study as being unrelated to the injections themselves the study was discontinued “for safety reasons”. So it looks like, for now at least ,it’s down to us girls once again!
