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Women predominantly use birth control to avoid getting pregnant, but many of us also enjoy the side benefits that we get from birth control, such as: clearer skin, less painful cramps, and the ability to know exactly when our periods will come.
But here’s something that all women hoping to get pregnant in the future should know: using birth control masks potential fertility issues, and makes it harder for you to get pregnant down the road. In this blog post, we share three reasons why using birth control today is detrimental to your fertility in time to come. Read on to find out more!
#1: Using birth control masks fertility issues
If you’ve read our article 5 Physical Fertility Signs That Indicate You’ll Have An Easy Time Getting Pregnant, you’ll know that women who have regular cramps (that aren’t exceedingly painful) and average flows tend to get pregnant more easily.
For those using birth control, though, the above signs are no longer indicative of your fertility. Why is this the case? Well, birth control helps you “regulate” your period, and also makes your flow more manageable. Bearing this in mind, it might mask symptoms such as severe cramps, excessive bleeding, or irregular and absent periods, all of which might point to larger fertility problems such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and more.
#2: Using birth control reduces the antioxidants in your body
Antioxidants defend our cells from damage caused by free radicals; they don’t just aid our general well-being, but also help to boost ovarian health. If you’re hoping to have a child someday, you’ll want to ensure that your body has high levels of antioxidants, so that you’ve got a good chance of getting pregnant.
Unfortunately, several studies (including this study published in the Obstetrics and Gynecology International journal) show that women using the pill have lower levels of CoQ10 and other antioxidants. And according to this other study, suboptimal CoQ10 levels results in age-associated egg deficits, making it difficult for women to get pregnant.
#3: Using birth control makes your uterine lining thinner
According to this study published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal, long term use of birth control can potentially affect optimal endometrial growth. If you’ve only been taking the pill for a year or two, you’re off the hook, but if you’ve been doing so religiously for five years now, it’s likely that your uterine lining is thinner than normal.
How does this impact your fertility? Well, when your uterine lining is thin, this makes it more difficult to achieve implantation. This is true for both couples who are trying naturally and couples who are undergoing IVF – in fact, gynaes typically measure the thickness of an IVF patient’s uterine lining prior to the embryo transfer, and they will advise their patients to try and build up their lining before proceeding with the transfer if necessary.
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