Birth control

[DoMaHa87]

I am currently writing an article about the lack of information given by GP's or health practitioners when it comes to ovulation delay after stopping hormonal birth control. I have found during my research that a lot of women were not aware of the possible side effects and have since been left trying desperately to conceive for sometimes up to three years!!! If you have had any similar experiences please feel free to get in touch. All information is kept anonymous and I can send you the article and any updates 😊 thanks for your help. [email protected]

Ovulation delay of up to 3 years caused by hormonal birth control? Any evidence on that?

Journal articles regarding delayed fertility after birth control are readily available. Interviews conducted with various health professionals also suggest that there is no way of knowing how long the process will be when stopping birth control. Women are just advised to wait it out and that their bodies will adjust in 'time'. Some women have stated they have had no underlying fertility issues before but have waited either a few months or in some cases a few years before their periods return to normal.

No hormonal birth control delays your ovulation by three years. Those women were infertile to begin with.

We already know that when you stop hormonal bc it might take a few cycles to go back to regular ovulation (up to 5-8 cycles for the injectable kind, around 3 cycles for the pill)

There is no conspiracy of doctors hiding the risk of long term infertility after BC use from patients. Don't be ridiculous.

I agree that it isn't describe properly prior to starting birth control. However, I thought the evidence base says birth control effects only last up to a year? I have ongoing cycle dysregulation 2 years later but this is because of an underlying problem masked by the pill, not caused by it.

@DoMaHa87

Journal articles regarding delayed fertility after birth control are readily available. Interviews conducted with various health professionals also suggest that there is no way of knowing how long the process will be when stopping birth control. Women are just advised to wait it out and that their bodies will adjust in 'time'. Some women have stated they have had no underlying fertility issues before but have waited either a few months or in some cases a few years before their periods return to normal.

There is zero evidence that hormonal contraception delays ovulation by up to three years. You've pulled that out of a pseudoscience hat.

It's also important to add that not only is there zero evidence of your claimed three year delay, but lots of good quality evidence of no, or a very small delay to resumption of normal ovulation, as a previous poster has said.

I haven't stated that this happens to every woman. Most women will have ovulation returned within a few months agreed. The point is that of the women I have spoken to none of them were even advised that this was a potential side effect to start with. Therefore they have opted for birth control with the understanding that once they stop they can attempt to conceive not knowing that it may take months for their ovulation to return. This is causing great distress to women who feel they should have all relevant information before making an informed decision.

www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(11)00161-2/fulltext

Here's a literature review that studies 17 different studies on the matter and concluded that 1 year pregnancy rates after hormonal BC are no different than after barrier methods of contraception.

Think you can do better on Internet anecdata?

And another:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6055351/

[quote HacerSonarSusPasos]And another:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6055351/[/quote]
Thanks for responding. I think you're missing the point of the article. The reasoning here is that women across the country are opting for birth control and are not being told that there is a possibility that there may be issues with ovulation afterwards. It takes a few moments to explain the possible side effects but yet this is not happening. That is the point.

@DoMaHa87

I haven't stated that this happens to every woman. Most women will have ovulation returned within a few months agreed. The point is that of the women I have spoken to none of them were even advised that this was a potential side effect to start with. Therefore they have opted for birth control with the understanding that once they stop they can attempt to conceive not knowing that it may take months for their ovulation to return. This is causing great distress to women who feel they should have all relevant information before making an informed decision.

Your original post claims a delay of up to 'three years', this is not a side effect and is untrue, so why would HCP's be advising people of it?

I thought it was common knowledge that after going off the pill it might take a few months months for your hormones to kick-start again and for your cycles to return to normal?

I can't remember if my doctor specifically told me when she prescribed it, but it's one of those things I would wager reproductive women usually know.

As for the "up to three years" argument, has a doctor established a link to BC use? Just because things happen simultaneously doesn't mean there's a causal relationship there. Lots of other factors cause infertility and are much more likely culprits.

Reproductive-age women*

Your points are all valid and I take on board everyone's opinions, however just because you were aware of those potential side effects does not mean that every woman is. Women I've spoken to have stated that they were never aware of this and never knew until after the fact where they have stopped contraception. This isn't meant to be a negative article, it's not meant to be slanderous towards health professionals either, all it is doing is requesting that these potential side effects are discussed with women beforehand (whether they already know it or not)

So is it a few months or a few years then? Because if you're printing an article stating years, then it is firstly untrue and secondly not giving people the correct information required to make an informed decision, which apparently is the whole point of the exercise.

As I mentioned in the previous post, each woman is different. I've spoken to women who have had delays from anywhere between 3 - 12 months and some who have experienced issues longer than that but who already have children and haven't had any issues with fertility beforehand. Yes there may be underlying conditions for some women but the point is that surely every woman deserves to know what they're putting in their bodies and how this might affect them in the future. When you get prescribed a new medication it comes with a leaflet explaining the side effects all we are asking is for the same amount of due diligence to be put forward with hormonal based birth control.

Hormonal contraception most definitely does not cause ovulation delays up to the extent you are claiming, so you are willing to print lies?

Yes, women can easily have a child and then become infertile, this is not due to hormonal contraception, this is due to factors such as PCOS, endometriosis amongst lots of other conditions, of which the incidence increases as we age.

What has happened to journalism? You are accusing HCP's of not giving people the information to make an informed choice, and yet you are going to print medical untruths to prevent readers from doing the exact same.

Plus, hormonal birth control comes with the same leaflet you talk of and lists side effects, so what rubbish.

Hormonal birth control has pros and cons, but a one year plus delay in ovulation is not one.

A better avenue might be not having been given info about a potential short delay to normal cycle, and also not having been given info about the pill creating a fake normal cycle. Looking back, I cannot believe I thought my cycles would be normal when coming off the pill cause they were normal on the pill. I didn't understand that is induced cycle not the real underlying pattern

@HeyBlaby

Hormonal contraception most definitely does not cause ovulation delays up to the extent you are claiming, so you are willing to print lies?

Yes, women can easily have a child and then become infertile, this is not due to hormonal contraception, this is due to factors such as PCOS, endometriosis amongst lots of other conditions, of which the incidence increases as we age.

What has happened to journalism? You are accusing HCP's of not giving people the information to make an informed choice, and yet you are going to print medical untruths to prevent readers from doing the exact same.

Maybe you should take it up with the countless women who were not informed of these possible side effects, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to provide you with their experiences 🤔