SUMMARY

The Pill and HRT cause many serious illnesses with three times more deaths in young women "pill" takers (as shown in the world's largest "pill" study from the Royal College of General Practitioners).

Contraceptive and HRT hormones increase the risk of serious illnesses - not only as Pills but also as jabs, implants, gels and hormone-containing IUDs (intra-uterine devices).

What makes these hormones so dangerous? Pill hormones (progestogens and oestrogens) are steroid ‘messengers’ which pass to all parts of the body and powerfully influence ALL BODY SYSTEMS.

Increases in pill hormone taking increases cancers. These include breast cancers, carcinoma-in-situ (positive smears), cervical, ovary, as well as many other cancers. Rises and falls in breast cancer with changing hormone use since 1962 are shown in the slides from Review Lecture 1 Click here.

Other side effects are increased risk of thrombosis, migraine, strokes, hypertension, heart attacks, sore breasts, breast lumps, sore legs, leg cramps, pulmonary emboli, irregular vaginal bleeding (some increased risk of unplanned pregnancy) or no periods; also post-pill infertility (sometimes increasing use of IVF for pregnancy) or miscarriages, bleeding which may be heavy (menorrhagia) and weight gain (which can be huge).

There may be mood changes including loss of energy, depression, irritability, sometimes severe with violence and marriage break-ups resulting.

Pill steroid hormones also change immunity resulting in increases in infections - viral, bacterial and fungal infections (e.g. thrush), sexually transmitted diseases like HPV (associated with cervix cancer) and PID (pelvic inflammatory disease).

Also increased are endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts (including polycystic ovaries), autoimmune diseases and a variety of other conditions. In children there is an increased risk of behavioural and developmental abnormalities including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD likely to relate to toxic metals and the zinc and magnesium deficiencies associated with these hormones - (see * under Further Information) and homosexuality if hormones are taken in early pregnancy. (Review lecture 2) Click here

Why are doctors not warning of these associations?

The harm from these hormones suffered by women, children and families is being tolerated because of misleading research often ghost written by drug companies. Untrue benefits were claimed for HRT and increased sales for many decades.

Studies have underestimated risks because few control women were genuine never-takers of hormones. Most women have taken hormones at some time in their lives – so statistics can give a false impression of lower risk.

Also, different doctors may be involved at different stages of an illness e.g. the GP or family planning doctor prescribes the contraceptive hormone, an oncologist treats the cancer, a psychiatrist may treat the depression and a social worker may be involved in the problems resulting from violence and family break-up . This specialization may distance doctors from the overall picture and make it more difficult for them to distinguish cause and effect of illness linked to contraceptive hormones.

The time delay before certain symptoms develop (especially some cancers) may make it difficult for doctors to associate the symptoms with the Pill. They may also query whether one medication could cause so many disparate medical conditions – forgetting that this is part of the nature of hormones which act as chemical messengers to all parts and systems of the body.

For those doctors who do become suspicious of a link, it will be almost impossible to overturn the massive hormonal bandwagon. This is because decades of flawed information and spin have given the public false confidence in safety – (people will find it impossible to believe that the medication they have been given by trusted medical practitioners could be so harmful). Doctors may also be afraid that they will be accused of causing a ‘scare’.

Furthermore, well meaning people may genuinely believe the Pill could be the answer to concerns about world overpopulation, rather than what it really is – the cause of massive ill health for women and their families with a seriously adverse effect on the environment.

NB All contraceptive Pills, implants, injections or progestogen intrauterine devices IUDs, patches or creams contain hormones - Emergency contraceptives or morning-after pills are mostly high doses of progestogens. Half of all menopausal women are likely to have taken Pill hormones again, this time as HRT.

The harm from contraceptive hormones suffered by women, children and families is being tolerated because of flawed research, spin and concerns about overpopulation

Doctors have given women these hormones for decades for illnesses caused by taking the Pill in the first place. Most doctors believe that preventing pregnancy outweighs the risks of taking hormones. In spite of this, teenage pregnancies have continued to increase because of earlier age of first sex & more sexual partners - so Pill hormones are now being given out by school nurses and pharmacists. Also, very powerful long-acting (progestogen) contraceptives are being recommended because pills can be missed or stopped for side effects; but side effects of long-acting drugs may not be easily reversed.

INCREASES IN HORMONE TAKING INCREASES CANCERS
These include - breast cancers, carcinoma-in-situ (positive smears), cervical, ovary, lung, and liver cancers, skin melanomas and brain tumours within a year or two
Decreased hormone use quickly lowers new cancer incidences

What makes Pill hormones so dangerous? Pill hormones (progestogens and oestrogens) are steroid messengers and powerfully affect ALL BODY SYSTEMS. Steroids can suppress some warning symptoms, like period pains or flushing, but underlying biochemical abnormalities can increase and cause illnesses.

Progestogens/progestins act like the natural hormone progesterone. High levels block ovulation and so prevent pregnancy. All contraceptive Pills, depot implants, injections or progestogen IUDs, patches or creams mostly act like progesterone.
Both Synthetic AND Natural progesterones (progestogens) activate thousands of genes (many more than oestrogens) changing immune responses & rapidly growing blood vessels.

Fundamental discoveries in the 1960s revealed that harmful effects of contraceptive pills are due to the normal biological actions of progesterone and oestrogen being exaggerated and prolonged. Pills containing a powerful progestogen and a low dose of oestrogen resulted in a thin womb lining and scanty periods, but blood vessels overgrew especially in women with migraine headaches. Premenstrual symptoms lasted for weeks instead of days as depression, loss of libido & violence related to prolonged increases in monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes. (MAO inhibitor drugs are antidepressants.) Dilated veins in the womb and blood clotting changes signalled increased thrombosis risk.
Grant, ECG. British Medical Journal, The Lancet, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Other proven side effects are marriage break-ups (doubled), hypertension, heart attacks, sore breasts, breast lumps, sore legs, leg cramps, pulmonary emboli, irregular bleeding or no periods (even sometimes extending into a premature menopause); also post-pill infertility (sometimes increasing use of IVF for pregnancy) or miscarriages. Metabolic changes increase the risk of weight gain and  diabetes. In many hormone takers, mineral deficiencies decrease secretion of digestive enzymes from the pancreas which impairs absorption of essential nutrients from the gut.

The Combined Pill contains both progestogen and oestrogen hormones. High enough doses of progestogens prevent ovulation and pregnancy. Oestrogen doses were lowered because oestrogen causes womb cancer and blood clots. Subsequently newer progestogens were more powerful at  lower doses. Such newer pills, called second and third generation pills, actually caused more strokes and thrombosis than older pills.

Progestogen-only oestrogen-free contraceptives are now being promoted to lessen thrombosis but migraine, strokes, depression, irritability, loss of libido, bleeding, weight gain (which can be huge), osteoporosis, and cancer may result. Emergency contraceptives (morning-after pills) are mostly high doses of progestogens. Long acting progestogen implants/injectables have a risk of thrombosis which is similar to some combined pills containing oestrogens. (van Hylckama A et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2010:30:2297-2300)

Taking progesterone in pregnancy risks sexual (including homosexuality) and other developmental abnormalities for the child. “Unexplained” recurrent miscarriages or premature labour are usually due to treatable mineral and vitamin deficiencies, toxic metals and infections; all more likely in past pill takers. Good preconception care does not usually need further hormone taking.