Hormonal Contraception + Mental Health
As a nutritional therapist, I believe most of the issues my clients face are due to one or more of these 3 root causes:
- Chronic inflammation
- Chronic stress
- Nutrient deficiencies
Dealing mostly with mental wellness and gut issues, I sometimes notice patterns in certain individuals with similar lifestyles… especially when it comes to birth control.
Some patterns include some of my woman clients on the birth control pill feeling “out of control” or moody beyond belief. Women using the hormonal IUD contraceptive method commonly complain about crippling anxiety the first year, as well as extreme bloating. And I’ve also seen many women with the copper IUD, who argue they have become increasingly depressed each year since its insertion.
Contraceptives such as birth control pills and intrauterine devices (IUDs) contain synthetic hormones, specifically with estrogen and “progestin” – as progesterone.
A peak in estrogen will begin to thicken the lining of the uterus to provide a healthy place for an egg to become fertilized and implanted (ie. pregnancy), so by keeping estrogen at a steady level, ovulation could be suppressed. Progesterone thickens the mucosal lining of your cervix so that sperm may not get through to the uterus.
Non-hormonal birth control like the copper IUD uses the heavy metal copper to make the uterus toxic to sperm while damaging eggs, by creating inflammation in the surrounding tissues.
In all cases, birth control pills and IUDs (hormonal or not), can create chronic inflammation, chronic stress on the body, and most definitely contribute to nutrient deficiencies.
Here’s how:
Hormonal contraceptives can deplete many B vitamins, including B2, B6, B12, and folic acid. They may also deplete vitamins C and E as well as magnesium, selenium, and zinc.
Many of these vitamins provide calming nutrients to the central nervous system and deficiencies of specific B vitamins, like B6 and B12, can contribute to mood disorders like anxiety and depression [1].
One of the largest studies on birth control and depression studied 14 years of data from over 1 million women, aged 15 to 34 years old. They excluded women with a past history of depression or antidepressant use. Researchers found that women who used a hormonal IUD were 1.4 times more likely than women who didn’t use hormonal birth control to be prescribed antidepressants [2].
So, what can you do about it?
The first option is to supplement. Personally, if I were taking birth control pills daily, this would be my basic supplement regiment:
Daily B Complex
Magnesium — 200 to 250 mg twice daily
Zinc — 15 mg daily
CoQ10 — 100 to 200 mg daily
Vitamin E — 200 IU of mixed vitamin E daily
The second option would be to use the hormone-free contraception route I am currently experimenting with, which is called the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). Sometimes referred to as "natural family planning” or “the rhythm method”, the FAM process consists of tracking your ovulation to prevent unwanted pregnancy by use of:
- Body temperature
- Cervical mucus
- Menstruation calendar
Every morning, you take your temperature before getting out of bed and input this data into an app (I am personally using Natural Cycles, which is FDA approved).
After that, you can check your cervical mucus by inserting a finger into your vagina and checking both the amount of discharge as well as the consistency; the options are sticky, creamy, egg white, and watery.
Finally, you input your menstrual cycle into a calendar or app to track ovulation. In the Natural Cycles app, I enter things like moods, feelings, and cravings to add to the algorithm data, even further helping it track when I’m most fertile.
“Natural Cycles is 93% effective with typical use and 98% effective with perfect use. Our birth control effectiveness comes from an analysis of over 15,000 women.”
From the Natural Cycles website.
Because of the poor typical use rate of birth control pills, their accuracy is only about 91% effective at stopping unwanted pregnancies, and both types of IUDs are the most effective contraception at 99% effective [3].
Next week, I will be writing about my experience with the Natural Cycles app, being hormone-free for the first time in 15 years, and how I am personally balancing, eating, and supplementing my body fresh off of birth control.
I encourage you to read, research, and listen to your own intuition. This is simply what is working for me, as none of this should be taken as medical advice. If you are thinking about stopping birth control, or are feeling symptoms of depression or anxiety, please consult with your doctor first.
Stay tuned for more holistic tips and as always, happy eating!!
References:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404901/
[2] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2552796
