CONTRACEPTION - AND HOW IT CAN AFFECT YOUR HORMONES
The Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP)
So far, this book has dealt with how your own hormones can affect you, and yet four out of every five western women in their mid-30s either takes, or has taken at some time, the Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP) which suppresses their own sex hormones. The combined OCP contains synthetic oestrogen and progesterone which switch off the menstrual clock in the hypothalamus so that the ovaries do not receive a message to produce an egg, so ovulation does not occur and the ovaries do not produce their normal quota of natural oestrogen and progesterone.
The synthetic hormones comprising the various brands of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are primarily designed to prevent conception, but they may also exert both favourable and unfavourable effects upon a woman. In this chapter we shall explore these effects.
Today's modern low-dose OCP remains the most efficient and safest form of contraception. The triphasic OCPs (Triquilar or Triphasil), with the smallest amount of hormones, contain less hormones in one month's packet than one tablet of the original OCP designed thirty years ago!
To help you put the risk of the OCP into perspective, taking a relatively high dose OCP (by today's standards) is no more dangerous than going for a one-hour drive in your car. In the context of the fact that the combined oral contraceptive pill is the most effective form of contraception, its risks are offset by the risk to mother and child of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy or abortion.
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