5 ms·

Isn't most non-condom birth control primarily intended for couples? All the other types prevent pregnancy only. Condoms prevent disease as well.

dfc 15y ago
Hormone based birth control for women has ancillary health benefits outside of family planning.
- kisielk 15y ago
  As well as a lot of drawbacks and side-effects.
- Lazare 15y ago
  Of course, it also lowers sex drive[1], while causing weight gain, cancer[3], and heart problems[4]. For historical reasons IUDs are uncommon in the US. This is unfortunate. They aren't perfect, but they are relatively cheap, extremely reliable, and remarkably safe. Depending on the type, they also have few or no side effects. Worth considering... [1]: This one arguably isn't a health benefit, but in many ways it's huge. With a few exceptions, humans are sexual beings, and frequency of sexual encounters correlates highly to a range of positive health outcomes, happiness, avoidance of depression, and strong long-lasting relationships. [2]: This one confuses people, because it also prevents cancer. Best evidence is that it has a fairly strong protective effect on ovarian cancer, but causes breast and cervical cancer. The net effect on total cancer rates is still unknown; it's certainly not a clear cut benefit though, and it may be a clear net negative. (As always, these sort of epidemiology numbers are a real headache to parse. Comparing a big effect on a rare event to a small effect on a common event is very tricky. Still, anything that boosts breast cancer rates is kind of scary.) [3]: This one is clearcut. Hormone based birth control causes a range of heart issues, from heart attacks via clots, to cardiovascular diease. We're still trying to figure out how big this factor is, but it's already clear that if you have any risk factors (ie, you're overweight, or have a family history of heart disease) you should NOT be on combined oral contraceptives, and any hormone based birth control is very iffy.
  - dfc 15y ago
    This is news to me. I have never heard/read anything that casts hormonal birth control in such a negative light. Do you have any pointers to more information? It has always been my understanding that hormone based birth control was a huge win for women's health...
    - oodalolly 15y ago
      There are thousands of forums with women discussing all the negative side effects of birth control. Off the top of my head, you can visit http://iud-divas.livejournal.com/ http://iud-divas.livejournal.com/, which is women who are considering/have IUDs, and many of them report the negative (often severely so) effects of previous hormonal birth control usage. Otherwise you can visit bedsider.org, which talks about side effects for all birth control methods. The pill is an incredible win for women's health. Unfortunately, not all women can use it effectively, safely, or comfortably.
      - dfc 15y ago
        I was looking for clinical data, peer reviewed research. But thank you I will look at these...
    - Lazare 15y ago
      Which bits? The impact on sex drive is fairly well known, I think. Google turns up a bunch of references[1][2]. The impact on weight is apparently cloudy; birth control pills almost universally list that as a side effect on the packaging, but studies have failed to turn up a reliable link. (Silly me; never trust drug company materials, even if they seem to be casting the drug in a negative light.) I understand there's some evidence that birth control may cause depression, but I don't know that there's a definitive answer. (Google mostly just turns up anecdotes from people convinced that their depression is caused by their birth control; not really helpful.) The argument over which way the cancer risk goes on balance is all over the net; there's a decent roundup on Wikipedia[3]. If you dig into it a bit, it's still pretty unclear, mostly because there haven't been a lot of studies. The heart stuff is, compared to cancer, much more solid. Again, the internet is full of stuff about this. I don't know of any comprehensive roundups, but google will turn up a TON of stuff. [1]: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=116056 http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11... [2]: http://www.epigee.org/guide/pill_sex.html http://www.epigee.org/guide/pill_sex.html [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_contraception#Effects_on_rates_of_cancers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_contraception#Effects_...
streptomycin 15y ago
In theory, maybe. In practice, no. Condoms are way out of fashion these days among the young sexually active crowd.
- paulhauggis 15y ago
  You would think after the aids scare of the 80s and 90s this wouldn't be the case.
  - dfc 15y ago
    It would not be the case with people that were alive and mature enough at the time to be cognizant of the situation. I think the OP is referring to people who were not around at the time...
    - roc 15y ago
      Not to mention that HIV/AIDs is no longer the death sentence that it used to be. So even among those who are cognizant of what it was like in the 80s, they also know that it isn't like that anymore.
      - tsotha 15y ago
        It's still crazy to expose yourself to the virus. The antivirals you get for HIV infection have lots of nasty side effects, and even with treatment you're still likely to die well before your uninfected peers.
        roc 15y ago
        Absolutely. But the image in the pop culture mind is one of Earvin Johnson and not Ryan White.
- MartinCron 15y ago
  That's a horrifying thought. I'm planning on doing "the talk" with my children starting with a latex condom and working outwards. "Sex is a beautiful thing shared between two people and a latex condom from a reliable brand"...
sudhirj 15y ago
If I remember right the doctor who came up with this was trying to prevent the immediate problem of unplanned pregnancies in rural India - they're among the primary causes of our population explosion. Most of the men and women in his (initial) target audience are illiterate and do not understand / care for methods of contraception that require any kind of anticipatory action - like taking regular pills, putting drunken desire on hold to find a condom, or even paying for either of these. (On $2 a day, all existing contraceptives are luxuries). That said, I think is a perfect fit for his target demographic. Looks like the characteristics of that demographic are a lot more universal than he thought :D

dfc 15y ago

Hormone based birth control for women has ancillary health benefits outside of family planning.

kisielk 15y ago
As well as a lot of drawbacks and side-effects.
Lazare 15y ago
Of course, it also lowers sex drive[1], while causing weight gain, cancer[3], and heart problems[4]. For historical reasons IUDs are uncommon in the US. This is unfortunate. They aren't perfect, but they are relatively cheap, extremely reliable, and remarkably safe. Depending on the type, they also have few or no side effects. Worth considering... [1]: This one arguably isn't a health benefit, but in many ways it's huge. With a few exceptions, humans are sexual beings, and frequency of sexual encounters correlates highly to a range of positive health outcomes, happiness, avoidance of depression, and strong long-lasting relationships. [2]: This one confuses people, because it also prevents cancer. Best evidence is that it has a fairly strong protective effect on ovarian cancer, but causes breast and cervical cancer. The net effect on total cancer rates is still unknown; it's certainly not a clear cut benefit though, and it may be a clear net negative. (As always, these sort of epidemiology numbers are a real headache to parse. Comparing a big effect on a rare event to a small effect on a common event is very tricky. Still, anything that boosts breast cancer rates is kind of scary.) [3]: This one is clearcut. Hormone based birth control causes a range of heart issues, from heart attacks via clots, to cardiovascular diease. We're still trying to figure out how big this factor is, but it's already clear that if you have any risk factors (ie, you're overweight, or have a family history of heart disease) you should NOT be on combined oral contraceptives, and any hormone based birth control is very iffy.
- dfc 15y ago
  This is news to me. I have never heard/read anything that casts hormonal birth control in such a negative light. Do you have any pointers to more information? It has always been my understanding that hormone based birth control was a huge win for women's health...
  - oodalolly 15y ago
    There are thousands of forums with women discussing all the negative side effects of birth control. Off the top of my head, you can visit http://iud-divas.livejournal.com/ http://iud-divas.livejournal.com/, which is women who are considering/have IUDs, and many of them report the negative (often severely so) effects of previous hormonal birth control usage. Otherwise you can visit bedsider.org, which talks about side effects for all birth control methods. The pill is an incredible win for women's health. Unfortunately, not all women can use it effectively, safely, or comfortably.
    - dfc 15y ago
      I was looking for clinical data, peer reviewed research. But thank you I will look at these...
  - Lazare 15y ago
    Which bits? The impact on sex drive is fairly well known, I think. Google turns up a bunch of references[1][2]. The impact on weight is apparently cloudy; birth control pills almost universally list that as a side effect on the packaging, but studies have failed to turn up a reliable link. (Silly me; never trust drug company materials, even if they seem to be casting the drug in a negative light.) I understand there's some evidence that birth control may cause depression, but I don't know that there's a definitive answer. (Google mostly just turns up anecdotes from people convinced that their depression is caused by their birth control; not really helpful.) The argument over which way the cancer risk goes on balance is all over the net; there's a decent roundup on Wikipedia[3]. If you dig into it a bit, it's still pretty unclear, mostly because there haven't been a lot of studies. The heart stuff is, compared to cancer, much more solid. Again, the internet is full of stuff about this. I don't know of any comprehensive roundups, but google will turn up a TON of stuff. [1]: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=116056 http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11... [2]: http://www.epigee.org/guide/pill_sex.html http://www.epigee.org/guide/pill_sex.html [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_contraception#Effects_on_rates_of_cancers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_contraception#Effects_...

streptomycin 15y ago

In theory, maybe. In practice, no. Condoms are way out of fashion these days among the young sexually active crowd.

paulhauggis 15y ago
You would think after the aids scare of the 80s and 90s this wouldn't be the case.
- dfc 15y ago
  It would not be the case with people that were alive and mature enough at the time to be cognizant of the situation. I think the OP is referring to people who were not around at the time...
  - roc 15y ago
    Not to mention that HIV/AIDs is no longer the death sentence that it used to be. So even among those who are cognizant of what it was like in the 80s, they also know that it isn't like that anymore.
    - tsotha 15y ago
      It's still crazy to expose yourself to the virus. The antivirals you get for HIV infection have lots of nasty side effects, and even with treatment you're still likely to die well before your uninfected peers.
      - roc 15y ago
        Absolutely. But the image in the pop culture mind is one of Earvin Johnson and not Ryan White.
MartinCron 15y ago
That's a horrifying thought. I'm planning on doing "the talk" with my children starting with a latex condom and working outwards. "Sex is a beautiful thing shared between two people and a latex condom from a reliable brand"...

sudhirj 15y ago

If I remember right the doctor who came up with this was trying to prevent the immediate problem of unplanned pregnancies in rural India - they're among the primary causes of our population explosion. Most of the men and women in his (initial) target audience are illiterate and do not understand / care for methods of contraception that require any kind of anticipatory action - like taking regular pills, putting drunken desire on hold to find a condom, or even paying for either of these. (On $2 a day, all existing contraceptives are luxuries). That said, I think is a perfect fit for his target demographic. Looks like the characteristics of that demographic are a lot more universal than he thought :D