Is there a disregard for the effects of contraception on women's mental health?

[PinkFluffyJumper]

I've just been wondering about this recently as I'm planning on giving up on hormonal contraception following some awful, awful mood swings and depression.

I've read about women whose experiences of this (as a result of hormonal contraceptives) have been disregarded by some HCP.

Given that this seems to be quite common/widespread, why aren't the effects of these drugs on mental health more widely spoken about?

[scallopsrgreat]

And I think one of the reasons that this link isn't taken seriously or is dismissed, is because of misogyny. Women are thought to be a little bit 'hormonal' or 'loopy' or hypochondriacs anyway so what's a bit more of that in the mix And of course as others have said women's health isn't treated as seriously as men's.

[LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti]

I totally agree with that, scallops.

I think a lot of it is this 'but you have hormones sloshing about all the time! They make you mad and strange!' attitude. As if men don't have hormones, or as if somehow no-one need care about synthetic hormones because the real ones can be problematic too.

Take it a step back and you get to the Victorian attitudes about the 'curse of Eve' and how women really deserve to suffer because their bodies are fundamentally that way.

[chaoshayley]

Thanks for all of the replies, everybody. It's good to know that somebody agrees with me that this is a serious issue which needs to be talked about.

Vagenda is essentially a 'humorous' feminist blog, so I can absolutely see their point that this is a bit too serious for them. But I was surprised that they called it 'scaremongering', because that absolutely wasn't how I intended it to come across. And mental health problems are scary, there's no avoiding that really, is there?

I do have a blog, but it's embarrassingly crafty/baking/DIY orientated. I'm thinking of writing a feministy one too, so we'll see how that goes.

I might spend some time having another edit of my piece, but in the mean time, how could we even begin to tackle this idea that women's MH issues can be easily dismissed because of, as LRD put it, the lady-hormones-sloshing-around thing?

[WithASpider]

Fascinating thread, prompted me to report an appalling side effect i've just had from taking Norethisterone.

I was taking it to avoid having a period while on holiday. My contraception for the past 8ish years has been the copper coil because of hormone probs.

This time i have been in completely unreasonable rages, been horribly weepy, and have wanted to self harm to release the stress (I didn't). Thankfully after coming off it the side effects are going, but i have had it before without this happening.

I really had to battle to get the copper coil though, the hard sell with Mirena was awful!

[Bubbles1066]

I don't take it anymore but I have an old packet of Mercilion in the cupboard (a combined pill) and just had a look at the patient info and it has depression or mood changes as a side effect. So depression on it's own, not just general mood changes. The other side effects are scary too (including Chorea, a condition of the nervous system causing involuntary jerky movements?! No one ever mentioned that one!). So yes it says in the blurb it can cause depression and it should be taken seriously.

[StormyBrid]

Just checked microgynon. "Depressive moods or mood swings" experienced by between 100 and 1000 in 10000. This is described as "common". It's also not something the doctor mentioned when he prescribed it, even though I have a history of depression. Thanks for resurrecting the thread, it's made me think about switching to something non hormonal.

[NiceTabard]

Thanks for adding the side effects to the thread, Makes the response from the other website even more bizarre. You'd think they'd check - or as women just know! - that those warnings were there!

I put my experience with the Mirena upthread - it was not good. Loads of threads on here about Mirena and terrible side effects which get dismissed by HCPs.

Is there are general feeling in society that women make things up for no apparent reason? Just thinking that the lack of belief that women with nasty side effects of hormonal contraception are met with is similar to the lack of belief when they come forward with other negative stories.

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

I think you could rework your article about the problem with treating women as adults around all sorts of health issues (coming off Lurcio's point: "The only other time I've found this level of disregard by HCP for my ability to form rational judgements about my own experience was as a new mother") and focus on this too.

I don't think I've ever gone for a contraception appointment and come out feeling anything other than humiliated/ patronised. I imagine men only get asked about their sex lives and general habits in that level of detail when they get a rash and have to go to the clinic.

[GoshAnneGorilla]

O.P - as another idea, maybe you can offer it as a guest post on one of the MN feminist blogs.

I took Dianette for several years in my teens/early twenties and used to have really black moods during it. It wasn't until some time after I stopped taking it that I realised the impact it must have had on me.

I feel this is a hugely underreported and underdiscussed issue. Thanks for raising it.

[JedwardScissorhands]

Agree with this Lurcio's point that it also happens when taking children to the doctor. I found we were only taken seriously when DH took them. It's as though it must be serious if a man is worried, rather than just an 'over anxious mother'. I received similar paternalistic treatment with childbirth choices.

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

A friend of mine who wants to start a family but suffers from extreme anxiety and panic attacks around the issue of childbirth, was similarly fobbed off by doctors and told to go home and talk to her husband and family. Obviously she'd done that, she wanted professional advice about whether she would be able to have an elective C Section, what the options were etc - you know: practical, knowledgeable advice. Not to be told she was a silly girl who needs to talk to her mum.

[FloraFox]

I'm sorry this is a repeat of my posts above but I think it's important. My Mum always said that the pill was rushed onto the market with little testing. It's a touchy issue for feminists because the pill was such an important area for the women's movement in the 60s and 70s and so important for increasing men's ability to get consequence-free sex .

However Barbara Seaman was talking about the pill's effect on mental health in 1969 according to this obituary:

www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/nyregion/01seaman.html

She raised suicidal depression as a side-effect as well as the other, more familiar ones such as heart attack and thrombosis.

She was apparently blacklisted as a writer and pharma companies would pull their advertising from publications which printed her articles (according to wiki).

From my experience I would not use hormonal contraceptives or HRT. The possibility of depression has never been mentioned to me by any doctor but it's clearly a real possibility. I'm very disappointed, disturbed even, that a feminist blog would say you are scaremongering. Even though this is a difficult subject for feminists, we can't turn away from it.

[FloraFox]

www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/nyregion/01seaman.html

[Fraxinus]

Mumsnet campaign?

[Bubbles1066]

I also read (and have experience myself) that the pill changes your sense of smell. It can affect the type of man you are attracted to and how you react. It really can have an effect on women's lives. For the first few weeks after coming off the pill I couldn't believe how strong everything smelt. I kept on asking DH what the smells were and if it was normal! He thought I was mad!

[SauceForTheGander]

I've been discussing this with my friends for decades and we believed it to be a great conspiracy / cover up!!

I'm now 40 and have refused the pill since my late 20s after being plunged into horrendous depression about 4 times on different brands. The pattern is that I actually feel fantastic for 3 months and then a debilitating panicky paranoid depression follows and only lifts when I stopped taking it. It lifts almost imediately. I've told various GPs, including women, who have dismissed my depression as co-incidence and unproven. I am convinced though and I will never risk the mirena coil though I've heard some women consider it a wonder drug.

I've read on MN that in other European countries blood tests are done to hormonally match you to your contraceptive which I think shows not everyone should be given it?

Dark dark days on the pill. I wasn't great ante nataliy either.

[SauceForTheGander]

I also had zero libido and altered sense of smell.

[NiceTabard]

Oh.

In the last couple of years I feel like everything is smelly (especially me!).

I put it down to changes due to childbirth - I think your sense of smell gets more acute when you are pg and I thought maybe it had sort of carried on.

Reading that though I realise I was on the pill for about 15 years up to when I wanted to get pg, then mirena which disagreed with me after the babies, and this new aromatic lifestyle probably ties in with us using condoms.

I always wondered why I didn't think cigarettes smelt too bed / couldn't smell them on me or other people, when many others thought they stank

The problem with all of this stuff is - it' subtle - long term - slow changes. Not as cut and dried as "I did this and this happened". eg with the Mirena I thought it was OK but had a couple of concerns, it wasn't til it came out that loads of stuff suddenly wasn't bothering me any more. Like constant low-grade thrush.

Also the point about scenting out mates - I saw that program too - if the pill does alter how women scent mates then that is a huge problem as there is a reason that we sniff each other out.

[Sinful1]

"It is a good point that if a treatment for men affected their sex drive / performance then it would be a side effect raised carefully with patients and I suspect not considered acceptable in something that was not for quite serious conditions."

To be fair it's not. antidepressants can significantly affect us in that area and it gets no mention by the doctors, but it's on the leaflets.

[Sinful1]

and by "significantly" i mean potential for the old fella never to rise again.

[GetYourSocksOff]

This thread is very interesting.

I was rather impatiently dismissed a number of years ago when discussing this with my doctor. But I've always suspected it and coming off the pill to TTC confirmed it beyond doubt. There is no way I would consider going back now, we use condoms and I'm encouraging DH to find a more reliable solution of his own now that we've had DC2.

It affects me quite badly, paranoia and anxiety are high. DH and I no longer have the crazy arguments we had when I was on it, either.

[ithaka]

Interesting topic. I am always amazed by how cavalier so many women are with their health when it comes to contraception. The leaflet inside the packet lists all the side effects and they are not good. I haven't used hormonal contraception in years, for that very reason.

My 'DH to be' read the leaflet inside my pack of pills when we got together in our early 20s and was horrified that I would take such health risks when barrier methods are available that don't mess with your hormones & health.

Reader - I married him. As a young man of 23 he could see it was unnecessary health risk - why do so many women not show the same respect for their bodies? - and why don't their partners?

[ummunono]

I think this issue definitely deserves a mumsnet campaign. I personally didn't have much issues yet with contraception except with the implant which was horrible and almost made me anaemic.
Could I just ask, for those who don't use hormonal contraception, what do you use? I really want to give up the pill but I don't like the idea of the coil. Are things like the cap effective? Is anyone relying on the calendar method?

[ithaka]

DH & I have used condoms successfully throughout our 20 year marriage. Never had a contraceptive failure, conceived easily when we wanted to. They are very good if used properly. We have good, regular sex.

Personally, now our family is complete & we are older I would quite like DH to get the snip so we don't even have to bother with condoms. But he is squeamish about the idea and I respect his body choices as much as he respects mine, so condoms it is.

[SauceForTheGander]

We use condoms.

I did use persona years ago and have DS to show for it!