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The pill: Bad for you?

[00:00:00] Mm-hmm. . I know I thought about midnight. Okay, we're back yesterday, which is really, this was all one video. But yesterday we posted about the fact that my niece forgot that when she's on the pill, she is not ovulating because the pill, the patch of the ring. By and large, the most of them, the function is beating out your hormones, which stops ovulation, which causes birth control. 

Lighter periods, shorter periods, eliminate your period. Ideally less ac. Less pm d d Premeal dysphoric disorder, which is PMs, a host of other good things. Now, are there side effects to the pill? Yes, of course. Because you noted aptly that there are many an influencer. I don't know why I'm saying influencer. 

They're influencers. Yeah, but they're not doctors. No, they're not, um, knowledgeable in the prescription of birth control or in women's health or women's health, and that's not their. But no, and they don't claim to be, but they use their platform and they, this is my [00:01:00] interpretation in citing their own experience with a pill, be it a negative experience. 

Typically they extrapolate that that experience may be the same for all women, and it is not just like, as a physician, I might prescribe a pill view, but I should and do say. Here are the most common side effects. I cannot, nor do I go through every single possible side effect. It would be impossible to do that and actually be a physician, right? 

But I try to go through the most obvious ones and why you may or may not wanna stop the pill. And then also cite that like the pill is not for everyone. Some people love the pill and they need it, and other people. Hate the pill and don't need it, or it doesn't work for them, even if they want it. Yeah. I think the issue lies, and it's just the issue with social media in this day and age in general, is that even though these influencers might not be saying that they're a doctor, that they're an expert, they know and they know that they have this, you know, now inherent just influence, especially when it's all [00:02:00] these young girls in their twenties and teenagers younger that are just kind of. 

Trusting these influencers with everything because they like them and they feel like they know them, and suddenly now, oh, well, why is she saying that she had this really bad experience? with the pillar that she gained a lot of weight and her skin was this, and she was really moody and cranky and just not feeling like herself, like maybe I shouldn't be on it either. 

And I joke that I'm like my little social world's like, I don't know gynecologist because everybody knows that my aunt is a gyno. So they come to me with other questions like I know anything but. And I really have seen in just the last, like, you know, I don't know, year or so, friends coming to me and be like, well, I just feel like I should just get off the pill. 

Like all these friends of mine, people I know, just having all these like newfound concerns about the pill, even when they're not even like experiencing any symptoms, they just are like, well, I just think it's weird. [00:03:00] I just feel like it's dangerous. Or I just feel like I've been on it for a really long time and just. 

extrapolating from these influencers, they follows experiences and influencers also don't give a lot of context. So they'll just be like, oh yeah, well, you know, I had this bad experience so I'm not on it. But they won't get say, which, not that they need to, but Or have to, but then just don't say anything at all. 

Right. I think that you do have a big responsibility when you're on social media to, to make sure that you're very clear that when you're citing your experience, it's only your experience. Mm-hmm. and to your. what many patients and followers and women and humans with ovaries now will say is I feel like I should be off of it because I, I've heard mm-hmm. 

that it's bad to be on it. I've heard that it can cause fertility issues. I've heard mm-hmm. , and here's the truth. Is the pill perfect? No, just like vaccines, they're not perfect. They're not for everyone. There will be fallout, there will be side effects, sometimes dangerous side effects from any intervention. 

But there will be side effects from lack of any intervention. For example, worse women who have dysurea meaning really painful periods, women who have endometriosis, women who have [00:04:00] persistent ovarian Cs, women who have P C O S, some of them can be treated without the pill. There are other ways to treat these symptoms, but some of these women need the pill. 

Some women need it merely because they just don't wanna be pregnant. Yeah, I was gonna say not their period. And so again, nothing is ever good and bad. There's good on both sides of the fence. I think as physicians we should. For the most part, the physicians I know are very metered about saying, here's the pill. 

If it works for you, it's great, and if it doesn't work for you, we're gonna try other things. I think that many of the influencers are not as metered. They actually extrapolate and just mm-hmm. make a blanket statement that the pill is bad. And that's a very dangerous precedent. And I've said this before and I'll say it again. 

It's a very anti-feminist. Rhetoric without meaning to these influencers who are largely women are actually shaming, blaming, and Inc. Inciting feelings of like guilt and anxiety that women for years have taken the pill and now they feel like, oh my God, did I cause fertility issues? You didn't cause any infertility with the pill. 

I can tell you billions of women, and this is anecdotal and data driven that have gotten pregnant immediately being off the pill. And similarly, [00:05:00] I can tell you women who didn't get pregnant being off the pill, but their problem was not the pill. Yeah. Their problem was whatever preceded putting Exactly. 

That's what they, now they think, oh, it must be the pill. Right. But it's like we talked about intent versus impact, right. These influencers might not have a bad intention of course, I would assume, but the impact is definitely. Far reaching and I definitely think that's something that doctors will have to deal with in the years to come. 

Yes. People trusting their, who they follow on social media more than their doctors. Well, and I will also take culpability, not personally, but as as one of the medical community, where I do think that we haven't always done the best job. Right. We're not always amazing at explaining everything. Of course. 

And I. Cite reasons why. For example, our limitations with time. Like we would love to have an hour with every patient, but then we couldn't run a practice because insurance will not cover reimbursements well enough for you to see one patient an hour. So in an interest to see patients and not have patients wait for too long and give the most salient, [00:06:00] important pieces of information that they need, we don't go through all the side effects. 

And there has been a history of paternalistic behavior in medicine from men and women who are doctors and in dismissing. Feelings and complaints. That said, doctors don't go into this to like harm people and unfortunately there is a lot of anti-D doctor and anti female rhetoric I find in social media. 

So that's what we wanted to talk about. But take home point. Do you ovulate when you're on the pill patch ring? The answer is largely no. You should not be ovulating. Is it okay to skip your period? The answer is yes, it is safe to skip your period. Is the pill patching for everybody? Of course not. Nothing is for everybody, but that doesn't mean it's bad for everybody either. 

So please be cautious in who you listen to. That's it. Yes. Bye. Have a great day to me. Happy a birthday to her . And I'll tell you after April 10th what I got her. Oh, con, yeah.