If you’ve ever contemplated going on birth control, you’ve run across the articles written against the form of contraception. There’s a few terrifying articles floating around the internet where the authors did not have a good experience taking birth control pills, and thus by spreading this bad experience, help scare other girls away from taking the pill. There’s a few myths that I want to talk about, so if you’re thinking about going on the pill, try to bear with me on these before I get into more of my own experience with birth control.
- You’ll get fat. Depending on what form of birth control, some women have found themselves gaining weight from it. Typically, it’s the injected form of birth control that has a positive relationship with gaining weight. Birth control helps calm down your hormones, which can help in making the user less nauseous, which can help to raise the appetite of the user. This doesn’t mean when you start taking the pill you’ll gain 30 pounds — my weight didn’t fluctuate at all, and a lot of other women find that to be the same for them.
- You’ll get crazy. Some people have had their depression and anxiety worsen by being on the pill, some have had more mood swings. Things like that really depend on the person, and there’s honestly no other way of knowing how you will react to the birth control other than trying it first hand. Women have claimed that it helped balance out their hormones, which helped them become more relaxed and conscious of their behavior as opposed to when they were not on the birth control and their hormones fluctuating caused attitude shifts.
Now that those are out of the way, you really have to keep in mind that everyone’s reaction to birth control is going to be different. Everyone has a different body and different things going on, so you can’t judge a pill without trying it first. Your doctor will help determine the most appropriate form of birth control for you and your lifestyle. Also, the amount of time it takes for your body to adjust to the birth control will also be different. It took me about three packs for my cycle to calm down and get used to being controlled by the pills, and seven or eight packs for my body to start reacting positively to them. I’m on the pill for medical reasons, so there wasn’t an option for me to give up and walk away.
Almost every woman on birth control changes their pill after the first one they’re prescribed. It’s totally normal to want to try a different prescription after you’ve been on the first one for ample enough time to see if your body likes or hates it, and there’s so many different formulations out there that you should never settle or feel stuck with a certain type of birth control.
Also, be aware of the fact that everyone is going to have their own loud opinions on birth control. People around you will have their own opinions of birth control and make sure you listen to their rantings and ravings, but it’s just what comes with the medicine. It doesn’t make you any less or more of a person by taking the pill, and what everyone around you thinks about the pill shouldn’t matter. I know some friends who hate it and never want to try it, and some that are always asking me what type I’m on and how they really want to go on it.
Birth control shouldn’t be such a controversial topic, but it is. Whatever your decision is, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, and you have some sort of support behind you. Nobody should make you feel uncomfortable about your choice, it’s your body.
