When there is a highly effective means of birth control that has zero side effects (condoms), the question should be: why would you use hormone based birth control?

Yea, I know condoms are less "pleasurable," but what kind of guy says "I need you to screw up your system by taking hormone treatments and risk who knows what down the line, so I can have a better time"?

According to Dr. Natash Campbell-McBride and others at the Weston A. Price foundation, hormonal Birth Control damages gut flora and aggravates insulin resistance, both which come with serious impacts over the long term. I'd reach for non-hormonal if at all possible.

I was on the stuff for a good 8 years. It did several things to me, and noted to many other females: It increased chances of yeast infections and bacterial infections It was great that I didn't have to worry about unwanted pregnancy, but forget about being interested in sex as it will, and can permanently alter the bodies use/production of testosterone It made it more difficult to maintain a good weight and difficult at losing weight It can cause problems with proper gut bacterial balance Among other things

Here is an article from 2006 about the issue of altering the body's testosterone, "In the January issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers have published a new investigation measuring sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) before and after discontinuation of the oral contraceptive pill. The research concluded that women who used the oral contraceptive pill may be exposed to long-term problems from low values of "unbound" testosterone potentially leading to continuing sexual, metabolic, and mental health consequences." http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/35663.php

For some BC has been great at regulating their menses, but diet and supplementation can do a good job as well. Taking some serious amount of omega 3 from fish oil (I take 2TB, which is 3xs rec. dosage, lots of magnesium, lots of vit D, and DIM to regulate the estrogen levels). DIM can be important if you have heavy, painful and irregular periods, which suggest that one might have estrogen dominance issues. It took a while to get to a regular cycle of 30 days and an almost completely pain free period, but I am there!

There's a lot of evidence that being on BC for a long time will cause the gall bladder to fail. I also think there is an increase in some cancers with long term use...on the flip side, I think there is a decrease in some other cancers with long term use.

Another thing to consider - birth control is designed to make your body think it is pregnant all the time.

The way a man smells to you is switched, what you normally find irresistible is now offensive and what may have been offensive before is now all that and a bag of Paleo chips…Imagine looking over at your partner after stopping the pill, the man you’ve been with for years…. "Honey….you stink"

If you're willing to hold out long enough, male birth control is just around the corner, now you can rely on men to make sure they don't miss a day...what could go wrong!

Jess, I fall in the category of "I'll never know". I lost my period after crash dieting in my late teens. The docs put me on BCP's when it sorta came back but was irregular ... problem solved. I don't recall how many years I took them but I did ... like clockwork. When I stopped, I didn't have a period for like 3 months. I did have several years of acceptable regularity after that and then as I approached 40 things went amok. Heavy periods in between spotting, etc. I'm already in menopause 2+ years and I'm not yet 50. Caused by BCP? Prolonged LCarb? Dieting in general? I'll never know.

My generation was the guinea pigs. In retrospect I wouldn't take them ... ESPECIALLY these new 3 cycles per year and all that types.

I went off Ortho Tri Cyclen lo after being on it for a decade. I just read Katie Singer's Garden of Fertility and highly recommend it to any woman who is questioning her methods of birth control. After my success with paleo diet, I looked to cutting out other "artificial" aspects of my life beyond food and decided to try going off the pill and so far I've done really well. I attribute my quick success with ovulating and whatnot to eating nourishing foods (while not stating it directly, the book pretty much advocates Paleo/WAPF).

There are hormone free options available. I personally suspect the pills I have been on (I am getting a Paraguard in 2 weeks!) have had a negative effect on my moods. Even if I am wrong, I think just knowing that I don't have any alternative hormones entering my body will be a positive message.

In my opinion, hormonal BC for a man or a woman is going to be harmful.

If sterilization isn't the right choice (yet), what about both partner using non-hormonal methods together? That way, it's not just one person having to take the responsibility and bear the side effects, and it's obviously much more effective.

I stopped when I went paleo because I didn't see the point of correcting my issues through diet and still putting synthetic hormones in to my system. I haven't been doing paleo for long and I do have PCOS. I'm going to give this s try for a few months and see if paleo will help control my PCOS symptoms, as you know it can be insulin related. So far, so good. Generally I have ovary pains during the day. Lately I have not. Knock on wood.

The hubby has accepted condoms as a trade off for a happier healthier wife. It's hardly an inconvenience, just FYI.

I treat my extremely heavy periods with herbs from my acupuncturist, which do not wreak havoc on my body like birth-control pills do. (I literally turn into Attila the Hun on any kind of hormone. My husband has been dreading menopause because my mother had such a hard time.) The herbs have been a God-send. My hubby and I use natural family planning and have had zero accidents. I know all women are different (my brother can look at my sister-in-law sideways and she gets pregnant), but it works well for us. This keeps the unnatural doses of hormones out of my body and keeps my mood in check.

I've been on Yaz for over 10 years (PCOS). I had extremely heavy periods every month up until then. Now I don't have a period at all. I much prefer it this way, of course, but I'm sure it's not ideal for my body. If there was some way to cut back on the heaviness and longevity I would consider going off of the pill, but not until then.