When I was in college nearly 20 years ago, most of the young women I knew took birth control pills for medical reasons as instructed by their gynaecologists. Now that I am in my 30’s, I am encountering women who are only just discovering that they never really needed to be on the pill in the first place.
A friend with polycystic ovarian syndrome whom I will call “Michelle” had been prescribed the pill since she was 16 years old. Not only was it unnecessary, but the contraceptives exacerbated more severe health problems. Having struggled for many years with debilitating depression, Michelle went to a psychiatrist who advised her to get off the pill immediately.
When Michelle went back to her gynaecologist to inform the doctor of her suicidal tendencies, her ob-gyn sighed with frustration. “How suicidal?” she asked.
That was enough for Michelle, and she stopped taking the pill. Soon she began to feel a level of sexual desire that had been largely suppressed by the contraceptive since she started taking it at 16. With natural hormones racing through her body for the first time in years, she realized she had never had the chance to experience the normal libido that young women discover as part of their maturation process.
“My body suddenly feels like a teenage girl’s again,” she said. On this point there is no debate: even proponents of the pill acknowledge that it reduces a woman’s sexual drive. Therefore, millions of women spend much of their prime reproductive years never knowing the natural level of sexual feeling that is part of developing as a woman.
Read more of Elsie Enrhard’s article “Overprescribing the Pill”
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- Image: 365dana.blogspot.com