With so many people staying at home these days in the crisis, birth control has been somewhat of a popular topic in lifestyle magazines.
According to a Johns Hopkins report, 98% of U.S. women have used birth control at some point in their lives. And yet, many of them misunderstand the way birth control works, what its side effects are, and what it can and can't do.
If your doctor didn't already dispel the following myths, you should know that birth control won't:
1. Affect Your Fertility
There is a rumor going around that extended-release methods, such as the birth control patch, can affect a woman's fertility even after she stops using them. Rest assured, it's not true.
Although it's normal for some women to experience a delay in getting pregnant after stopping birth control, it's short-lived. The vast majority of women are able to get pregnant within a month of stopping.
The source of this rumor is likely natural causes that can affect fertility. Women today are choosing to have families later in life, when fertility declines. Those with irregular periods may struggle with fertility regardless of when they choose to have a child.
2. Make You Gain Weight
How many of your friends told you that if you started taking the pill, you'd get fat? This, too, is just a rumor.
Where did it come from? It could be something else entirely causing weight gain: Obstetrics professor Alyssa Dwek points out that many women go on the pill in their late teens - a time when women naturally tend to gain weight.
In rare cases, birth control can change a woman's appetite. This side effect could be to blame in some cases, but it's nowhere near as common as your sister's stories would have you believe.
3. Cause Cancer
Some people seem to think that birth control causes cancer, but this is just bad science. The more likely answer is that it causes more women to see a doctor.
Although the pill can slightly increase your risk of breast and gynecologic cancers, it reduces your risk for others. Because you ovulate less often on birth control, it can make you less susceptible to ovarian and endometrial cancers.
4. Only Prevent Pregnancy
Birth control has all sorts of benefits beyond preventing pregnancy. Combination and
progestin-only pills decrease menstrual cramps, lower the chances of ectopic pregnancy,
and lighten your periods.
A lot of women are aware of those perks. But there are other lesser known benefits to taking birth control, such as reducing your risk for:
acne
bone thinning
developing cysts in your breasts and ovaries
endometrial and ovarian cancers
serious infections in your ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus
iron deficiency (anemia)
PMS (premenstrual syndrome)
5. Protect You From STIs
Hormonal birth control is powerful, but it can't prevent most STIs. The male and female condoms are the only forms of birth control that can.
STIs can be contracted any time fluids are exchanged through genital contact. Some, such as herpes, syphilis, and genital warts, can be passed merely through skin-to-skin contact.
Protect yourself. Always use a condom, and ask your partner to be honest about his or her STI exposure.
6. Fail if Taken at a Different Time of Day
This myth is true to a degree, but there's an important caveat: It depends on the type of birth control you're taking.
Taking your pill at the same time every day is important, especially if you're on the minipill.
The minipill depends on only one hormone to prevent pregnancy, and it delivers a lower dose than combined hormonal pills.
Timing is still important if you're on the combined pill, but it's not as critical. Because the estrogen in this type of pill works to suppress ovulation, it naturally increases progestin levels. Higher levels of progestin give you a wider window of time to take the pill each day. Even though you can take combination pills at different times of the day, they still need to be taken daily to be effective.
Birth control is a lot less risky than your concerned friends might think. Don't believe the rumors: Look at the facts yourself, and choose a method that makes sense for you.
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