Birth Control Shrinks The Brain !

[Mauritio]

Groundbreaking news!
Not really in the peat-land , but I think even people with no science background at, all could understand that if a hormone pill you take ,shrinks your brain ,there is something bad going on.
"We found a dramatic difference in the size of the brain structures between women who were taking oral contraceptives and those who were not," Dr. Lipton said. "This initial study shows a strong association and should motivate further investigation into the effects of oral contraceptives on brain structure and their potential impact on brain function."


Also shocking to me is that there hasn't even been much research on the effects of contraceptives interaction with the brain, even though there are several generations of women taking oral contraceptives .
The authors state:
"There is a lack of research on the effects of oral contraceptives on this small but essential part of the living human brain,"



They (unsurprisingly) found, that the contraceptives increased feelings of depression and anger (estrogen anyone?!) in the people taking them.
"Other findings from the study, which Dr. Lipton described as "preliminary," were that smaller hypothalamic volume was also associated with greater anger and showed a strong correlation with depressive symptoms..."


Study finds key brain region smaller in birth control pill users

 

[Momentum]

It just keeps getting worse on BCP. Why do they think they can change a natural hormone state and it won't have any effect? Oh, yeah, they really don't care.
Too little estrogen also shrinks the brain (found in menopausal women).

Estrogen needs to balanced with progesterone.

 

[Mauritio]

It just keeps getting worse on BCP. Why do they think they can change a natural hormone state and it won't have any effect? Oh, yeah, they really don't care.
Too little estrogen also shrinks the brain (found in menopausal women).

Estrogen needs to balanced with progesterone.

I think there's 3 types of estrogens and only one goes down during menopause. The strongest one (I think it was e2 ) goes up.
Also when ovaries are lacking the right arm vein became the main source of estrogen, peat said. Just as a side note .
I still think some estrogen is healthy in women and men ,though.

As you said ,what really should be looked at is progesterone.

 

[Momentum]

I think there's 3 types of estrogens and only one goes down during menopause. The strongest one (I think it was e2 ) goes up.
Also when ovaries are lacking the right arm vein became the main source of estrogen, peat said. Just as a side note .
I still think some estrogen is healthy in women and men ,though.

As you said ,what really should be looked at is progesterone.

Yep, estrogen, estrodial, and estrone (IIRC). I'm a firm believer in balancing hormones and I take cycling bio-idential hormone therapy (mimicking the cycle of a healthy 25-30 year old woman) as I don't want to suffer the horrible effects of menopause.

 

[ddjd]

got my girlfriend of 3 years off the pill six months ago. she'd been taking it for over 10 years and suffered from terrible headaches and during stressful times would lose vision in one eye. interetingly, all of those headaches and eye problems have stopped completely the last 5 months. just a coincidence i am sure!

 

[Mauritio]

got my girlfriend of 3 years off the pill six months ago. she'd been taking it for over 10 years and suffered from terrible headaches and during stressful times would lose vision in one eye. interetingly, all of those headaches and eye problems have stopped completely the last 5 months. just a coincidence i am sure!

For sure!
Did you also get her on progesterone ?

 

[High_Prob]

The study doesn’t say whether it was estrogen based birth control or progesterone based birth control...how do we know whether it was progesterone and/or estrogen that caused the brain shrinkage?

 

[LUH 3417]

The study doesn’t say whether it was estrogen based birth control or progesterone based birth control...how do we know whether it was progesterone and/or estrogen that caused the brain shrinkage?

Does any BC use progesterone? I thought they all use progestin

 

[High_Prob]

Good point but the ones that use Estrogen don’t use bio-identical estrogen but synthetic estrogen...so maybe this is just showing that it’s synthetic estrogen and/or synthetic progesterone (progestin) that is shrinking the brain and not the bio identical forms of one or the other...

By the way, I am in agreement with Estrogen being an overall issue no matter what form. I am just trying to make the point that science can be confusing....

 

[ddjd]

Does any BC use progesterone? I thought they all use progestin

yeah that's exactly why they cause so many problems. synthetic "progesterone"

 

[LUH 3417]

Good point but the ones that use Estrogen don’t use bio-identical estrogen but synthetic estrogen...so maybe this is just showing that it’s synthetic estrogen and/or synthetic progesterone (progestin) that is shrinking the brain and not the bio identical forms of one or the other...

By the way, I am in agreement with Estrogen being an overall issue no matter what form. I am just trying to make the point that science can be confusing....

Yes I see what you are saying. Also there are 3 forms of “natural estrogen” so which form does BC use? Something to investigate and get clarity on. I’ll look into it and post when I have a bit more time.

 

[Mauritio]

Yes i am pretty sure it was the progestins that were used. And who read peats latest newsletter knows ,that they dont have much to do with progesterone at all! Even the opposite is true in many ways. So its a shame that they share almost the same name ,since it it makes people think that they are supposed to have the same/similar effects.

But i also couldnt find access to the study or even the abstract from this article . Somebody found the whole study ?

 

[ecstatichamster]

Yes i am pretty sure it was the progestins that were used. And who read peats latest newsletter knows ,that they dont have much to do with progesterone at all! Even the opposite is true in many ways. So its a shame that they share almost the same name ,since it it makes people think that they are supposed to have the same/similar effects.

But i also couldnt find access to the study or even the abstract from this article . Somebody found the whole study ?

it was presented orally. Maybe publication will follow.