Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
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 At the age of 161 saw a gynecologist who suggested birth control pills. I was raised a strict Irish-Catholic, but Mom was open to anything that might help me. Within 2 months of starting birth control pills, my skin was considerably better!
I am one of those people whose body loves the pills. As soon as I stop taking them, my skin starts to break out. I hope my experience will help convince that mother that birth control pills could be the magic she wants for her daughter.
A. When all else fails, birth control pills can be helpful. The hormones counteract testosterone. |
Andreas Moritz
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 The method can be learned within a few minutes from the little book Mental birth control by Mildred Jackson (costs less than $1). There are other approaches teaching mental birth control, such as a self-hypnosis (tape) by Barrie Konicov. (Do a Google search for mental birth control.)
Other methods include "Fertility Testers," which can determine the days of the month in which a woman is fertile. All that is required is a drop of her saliva. "Persona" is another new method of contraception. |
Dr. Sharon Moalem
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 The next time you're looking for some convenient birth control, you don't have to snack on a field of clover, of course. But if you take many forms of the famous "Pill," you're not doing something all that different. The gifted chemist Carl Djerassi based his development of the Pill on just this kind of botanical birth control. He wasn't using clover, though; he was using sweet potatoes—the Mexican yam to be exact. He started with disogenin, a phytoestrogen produced by the yam, and from that base, he synthesized the first marketable contraceptive pill in 1951. |
Bill Sardi
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 In 1982, doctors reported that abnormal Pap smears among women taking birth control pills were reversed with 10 milligram folic acid supplements. [American Journal Clinical Nutrition 35: 73-82, 1982]
Women march in the streets, calling for a cure for breast cancer. Yet 17 million American women take birth control pills that deplete folic acid and increase their risk for breast and cervical cancer, as well as increase the number of children born with birth defects. |
| It's just that women are never informed their birth control pills deplete an important vitamin. This means millions of women are taking a contraceptive pill that potentially can induce cervical cancer. In 1982, doctors reported that abnormal Pap smears among women taking birth control pills were reversed with 10 milligram folic acid supplements. [American Journal Clinical Nutrition 35: 73-82, 1982]
Women march in the streets, calling for a cure for breast cancer. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 The Patch
The Ortho-Evra patch has been marketed as a convenient form of birth control that doesn't require women to remember to take a pill every day. However, the FDA has issued a warning about an increased risk of blood clots that can lead to potentially fatal clots in the lungs. The risk of blood clot is double that of OCPs. The FDA has registered twelve deaths to date in young women on Ortho-Evra. Given these facts, I do not recommend the Ortho-Evra patch for birth control. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Pharmacological Drugs
Hormone Replacement Therapy and birth control Pills
The risk of developing gallstones is four times higher among women than among men. It is especially pronounced among women who have used or use birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). According to medical research, oral contraceptives and other estrogens double a woman's chance of developing gallstones. The female hormone, estrogen, which is contained in contraceptive pills and hormone replacements, increases bile cholesterol and decreases gallbladder contraction. |
Andreas Moritz
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| Caution about the new birth control pill: Lybrel recently launched Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' new birth control pill that eliminates women's periods. Women on the new pills do not menstruate, unlike those on the original oral contraceptives, which include a week of placebo pills at the end of the cycle to bring on menstruation. Since the drug has only been tested for one year (I wonder why), there is no way of knowing what the long-term side effects will be. |
C. W. Randolph, M.D.
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 Like synthetic hormone replacement pills, birth control pills also contain synthetic estrogen and progestin. Depending on dosage, they can be very potent and linger in the body for a long time. birth control pills work by keeping estrogen at such a falsely high level that the body is fooled into responding as if it were pregnant. Therefore, ovulation does not occur. Chapter 3 addresses the dangers of synthetic hormones in greater detail. |
Paula Begoun
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 Many birth control pills also contain minimal amounts of testosterone, or have anti-androgenic properties (meaning they inhibit testosterone). These formulas can therefore reduce hair loss and may actually help hair growth on the head, while also reducing the risk of acne. When birth control pills contain estrogen, they can help reduce hair loss because estrogen makes hair stay on the head longer.
Because there are so many other complicated and significant health issues related to taking birth control pills, hair loss and hair growth should not be the primary reason for taking them. |
Andreas Moritz
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| Caution about the new birth control pill: Lybrel recently launched Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' new birth control pill that eliminates women's periods. Women on the new pills do not menstruate, unlike those on the original oral contraceptives, which include a week of placebo pills at the end of the cycle to bring on menstruation. Since the drug has only been tested for one year (I wonder why), there is no way of knowing what the long-term side effects will be. |
C. W. Randolph, M.D.
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| Synthetic hormone replacement drugs and birth control pills. Synthetic hormone repla cement drugs such as Premarin, Prempro, Femhrt, Menest, Ortho-Est, Activella, and many other brand names, as well as birth control pills, contribute to the development or worsening of estrogen dominance.
Many doctors routinely continue to prescribe synthetic hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and moodiness. These prescription drugs are composed of synthetic estrogen or a synthetic estrogen and progestin combination. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| Because of the health risks of pregnancy, the death rate among women ages fifteen to thirty-four who are on the pill is actually lower than that for women who do not use any form of birth control.
OCPs can be unsafe for older women who smoke. The risk of heart attack more than doubles for women over forty or women who smoke or have diabetes or high cholesterol. They also should not be used by women with a history of blood clots, untreated high blood pressure, breast or uterine cancer, migraine headaches with focal neurological symptoms, known pregnancy, or liver or cardiac disease. |
Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D.
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 In India, diluted extracts are used for amenorrhea and birth control.
Efficacy of the listed applications has not been clinically proven.
DICTAMNI ALBI HERBA
In the middle ages, the drug was used as a cure or remedy for wounds, to promote menstruation, and to aid the expulsion of the afterbirth. It served as a urinary aid and was used in the treatment of epilepsy, in combination with mistletoe and peony.
At the end of the 19th century, the drug was applied as an ointment for rheumatism. |
Susun S. Weed
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 I used birth control pills before the age of 20 and had never been pregnant
Risk increase +15
8. I used birth control pills after my first pregnancy.
Risk increase 0, first five years, +1 for every five years thereafter.
9. I used high-dose birth control pills (common in the 60s).
Risk increase +10 for one year, +1 for additional years.
10. I used birth control pills for 10 years before pregnancy.
Risk increase +2 for every year before the age of 35, and +1 for every year more than 10 that you took the Pill.
11. I began menstruating before the age of 16. |
Frederic Vagnini, M.D. and Barry Fox, Ph.D.
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 In their various formulations, estrogens are used for birth control and to treat menopausal symptoms, certain forms of cancer, and ovarian failure, and for other purposes.
Prempro is an example of an estrogen-progestin combination that may be prescribed for menopausal symptoms. Estraderm, Ortho Tri-Cyclen, and Loestrin are examples of estrogen-progestin combinations prescribed for birth control. |
Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. and Alan R. Gaby, M.D.
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 Speaking of that, are you taking birth control pills?"
She grinned. "I must be a slow learner; I tried birth control pills twice, and both times I got some of the worst migraines ever. Nausea, vomiting, my head exploding, trips to the emergency room. I haven't gone near those things since I was 21. Don't get me wrong. I like guys, but there's no man in this world worth that kind of grief!"
"Do you smoke?"
"Never have."
"Do you wake up around 3 to 6 a.m. with migraines? Do you get them if you go too long without eating, or if you get very hungry? |
Bottom Line Health
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| The pill is an extra-high dose of regular birth control that is effective only if it is taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. The drug prevents pregnancy by delaying ovulation, but it does not interrupt an already-implanted pregnancy.
"Emergency contraception is a method of preventing pregnancy after contraceptive fails or after unprotected sex," explains Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Plan B acts primarily by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary. It's important to note that Plan B is not intended for routine use. |
Tom Bohager
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 Factors that increase the risk of this disorder include smoking, obesity, excessive use of stimulants and caffeine, drug abuse, use of birth control pills, and a high sodium/low potassium intake.
Mild hypertension may respond to weight or stress reduction, but more severe forms may require additional lifestyle changes and possibly treatment with prescription medications. For most people, treatment should include exercise. Regular activity has a number of proven, positive health effects, especially on heart health. |
Marshall Editions
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 Do not take it if you are on birth control medication, as it can potentially decrease the effects, otherwise take 240 mg of a capsule standardized to 0.6% aucubine, or 1 tsp twice a day of the tincture. Passionflower relaxes the nervous system and improves some PMS symptoms. Take 300 mg two to three times a day. Milk thistle improves liver function, important in the metabolism of hormones. Take 250 mg three times a day an 80-85% silymarin extract.
HOMEOPATHY
The following homeopathic remedies can be helpful in easing mild to moderate, infrequent symptoms of PMS. |
Devra Davis
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 In 1937 he had also become president of the American birth control League—a post that allowed him to push some of his ideas about eugenics for the American public. His experience and public profile as one of the nation's best-known cancer experts made Little a perfect candidate to become the first director of the National Cancer Institute. This was also a part-time job. When it started in 1940, the NCI consisted of a few scientists working in universities and set up in labs at the National Institutes of Health campus, then located in downtown District of Columbia. |
| Under the leadership of Jane Addams and Julia Ward Howe, the federation tackled some of the most troubling social issues of the twentieth century, including women's suffrage, birth control, child labor, Indian welfare and illiteracy.5 One can imagine that Little saw them as a group to which he could make his sales pitch with complete frankness.
One of those whom Little impressed was Marjorie B. Illig. Her biography describes her as a "radiologist until marriage ."The choices for women in any profession at the time were limited: either be married or have a career. |
| After World War I, he helped Margaret Sanger and Lothrop Stoddard found the American birth control League, and he became president of the University of Maine at age thirty-three. At thirty-seven, he became president of the University of Michigan, a post he held from 1925 to 1929. While there he attracted controversy over his frankness about sexuality, including the need to teach unmarried men and women how to prevent pregnancy. In his first major address as Michigan's president on November 19, 1925, he aligned himself with those who believed eugenics could be practiced safely. |
Dr. Sharon Moalem
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| The gifted chemist Carl Djerassi based his development of the Pill on just this kind of botanical birth control. He wasn't using clover, though; he was using sweet potatoes—the Mexican yam to be exact. He started with disogenin, a phytoestrogen produced by the yam, and from that base, he synthesized the first marketable contraceptive pill in 1951.
Yams aren't the only source of phytoestrogens in the human diet. Soy is rich in a phytoestrogen called genistein. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Other forms of hormonal birth control that come in patches or implants also contain these same drugs, and so are likely to cause the same depletions.
Action: These medications are not truly hormone replacements. They are synthetic modifications of the hormone molecules that are close enough copies to fool the receptor sites on the cells. Not only are you getting fake hormones that don't do all of the jobs done by the real hormones, but their presence in your body suppresses production of your own hormones—estrogen, progesterone, and even testosterone. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| Given these facts, I do not recommend the Ortho-Evra patch for birth control.
The Morning-After Pill
Mifepristone (Mifeprex, RU-486), one of the newest and most revolutionary contraceptives, is used to terminate early pregnancies, which are defined as 49 days or less since the start of the last menstrual period. Mifepristone inhibits the activity of progesterone, which results in termination of the pregnancy. It can, however, result in an incomplete abortion or increased vaginal bleeding, both of which may require surgical intervention. |
Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D.
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| INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Internally, the drug is used as a purgative in the treatment of acute constipation, intestinal inflammation, worms and as a form of birth control. Externally, the seeds and leaves are used in powder form as a poultice for inflammatory skin disorders, boils, carbuncles, abscesses, inflammation of the middle ear and migraine.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
Castor oil is contraindicated in intestinal obturation, acute inflammatory intestinal diseases, appendicitis, abdominal pain of unknown origin, pregnancy and while nursing. |
David Brownstein M.D.
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 Premarin? birth control pills, etc.
THE LOCK AND KEY MODEL OF HORMONES
The hormones in our bodies work via a "lock and key'" model. When a hormone is released from its gland the hormone (the "key") binds to its receptor (the "lock"). This binding is analogous to a key being put in the ignition of the car. When the hormone binds to its receptor, a chemical reaction takes place. Natural, bioidentical hormones have a perfect fit in these receptors. The "key" fits perfectly in its complimentary "lock". This is contrasted with a synthetic hormone in which the unnatural hormone (i.e. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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 The dark patches can also be a reaction to birth control pills or estrogen replacement therapy. The good news is that within duces tiny clumps of cells in various organs in your body. Sarcoidosis can affect not just the skin but also many other body organs, including the eyes, liver, lymph nodes, and lungs. In fact, the lungs are affected in 70% of the people with sarcoidosis, causing chronic coughing and shortness of breath. When the eyes are affected, dry eye, vision loss, glaucoma, and significant facts
.1 ii ' \«nB? Skin symptoms of sarcoidosis other eye problems can occur. |
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