The Real Reason Birth Control Has Placebo Pills - Cheddar Explains

what comes to mind when i say birth control for many of us it's most likely this this little packet of pills is such a standard part of daily life for so many women that it's unnecessary to say birth control pill just the pill will suffice but for how commonplace the pill has become it's keeping a big secret see this row of pills right here these are placebo pills they don't contain the hormones that the rest of the pills do so they cause a woman to have a monthly period here's the kicker that period isn't really a period it's not even medically necessary this is just a 60-year long holdover from how the pill was originally designed so why are we still doing it before we explain why these fake periods are pointless let's all get on the same page about what exactly the menstrual cycle is we asked the internet's favorite gynecologist to explain yeah so menstrual cycle is extremely complicated but if you want a really basic overview it's that at the beginning of the first half of the menstrual cycle which is the approximately two weeks prior to ovulation it is an estrogen dominant phase of your cycle that estrogen is working to build up the uterine lining and then there are some other hormones that come into play which increase to cause ovary to ovulate that midpoint is ovulation everybody's cycle isn't 28 days but for the purposes of learning that's the easiest way to talk about it so that midpoint on day 14 is ovulation and then after that the cycle is progesterone dependent so you have a high level of progesterone and that keeps the uterine lining stable and the purpose of that is to support pregnancy if an embryo has been fertilized and is trying to implant if a fertilized embryo sticks to the uterine lining then boom pregnancy starts if no egg becomes fertilized then progesterone levels drop and the uterus sheds that thick lining which is the bleeding part of a period the pill works by using synthetic versions of estrogen and progesterone to prevent ovulation you don't release an egg when you're on birth control pills the egg is never recruited to be released this also prevents the uterine lining from building up too much it's kind of like the uterus saying to itself we're not expecting an egg to come make itself at home so let's not bother prepping the house that brings us to the placebo pills these sugar pills cause a sudden drop in progesterone which triggers the uterus to shed whatever lining it has but this isn't technically the same as menstruation because ovulation didn't occur so the placebo pills are kind of included just as a like standard to keep you understanding of when your cycle is going to come there's no real purpose to having it it really doesn't have a physiologic function that makes sense it's just that's how they're made just how they're made is a pretty accurate summary of how the pill came to include the placebos back in the 1950s research scientist gregory pincus and obgyn john rock were working together to create the pill the idea of a hormonal contraceptive had been around for a while but it took on new urgency when after world war ii americans started getting married younger and popping out babies at record rates the average age of marriage in the 1950s was 20 and a half for women and 22 for men and then this was the baby boom so on average they were having four kids by the time they were 28 30 they were done but they still had another 15 to 17 years of fertility ahead of them and so they became among the most avid supporters of birth control pincus and rock initially decided on a 20 days on 5 days off cycle for the pill meaning 20 active hormone-filled pills and five placebo pills they did so basically for simplicity if women continue to have a monthly bleed they could be reassured that they aren't pregnant and thus avoid any confusion or distress that missing a period might cause by the time the first pill hit the market in 1960 the cycle was 21 days on seven days off there's a long-standing myth that dr rock a lifelong catholic included that pseudo period specifically to get the catholic church on board that's not really true but he did later use it to argue that the pill cycle isn't so different from the body's natural menstrual cycle and so the church should accept it he failed technically because the pope established the church's position against the pill in but it didn't matter at that point because 12 million women already had prescriptions it's hard to overstate how much of a shift this was for the first time women had the power to prevent pregnancy on their own previously their partners would have to agree to or at least be aware of existing contraception methods like condoms diaphragms or simply avoiding sex around the time of ovulation many people decried some of the more serious side effects of the pill and that debate continues today still by placing all the power in women's hands the pill was a revolution but 60 years later the pill has become the old school contraceptive method it's still the most popular but newer methods are both gaining in popularity and have proven to be more effective most of these new options still rely on the same hormonal technology as the pill but they also offer a good chance of stopping a woman's periods altogether i think it's becoming more recognized as a safe thing to do to skip your periods and obviously this is just information a jumping point for you to have that discussion with your own doctor advanced practice provider but i think it's just become with more research in the past 30 years and more understanding of how birth control pills work it's just become more acceptable and something that people see as safe because it has been shown to not have any toward effects people may still want periods for a variety of reasons because their bodies respond best to that type of birth control or because it's a monthly reassurance that they're not pregnant but some are concerned that not having a period must be unhealthy in some way which is a misconception it is perfectly safe to skip your periods on birth control if you're not having periods but you're not in birth control you're not pregnant you're not breastfeeding you're not going to puzzle anything like that not safe to skip periods and not something you should talk to your doctor about but if you're not having periods while on some form of continuous birth control totally reasonable despite this knowledge the majority of participants in a 2019 study found the idea of not menstruating strange unhealthy and worrisome so that's one barrier to women embracing different types of birth control the other is seven decades of stagnation in research and development the traditional birth control pill has long been a steady reliable source of income for pharmaceutical companies and introducing new types of contraceptives not only requires extensive r d but comes with a risk of expensive lawsuits take the story of the dalkin shield iud in the 1970s three years after the iud's introduction about 2.2 million women had prescriptions but soon these women started reporting horrifying outcomes like serious infections pelvic inflammatory disease miscarriage loss of fertility and even death the company pulled the iud and eventually went bankrupt from hundreds of thousands of lawsuits and claims given those monetary risks for companies and knowledge barriers for women it's no wonder the pill continues to dominate overcoming 60 years of habit would be hard enough even with buy-in from companies and consumers so what do you think is it time for another contraceptive revolution leave your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to like subscribe and ring the bell for notifications

Channel: Cheddar

Views: 467,485

Keywords: Cheddar, cheddar explores, cheddar explains, explainer, birth control, placebo pills, birth control implant, male birth control, the catholic church, catholic, religion, united states, government, politics, pregnancy, reproductive rights around the world, abortion, reproduction, medicine, healthcare, health, women, the pill, contraceptives, period, hormones, the real reason, history, medication, the church, fertility, implant, birth, childbirth

Id: hMV0WxBi2_I

Length: 8min 4sec (484 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021