Here is what to know about the allegations that the birth control is harmful: NPR

According to the functions on Tiktok, the identification of hormonal offspring in a list of unlimited diseases can cause depression, irreversible infertility, acne, biome destruction, weight gain, steel, and low sexual desire, but not limited to.

At the same time, an increasing number of influencers defends the fertility cycles naturally – or with applications – to prevent pregnancy, while avoiding the birth control completely.

How did the birth control pills get this bad reputation, and is there anything to worry? Do you follow a valid alternative? We asked the researchers and doctors.

Claim

Hormonal offspring is dangerous. You can effectively prevent pregnancy with natural methods.

Evidence

Contracts of use and research have shown that the identification of hormonal offspring, such as oral contraceptives, the United States, spots, injection, planting, security and effective In avoiding pregnancy.

While there are some possible side effects, social media people exaggerate or distort the risks. A Tiktok videos study The contraceptive methods concluded that they “showed weakness of reliability and quality.” Only 10 % was created by medical professionals.

Some of the most common side effects include headache, mood changes, and breast tenderness. These can be unpleasant enough to Leading some women To quit them, According to the research.

Complications include some of the most serious birth control types – but rare – Blood clots Or dangerous Hole From an intrauterine device. Evidence indicates Oral contraceptive may raise the danger of some types of cancer, but they provide preventive benefits against others.

Although they are safe for most people, doctors stress that it is very important to evaluate the risk on an individual basis, in a conversation with your doctor. People who smoke, for example, can be in Higher risk From blood clots if they take oral contraceptive.

“Google or social media will never be answered because you are a unique being,” says Dr. Jennifer Conte, a obstetrician who works at Stanford University. “Even artificial intelligence that brings tons and tons of different people’s experiences – it’s not your own,” warns.

Keep in mind that social media can distort the accuracy of risk and return accounts when it comes to making decisions on birth control, he says Emily BuffhenderResearcher at the University of Pennsylvania, who studied the way in which contraindications are done on social media.

“This is a case – the minority screams loudly,” she says. Her research shows certificates on side effects that rarely occur from birth control and birth control means on social media.

Alternative

Instead of effective hormonal treatments, the online effects pushing “natural” ways to prevent pregnancy, including course tracking or Awareness of fertilityWhich involves taking your temperature daily. Some even recommend not proven herbal supplements instead.

Experts can warn the course tracking can lead to a file A false feeling of safety When it comes to preventing pregnancy, because it is difficult to predict fertility accurately. One study showed that 8 % to 9 % The failure rate Among the users of one application to avoid pregnancy. (Hormonal offspring methods have a failure rate Less than 1 %When using it properly.)

“The old joke that we used to say is that those who use natural family organization have natural families naturally,” says Dr. Jeffrey Gansen, Vice President of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oregon University of Health and Science.

“For individuals who have very regular courses and ready to get periods of abstaining from voluntary sex, this will succeed,” he says. “But many of my patients have a busy life and this may not be the thing they want to focus on.”

Conte says that someone’s experience with these applications should not be predictive to others. “[Cycle tracking]”Does it work with some people, but tells you that this is the only way to do this is a very distinct approach because you are just thinking about your position and the exact scenario,” says Conte.

Nuances

West control complaints are multiplied with another real issue – that women often feel He was ignored in medical settingsPfender says. She says posts that confirm “medical experiments are deprived of their rights that include her silence or ignoring them as a woman,” receives a lot of attention.

For example, a woman named Lesi Morris recently spoke about her experience with the hormonal IUD Tikhak. “I didn’t know the risks,” Morris says in the video, as she refers to a picture of X -rays, as she says, IUD became included in her womb. She had to remove her surgically.

Morris, a mother of three young children living in Georgia, said in an interview that her intention was not to intimidate people from birth control, but to clarify awareness of the dangers that doctors often do not explain to patients.

Wipe It showed that 29 % of women felt that their doctor refused their health concerns in the previous two years.

Morris says she often felt a rush or overlooked by doctors. She says that the risk of a type of birth control is low, she says, you prefer to know about it – and you think doctors should discuss them. “People deserve this enlightened choice,” she says.

Many in the medical community agree that a lack of conversation on side effects is a problem.

But Jensen says that doctors in short time often have with their patients, focusing on unfamiliar side effects may mean less time to focus on those who are probably.

With the IUD, for example, Jensen says, complications that require a rare surgery – One study He suggested that for every 1,000 IUD, between one and two caused by “intrauterine migration”, which can require surgery to remove it, and this is often a minimum invisible procedure.

“This is something that doctors should do a much better work in focus”: “The common side effects like irregular bleeding are more worthy of discussion:” This is something that doctors actually do a much better job in focus. “

The biggest picture

Doctors emphasize the importance of the weight of the possible side effects to identify hormonal offspring against the risk of unplanned pregnancy.

Aside from the choice of having a child or not, the same pregnancy It can be dangerousRefer to Jensen. The restrictions of the risk abortion.

“It was not likely that the way you will die as a woman will be in an event associated with obstetrics during labor,” says Jensen. “Social media often gives any context about what it means to be pregnant to a woman.”

Jensen says that mothers mortality rates have improved in the past century, but there are still major health risks. “The ability to avoid pregnancy means a woman’s ability to be equal players in all aspects of modern life,” he says.