The Three Most Common Birth Control Methods

You know the all too familiar story.

You walk into your gyno. Maybe you just went in for a yearly check up, maybe you are dealing with some hormonal symptoms, maybe you have PMS, PCOS or endometriosis… Whatever it may be they probably asked if you wanted to go on birth control + gave you your options.

Problems is, a lot of us go on birth control + never actually understand what the heck it is doing to our bodies or how it even works in the first place to prevent pregnancy.

This is a BIG problem in our society. We have to understand the whole reason we have a menstrual cycle + this beautiful female body is for pregnancy! Baby, we were born this way! Every month our body works hard to get to ovulation + get that sperm to meet that egg! That’s the whole point of our biology and even if you are not looking to get pregnant it is still important to have a functioning, healthy menstrual cycle.

Unfortunately, birth control shuts down this process. Here I am going to discuss the 3 most popular forms of birth control + how they actually work to prevent pregnancy.

Each method of birth control works in a different way.

ONE: it prevents the sperm from getting to the egg by discouraging your body to release eggs- basically it makes the uterus an unsafe environment for the sperm to want to meet the egg.

TWO: it stops the brain to ovary connection so that you can not ovulate by effing up your hormones.

⫸ The Pill:

The pill comes in two forms the progestin only pill + the combo pill with estrogen + progestin (this is the one I was on for 12 years). These are synthetic + not the same as the hormones we naturally make. Basically the pill works by shutting down ovulation, it stops communication between the brain + ovaries. In this case, your hormones don’t fluctuate like they should during the month so you don’t get to reap the benefits of ovulation + progesterone. The bleed you experience is not a real bleed.

⫸ Copper IUD:

This is a non-hormonal form of birth control. This works by creating a toxic environment so the sperm can’t meet the egg. Keep in mind copper and estrogen have an intimate relationship and this could be contributing to estrogen dominance symptoms. It can also cause zinc, iron and mineral imbalances since you are directly absorbing the copper.

⫸ Hormonal IUD:

These only contain synthetic progesterone. It works by thickening your mucous to prevent the sperm from meeting the egg or entering the cervix in the first place. This one does not always shut down ovulation, it does however still work similar to the Copper IUD and prevent an unsafe environment for the sperm to meet the egg.

I hope this was informative and will empower you to make decisions regarding your reproductive and fertility health.