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The Real Risk Birth Control Study: Take Charge, Find Answers

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Birth Control Blood Clot Study

I recently read an article about how fewer women are taking birth control pills now. The article claimed:

“The reasons behind the shift are hard to pin down. Study after study has shown the pill is generally safe for most women, and is 99 per cent effective with perfect use. The pill’s safety has only improved since it was introduced in 1960. It is perceptions that are changing.”

This is completely untrue. It wasn’t safe in 1960 and it certainly isn’t any safer now. It’s also not true that study after study has shown it to be safe. At the Nelson Pill Hearings, the 1970 congressional hearings on the safety of the birth control pill, every doctor that testified agreed that more research was necessary. Yet, every modern study I have found (from research on depression, weight gain, diabetes and more) has said that even more research is necessary to make any conclusions. So in the 46 years since, we still don’t adequately understand the risks with hormonal contraceptives. Dr. Paul Meier, who testified at the hearings, spoke about the challenges of conducting said research:

“Of far greater concern to me is the failure of our governmental agencies to exercise their responsibilities in seeing to it that appropriate studies were carried out… Frankly, the required research, although important, is not especially appealing to scientists. It is not fundamental and it is not exciting. It is difficult, it is expensive, and it is fraught with the risk of attack from all sides.

Evidently, for whatever reasons, there is no sound body of scientific studies concerning these possible effects available today, a situation which I regard as scandalous.

If we proceed in the future as we have in the past, we will continue to stumble from one tentative and inadequately supported conclusion to another, always relying on data which come to hand, and which were not designed for the purpose.”

We can see that what Dr. Meier warned against is exactly what has happened. Experts testified in 1970 that the pill was linked to depression and possibly suicide. They warned that the pill should not be given to women with a history of depression. Yet, in 2004 when I was depressed after switching my brand of pill, my doctor told me that wasn’t a side effect. It wasn’t until last month that a European study on hormonal contraception said what no American study has dared. The pill is irrefutably linked to depression.

Unfortunately, depression is only ONE of the side effects of hormonal birth control. Obviously, blood clots are one of the most dangerous and why we are looking at them with this research study. Other side effects that were warned about at the Nelson Pill Hearings but for which the current research claims even more research is necessary include: diabetes, weight gain, cancer, loss of libido, urinary tract and yeast infections, lupus, infertility, hypertension. So no, studies do not actually show that “the pill is generally safe.” What studies show is that there STILL needs to be more research. Well, if they haven’t done it in the past 46 years, when are they going to do it?

As for the pill’s safety improving, just look the increased risk with newer formulations. Third and fourth generation pills have significantly higher risk for deadly blood clots.

“The problems with Yaz and its sister pills stem from drospirenone, a fourth-generation progestin.

After years of blood clot reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reviewed studies on oral contraceptives and found that an estimated 10 in 10,000 women on newer pills will experience a blood clot versus 6 in 10,000 with older pills.

Another study conducted by the French National Agency for the Safety of Drugs and Health Products (ANSM) found that birth control pills were linked to more than 2,500 cases of blood clots annually between 2000 and 2011. But third- and fourth-generation pills were responsible for twice as many deaths as earlier pills.

Two studies appeared in the British Medical Journal in 2011 and indicated newer pills were two to three times more likely to cause blood clots.”

Why would the pharmaceutical industry make newer birth control pills that are less safe? Maybe because once the patent runs out on medication they don’t make as much profit. So they change the formula and market it as a new and better pill. As history has shown though, there never seems to be enough research done before these products are approved. And women are paying the price. Dr. Ball warned of this at the Nelson Pill Hearings when he said (page 6500):

“Each time we change the dose or the chemical, you have a whole new ball game statistically, and then a long period of time has to go by for evaluation. Again, is it going to be just this unscientific, hand-out-the-pills-and-see-who-gets-sick business, which I say is wrong and which has been done. Each time there is a new pill, there is a new problem.”

Alas, that’s exactly the business that’s been taking place. Throw in the fact that doctors often dismiss the complaints from women as psychosomatic and you have a recipe for a completely misrepresented medication.

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of being a rube for the pharmaceutical industry. If we want to know what’s really going on with hormonal contraception, we’re going to have to start looking at it ourselves. We can’t wait for the government or the pharmaceutical industry to provide us with perfectly funded, unbiased research. They haven’t done that in the near 50 years since the Nelson Pill Hearings and there’s little indication they are going to start now. That’s why we’re conducting this research ourselves. We need information to help women assess what their REAL RISK is for taking a medication. Not what their doctors are telling them based on studies conducted by the pharmaceutical industry. The aim of this study is not to take away contraceptive options but to provide more accurate information about which women may have more risk for serious side effects like blood clots and which forms of hormonal contraception may be more dangerous than others.

It’s time to take charge of our health and find our own answers. That’s exactly what this research hopes to do but we need your help to do it. Please participate. And please share our study with those you know who might be willing to help. Thank you.

Take Charge: Participate in the Birth Control and Blood Clots Study

Lucine Health Sciences and Hormones Matter are conducting research to investigate the relationship between hormonal birth control and blood clots. If you or a loved one have suffered from a blood clot while using hormonal birth control, please consider participating. We are also looking for participants who have been using hormonal birth control for at least one year and have NOT had a blood clot, as well as women who have NEVER used hormonal birth control. For more information or to participate, click here.

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Blood Clots: What Women Know Versus What We Should Know

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I was on the birth control pill for ten years. I knew that it could cause blood clots in women over 35 who smoked. I wasn’t over 35 and I didn’t smoke. That was all I thought I needed to know. Then I had a stroke. It was caused by the pill and a genetic clotting disorder I never knew I had. In fact, I didn’t know there was such a thing as clotting disorders or that I could have one or that in combination with hormonal birth control, it could kill me. And I certainly had no idea what the symptoms of a blood clot were.

What Do We Know? Not Too Much, It Appears

When I began to do research for my thesis, I wanted to know if it was just me or if other women who took the pill were also unaware of clotting disorders and of the symptoms of a blood clot. Spoiler: I wasn’t alone in my ignorance.

I surveyed over 300 women who had taken birth control pills. Among other things, I wanted to know:

  • What did women know about the risks associated with the pill?
  • Were they aware of clotting disorders?
  • Did they know the symptoms of a blood clot?

Survey Results

Neither Women Nor Their Doctors Understand Risks for Blood Clots

The results of the survey showed that women do not clearly understand the risks involved with taking birth control pills. Many of them believe that certain risks are only associated with being over 35 years of age and/or smoking. This is not surprising given that only a little over half said their doctor discussed the risks with them before giving them a prescription. And for a majority of the women, their doctor never discussed other birth control options with them.

Most of the women were asked about their family history before being given a prescription, but fewer than half of their doctors actually discussed it with them, and fewer than a third of the women actually read the risk information that accompanies their prescriptions. That’s not surprising given how dense and misleading the pharmaceutical companies have made risk communication.

When asked whether they were familiar with the symptoms of a blood clot, most women (60.5%) admitted that they were not. Eight women responded that they had learned the symptoms because a family member or friend had a blood clot, and two participants said they had actually had blood clots. One stated, “When I experienced chest pain and did research online. It turned out that I had pulmonary embolisms (while on BCP- birth control pills).” Only 6 out of 311 women reported learning about the symptoms of blood clots from their doctor. Ironically, more women knew someone who had a clot.

At the end of the survey, the participants were invited to share anything further about their experience on the pill. Here are some of their answers:

My experience on birth control pills, the Nuvaring, or Depo-Provera all proved to be horrendous… I think birth control pills came straight from hell and I hate, hate, hate it. I would rather undergo Chinese water torture daily thank take birth control, and that is the God’s honest truth… My fertility has been affected forever by my under informed choice to go on birth control, and by the irresponsible doctors who encouraged me to switch methods rapidly “until I found what worked for me.”

 

I’ve had two different GYNs give me completely contradictory information about the side effects and dangers of BCPs… Overall, I’m surprised at how little doctors seem to know about female BCP- I haven’t experienced this amount of ambiguity with any other medical specialty or problem.

 

I was shocked- and grateful- when I finally found a doctor who discussed alternatives with me, suggested a wide variety of reading, and let me do my own research and make my own decision before wiring[sic] a prescription. After doing the reading, there is no way I will ever take another birth control pill in my life. Every other doctor I had acted like it was giving out Altoids…

 

I think they’re too often the first option doctors prescribe for reasons other than birth control. That’s frustrating. They’re not a magic pill and some doctors seem to think they are.

The bottom line is that most women do not fully understand the risks involved with taking birth control pills and they are not familiar with the symptoms of a blood clot.

At my thesis defense, when I mentioned that most women (over 60%) did not know the symptoms of a blood clot, my advisor asked, “Well, I don’t think that’s so unusual. Do you think most people know what the symptoms of a blood clot are?”

“No, but I think people who have been prescribed a medication that greatly increases their risk of blood clots should be informed of the symptoms,” I responded.

Who Is Responsible?

This is a simple question with a complicated answer. Who is responsible for making sure women who use hormonal contraceptives, especially women who are at a much higher risk for blood clots, understand the symptoms and when to get help? Is it the responsibility of the doctor who prescribed the medication? Or is it the responsibility of the pharmaceutical company to provide clearer information? Or is it the responsibility of the patient?

From my personal experience, I now know that I cannot trust my doctor to always make the right diagnosis and provide the right treatment. Most of their information comes from the pharmaceutical industry who have clearly demonstrated that they put profit first. And our research is showing that their information is not correct. Therefore, I cannot rely on the drug companies to make sure they provide me with accurate and straightforward information about their medications.

So that leaves me. And you. Until we demand a system that puts patients first, a system of health and transparency, we have to put ourselves firsts. How? We do that by listening to our bodies, doing the research, and learning to trust our intuition. That may mean we have to disagree with our doctors. That may mean we have to ask for a second opinion. That may mean we have to insist on being heard. We can’t be afraid of offending someone or “rocking the boat.” We can’t be afraid of being considered hysterical or melodramatic. We can no longer sit back and hope others are making the best decisions for us. We have to educate ourselves. We must be our own advocates. Our lives depend on it.

And we can start by learning the symptoms of a blood clot.

What Are the Symptoms of Blood Clots?

 Blood clot in leg:

  • swelling
  • pain
  • tenderness
  • an unusually warm sensation in the affected area
  • an unusually cold sensation in the affected area (this is per our research, more details to follow)
  • pain in your calf when you stretch your toes upward
  • a pale or bluish discoloration

Blood clot in chest:

  • sudden shortness of breath that can’t be explained by exercise
  • chest pain, may feel like extreme heart burn
  • palpitations, or rapid heart rate
  • breathing problems
  • coughing up blood
  • dizziness (per our research)
  • uncharacteristic fatigue (per our research)

Blood clot in the brain:

  • severe headache
  • loss of speech
  • numbness or tingling of limbs
  • difficulty seeing or changes in vision
  • difficulty speaking or finding words

For more information about blood clots, especially in conjunction with hormonal contraceptive use, click here.

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Pulmonary Embolism after 10 Years on the Pill

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birth control induced pulmonary embolism

I’m a 27 year old woman who was diagnosed on March 18, 2016 with blood clots in both lungs and a pleural effusion in my left lung. I’ve always been pretty active, and enjoy running, hiking, HIIT, spin, and yoga, among many other activities. I have never had any major health issues or been hospitalized. I’ve never even broken a bone before, so having a problem this serious came as quite a shock to me.

I’ve been taking oral contraceptive pills since I was 16. I started with Tri-Cyclen Lo, and was on that up until a couple of years ago when I switched to Alesse. Most recently, I switched to Alesse’s generic brand, Alysena 21, in order to save money on my prescriptions and had been on those pills for about a year before my pulmonary embolism.

I had been experiencing some pain in my back/chest for a couple of days prior to my diagnosis, which got worse when I lay down. I thought I just was experiencing really bad heartburn, as I had previously seen my doctor complaining of heartburn and she prescribed some stronger medication. The fact that the pain wasn’t going away even after trying to take the medication made me a bit concerned.

On the second night when I tried to sleep, I had severe pain in my upper back and left side of my chest, which started to radiate up to my neck and left shoulder. I also experienced more pain in my chest if I tried to inhale deeply. It almost felt like I just needed to breathe deeper and I would get relief, except it never came. The only way I could possibly lie down was on my stomach with my left arm hanging off the bed, and even then it hurt a lot. My fiancé suggested that it might just be a pulled muscle, but I finally decided that something wasn’t right so I went to emergency.

Once I got to the hospital, I explained my pain and then had an EKG, chest X-ray and blood work done. My D-dimer blood test showed that I had a high risk of blood clots, and my X-ray showed fluid in my left lung. They then scheduled me for a CT Scan, which I had to wait many hours for. I was given a Percocet to help ease the pain and I tried to lay down while I waited for the CT Scan. After getting the scan done, the doctor told me that I had blood clots in both my lungs and a pleural effusion in my left lung.

I was shocked and didn’t really know how to process the information. My mom, who is a nurse, was with me and she seemed worried as well. After speaking to a bunch of different doctors, and waiting around to see a few specialists, I was finally given a prescription for Xarelto, an anticoagulant, and sent home to rest.

The days and weeks following were pretty difficult. I felt useless, and for the first few days it was a struggle to even walk around my neighborhood. I had extreme shortness of breath, and walking around made it a lot worse. It also still hurt to lie down for the first few days, so I was pretty uncomfortable and tired.

I had follow-up appointments with my family doctor, and was scheduled for more chest X-rays to monitor the fluid in my lung. Eventually the fluid went away after a few weeks, and I was slowly starting to feel like myself again. After about a month or so, I started trying to exercise again – starting slowly at first. I’m now almost back at the point where I was prior to the pulmonary embolism, and even managed a seven kilometer run this past weekend. I’m still on Xarelto, and will be for a minimum of 6 months. Once I stop taking that, I can be tested for blood clotting disorders, including Factor V Leiden.

For the past couple years I had been wanting to stop taking birth control, as it was an inconvenience to take a pill every day at the same time, and it just didn’t seem healthy or natural. However I never ended up going through with it, as I felt like I needed to be on them in order to avoid pregnancy. Now that I’ve stopped taking them because of my pulmonary embolism, I feel healthier and will never take hormonal birth control pills ever again. There are better options for birth control out there that don’t involve hormones and are much safer for your well-being. A few of my friends have actually decided to stop taking birth control pills after this happened to me. I hope to get the word out to other women about how potentially dangerous and unnecessary birth control pills are.

Real Risk Study: Birth Control and Blood Clots

Lucine Health Sciences and Hormones Matter are conducting research to investigate the relationship between hormonal birth control and blood clots. If you or a loved one have suffered from a blood clot while using hormonal birth control, please consider participating. We are also looking for participants who have been using hormonal birth control for at least one year and have NOT had a blood clot, as well as women who have NEVER used hormonal birth control. For more information or to participate, click here.

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Hormonal Birth Control 46 Years Later- Why Has Nothing Changed?

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Birth Control

Over the last several months I have been reading and writing about the Nelson Pill Hearings. I was hired by the late Karen Langhart to dig through 1500+ pages of congressional hearing transcripts. Her daughter, Erika, died of blood clots caused by hormonal birth control and Karen wanted to know what the researchers, the FDA, and Congress knew about the risks associated with these hormones back then. This matter is close to my heart because I suffered a stroke at the age of 28 caused by the pill. Could Karen’s daughter’s life, and the lives of so many other young women, have been spared had Congress and the FDA heeded the warnings of the researchers at these hearings? What was the result of all this government time and money? What was the point and what did the hearings lead to? Karen believed that if women and their doctors today fully understood what doctors back in 70s understood, fewer women would choose hormonal birth control and if they did, the risks would be understood and the side effects could be recognized and treated earlier.

Based on my personal experience, and the experience of many of the women helping with our research, doctors don’t understand the risks involved with hormonal birth control. And I think we need to ask why. The testimony given by both industry and non-industry physicians and researchers is pretty damning. The fact that the information presented at the hearings has been largely ignored is infuriating. Why did my ER doctors send me home from the hospital twice when I presented with the exact stroke symptoms testified about at the hearings? Why, over 45 years later, do we still have doctors doubting the dangers of hormonal birth control and misdiagnosing women or worse, dismissing them completely? Why do women continue to suffer from side effects ranging from mood swings to death? And why after all these years are there no better and safer options?

This is by no means a complete account, but below I’ve compiled some of the most interesting, and sometimes shocking, testimony from the Nelson Pill hearings.

What Are the Nelson Pill Hearings?

Senator Gaylord Nelson scheduled these congressional hearings back in 1970 after a number of reports, books (especially Barbara Seaman’s “The Doctors’ Case Against the Pill”), and studies brought up concerns about the safety of the birth control pill.

In his own words (page 5923):

The aim of these hearings: First, whether they [birth control pills] are dangerous for the human body and, second, whether patients taking them have sufficient information about possible dangers in order to make an intelligent judgement whether they wish to assume the risks.

I should note that it was the feminists who demanded the hearings, expressly because of the safety issues. Consider whether that would happen today?

Who Testified?

Doctors, scientists, and officials from the Food and Drug Administration testified over the course of two months. After the first few days of testimony, Senator Bob Dole implied that the hearings were biased against the pill, to which Senator Nelson responded (page 6021-6022):

These hearings will permit a presentation of all viewpoints respecting the pill, in the best balanced fashion that I know how… Every single company is invited, and if they want to have 5 days or 10 days, 8 hours a day, to present their case, I will give it to them if they want to come.

Members of the D.C. Women’s Liberation, led by Alice Wolfson, interrupted the hearings to ask repeatedly (until dragged away by guards) ”Why isn’t there a Pill for men?” and ”Why are 10 million women being used as guinea pigs?”

To this Nelson responded, “I stated in advance of the hearings that every viewpoint would be heard on this issue… There will be women who testify… I will give you all the time—if you ladies will come to see me—would you girls have a little caucus and decide which one will talk one at a time, we can then decide what ladies will testify. Your viewpoints will be heard, don’t worry about that.”

Senator McIntyre in defense of the activists said (page 6018):

I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, a few words in behalf of the young ladies who spoke up from the audience. The scientists we just heard this morning speak of side effects and drugs and so many reactions on so many thousands or hundreds of thousands of patients. However, I Think we should bear in mind, Mr. Chairman, the fact that for an individual who experiences a serious adverse reaction to the drug, her incidence is 100 percent. So, for this reason, Mr. Chairman, I hope we can arrange for at least one of these young ladies to be heard.

Even Dr. Louis Hellman, a doctor who had worked on projects funded by the pharmaceutical companies felt that the women should be heard. (page 6189):

Women use these drugs and it is important that they be presented in any decision-making body.

Yet the feminists were escorted from the hearings by security. None of them were allowed to give testimony. The only two women to testify at the hearings were doctors who championed the pill. So at these “fair and balanced” hearings, they heard from no one who had actually experienced side effects of the pill.

The Effects of the Pill

I’ve written about several of the side effects of the pill and included expert testimony and current research from stroke to weight gain to depression to loss of libido. But perhaps Dr. Victor Wynn put it most succinctly during his testimony (page 6311):

“All the disadvantages of this medication stem from the metabolic changes, whether they be changes in personality, whether they be changes in putting on weight, whether they be changes in skin pigmentation or what have you, high blood pressure… There are more than 50 ways in which the metabolic functions of the body are modified, and to say therefore that normal physiological function has been demonstrated in the years of oral contraception is to overlook a very large amount of information.”

What our research from the Birth Control and Blood Clots study has found so far is that it is not simply a matter of if a patient will experience these side effects, but when. I had been using hormonal birth control for 10 years before I had a stroke. And I was told that was rare. It turns out that it’s not so rare. And Dr. Victor Wynn agreed (page 6303):

When I say these changes occur, I mean they occur in everybody, more in some than in others, but no person entirely escapes from the metabolic influence of these compounds. It is merely that some manifest the changes more obviously than others.

Which makes what Dr. Joseph Goldzieher said all the more chilling (page 6353):

“What is an acceptable risk of death from a pill? There is no simple answer to this question.”

I disagree. The risk of death is not an acceptable tradeoff for birth control.

Communicating Risk: Researchers, Doctors, Patients

As Senator Nelson said, one of the roles of the hearings was to determine if women were being given sufficient warning information about the dangers of the pill so that they might make an educated decision about whether to use it. You can read more about how risk is communicated with regard to hormonal birth control here. 

Communication by Researchers

Edmond Kassouf gave some of the most interesting and alarming testimony of any of the doctors at the hearings. On page 6114 and 6115 he says:

On September 30, 1968, the lead article in the JAMA was “Oral contraceptives and thromboembolic disease.” It was written by Dr. Victor Drill and David Calhoun of the G.D. Searle Co. They concluded that U.S. data did not reveal a clotting or death risk. This paper is unique, being in effect, a major policy statement by the manufacturer on the safety of their own drug, which is in contention.

Dr. Kassouf makes an excellent yet disturbing point. For the first time, the pharmaceutical company is making the judgment call about whether their own product is safe. Here we see the very company that stands to profit from downplaying the risks of using hormonal contraceptives doing just that. And I dare say, they’ve been doing it ever since.

Communication to Doctors

Not only is the pharmaceutical industry doing the research, drawing the conclusions, and publishing the results, but they are also marketing directly to doctors. Dr. J. Harold Williams (page 6261) testified about these advertising materials.

A photograph of a beautiful child on the left hand side, and on the right hand side in big bold letters ‘Just what the doctor ordered.’ Now, how God-like can you get, gentlemen? In smaller print, ‘And spaced just right in the family plan, worked out years before by the physician,’ and oh yes, ‘The baby’s parents.’ I find it disgusting that this kind of appeal has to be made to American physicians to wheedle them into prescribing the pill for millions of women. If the pill is as good as they say it is, and if it is as safe as they say it is, that kind of advertising would not be necessary.

Nelson Pill Hearing Ad

Communication to Patients

After much of the testimony, you can almost hear the frustration in Senator Nelson’s voice as he points out how women are being misled. Senator Nelson to Dr. Guttmacher (page 6610):

The literature that is going out is inaccurate. It is misleading 8,500,000 women in this country and it had been doing it for 10 years. It has not been corrected by the Food and Drug Administration, it has not been corrected by the medical profession; it has not been refuted by anybody. Here it stands. You refute it; I reject it. You would not use this in your clinics. Yet it is being passed to women all over the country. At what stage do you consider the women’s rights?

False Promises- The Results of The Nelson Pill Hearings

So what was the result of these hearings?

Senator Nelson (page 6486):

My own view is that, as a result of these hearings, we are going to see a substantial increase in the research moneys allocated for the improvement of oral contraceptives, and research into other methods of contraception.

I think all those I have talked to who have been working in the field would agree that the oral contraceptive now on the market is a sort of crude, first generation contraceptive and that we have not done enough research… So I am hopeful that out of all this, we will get a substantial increase, as I think we will, in research funds.

But what happened to all of that funding? Do we have better research now? If you’ve read any of my other articles about the side effects of hormonal birth control, you will find a similar theme. Every time I’ve looked into a health problem associated with hormonal contraception, the most recent studies still call for more research. How is it that we’ve been needing more research on this medication for nearly 50 years and we can still draw no conclusions? Perhaps Dr. Paul Meier illuminated part of the problem in his testimony (page 6553-6554):

Of far greater concern to me is the failure of our governmental agencies to exercise their responsibilities in seeing to it that appropriate studies were carried out… Frankly, the required research, although important, is not especially appealing to scientists. It is not fundamental and it is not exciting. It is difficult, it is expensive, and it is fraught with the risk of attack from all sides.

Evidently, for whatever reasons, there is no sound body of scientific studies concerning these possible effects available today, a situation which I regard as scandalous. If we proceed in the future as we have in the past, we will continue to stumble from one tentative and inadequately supported conclusion to another, always relying on data which come to hand, and which were not designed for the purpose.

So where is all this promised research that was called for at these hearings? One of the only things nearly every expert that testified agreed upon was that there needed to be more and better research. And that the birth control pill would and should be replaced by something better. Dr. Guttmacher (page 6616):

I think the two methods, the pill and the intrauterine device, have been significant contributions. I think we are still in the horse and buggy day of effective contraception. I am optimistic in feeling that in 5 years, we shall have methods that are infinitely superior and safer than either.

Where are these methods? Surely, it’s not the ring nor the patch which have proven to be even more dangerous than the pill? Or the shot which is also used as chemical castration for sex offenders? Or the implant which comes with all of the side effects of the pill but also pain, swelling, scarring, bruising at the area where it is placed? What happened to the promised funding? What happened to the requested research? What happened to communicating more effectively to patients? What happened to protecting women?

What Now?

So many women have lost their lives because of these medications. I was nearly one of them. The promises of these hearings—better communication, more conclusive research, safer alternatives—have never materialized. We cannot rely on research conducted by the pharmaceutical companies or policies developed by politicians paid by the pharmaceutical industry. They have made it clear time and time again that they are not in the business of protecting people. They continue to demonstrate that profit takes precedent over human life. So, now it’s up to us. We need to do the research, spread the awareness, and speak out. We need to demand safer alternatives. Fighting for reproductive freedom should not come at the expense of our health and safety. It should not come at the expense of our lives. Women were literally dying from the pill back then. The feminists of the 1970s knew they had to speak out. Women are STILL dying from hormonal birth control. Why are the feminists not speaking out now?

Why have we relinquished our health and safety for convenience?

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash.

 

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Can a Man Weigh in on The Pill?

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A man's opinion of the pill.

After many months of intense research, I firmly believe the birth control pill stinks, but who am I to say? I’m not an M.D. or a PhD. Even worse, I’m not a woman.

At the risk of being counter-cultural, I’d like to be completely transparent. I’m a bald, middle-aged, Catholic, white man from Texas. Clearly, I’m not allowed to have an opinion on The Pill, but I do. And, I’m passionate about it!

Now that I’ve given you every label you could possibly need to dismiss what I’m about to share, I plead with you to hear me out. My passion for this subject is not driven by a moral or political agenda. I have no deep-seated desire to tell women what they should or shouldn’t do. In fact, I have only one agenda – to expose the very real dangers of hormonal contraceptives.

I’m telling you who I am up front because we live in a culture of extremes. We’ve lost the art of moderation. It seems we are all either Conservative or Liberal; Pro- or Anti-; Us or Them… Defined by extremes, there is no middle ground. Regardless of which side we’re on, when someone offers a different perspective, we assume they are ‘one of them.’

I never dreamed I would be a women’s health activist, but that’s what I’ve become. I’m not even sure that label can stick to me, but I’m eager to wear it, even if I have to clip it on with safety pins.

My Distaste for The Pill

My distaste for The Pill predated any religion or spirituality in my life. For that matter, it also predated being bald, middle-aged, and Texan.

My wife and I were young and deeply in love. Somehow, that fact came up in a discussion with her doctor. She had gone in with allergies, but came out with The Pill. That was fine by us. We hated condoms, and this sounded like the perfect solution. The doctor didn’t mention any side effects, and since it had been on the market for decades, she never thought to question its safety.

On about the fourth month, a little pamphlet fell out as she opened the package. I picked it up, and started reading. I was horrified. “Honey, did the doctor mention any of these side effects to you?”

“What side effects?”

We sifted through the complicated text, and discussed some of the warnings — breast and cervical cancer, strokes, and heart disease. They were especially disconcerting given her family history. She asked whether the doctor would have given it to her if he thought it was dangerous.

Ultimately, it was a long, thoughtful conversation that ended with me saying, “I can’t tell you what to do, but for me, if taking this pill means I get to spend even one less day with you at the end of our lives, it’s not worth it.”

It surprised me how much relief that statement brought her. The pills had apparently been making her feel crazy, and she decided to stop taking them immediately. Beyond my wife, my attitude about The Pill was indifferent. I never thought to ask my sisters if they had read the pamphlet, or if their doctors had warned them. It didn’t seem like my place.

Was it my place? Am I even allowed to talk about that with women beyond my wife? Where do my rights and responsibilities end?

Years passed. Then, a series of events brought me in contact with information that left me a little smarter than the average bear… at least where The Pill is concerned. When you’re privy to information that you know most women haven’t been told about The Pill, does your responsibility change? I think it does. I have sisters and nieces who suffered consequences because I didn’t discuss The Pill with them sooner. I believe anyone who learns the truth about The Pill should act on the urge to shout the news, and drown out the silence of the doctors.

My Focus on The Pill

As a writer and media producer, it was work that first inspired my pill quest. Writing requires a natural curiosity. Whether I’m developing a documentary or creating a marketing piece for a corporate client, I’m always looking for an interesting story.

A medical project early last year brought me in contact with one of the world’s leading authorities on a certain disease (I will be more specific about the disease in future posts). I sat in on a meeting as this revered doctor spoke to a group of young specialists about the basics of the disease.

He said, “We’ve known from the beginning that estrogen plays a key role… because 75- to 80-percent of diagnoses are women, and we know the role estrogen plays in a woman’s immune system.” He explained how environmental estrogens get into our system, and mimic natural estrogen.

My ‘interesting story’ radar went off even though it had nothing to do with the project at hand. I pulled out my phone. A quick Google search revealed that the incidence of this disease began climbing rapidly in the early 70’s.

I benefited from limited knowledge. All I knew of the disease was a time frame, and what triggered it – chemicals mimicking natural estrogen. The only example I could think of was birth control pills. Based on what the good doctor had said, I assumed the connection must be well known in the medical community, but was surprised I had never heard about it.

I struck up a conversation with him after the meeting, and asked exactly what role The Pill had played in all of this. He replied, “None at all.”

I was dumbfounded. “That seems impossible.” I wasn’t doubting him. In fact, I completely believed him, regardless how impossible it seemed. After all, he was the world-renowned authority.

He doubled down, “There hasn’t been any evidence linking The Pill to [the disease].”

The conversation continued for a while, but didn’t advance. It concluded with him saying, “Certainly, there are more questions than answers. And more research needs to be done.”

I walked away feeling confused – as if he had waved his hand and said, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

That Nagging Feeling

I was still thinking about the encounter when I got back to my hotel room that evening. I pulled out my computer and did a search for the disease, plus “oral contraceptives.” Among the top results was an article about a new study that found women who take The Pill are 50% more likely to have this disease than nonusers.

I wondered whether the doctor had been unaware of this study. The question didn’t linger long. He was quoted halfway through the article. In black-and-white, the world-renowned authority told women they shouldn’t stop taking The Pill because of this study, and that they needed to weigh the benefits against a very small increased risk of developing the disease.

Had he lied to me? At best, he had certainly obfuscated the facts. Maybe he just thought it would be too deep for a simpleton, and it was easier to say that no connection existed.

During the next few weeks, I continued my search, and found several studies over the past 50 years that had linked The Pill to this disease. And for each study, it seemed there were always leading authorities who were eager to say the benefits still outweighed the risks. This was a pattern I observed frequently as I broadened my search to include other ailments.

Questions About The Pill

Those early searches left me with two burning questions that drove me to dig deeper:

  • Are doctors being forthright with women about hormonal contraceptives so that they can make truly informed decisions?
  • Why is the medical community always eager to downplay studies that find risks associated with birth control pills?

Answers to the second question tend to dance around the political landscape. So, for the purposes of my posts on Hormones Matter, I will focus more on the answers to the first question. However, I do think it’s important to lay a little more foundation to explain how I formed my opinions.

In my next post, I will tell you how a feminist, a crusty old reporter, and a 102-year old man fueled my continued interest.

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Last updated on October 21, 2023 at 9:38 pm – Image source: Amazon Affiliate Program. All statements without guarantee.

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5 Surprising Reasons Not to Use Hormonal Birth Control

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hormonal birth control

The following is a list of some the health factors that increase your risk of side effects from taking hormonal birth control. It is by no means a complete list of contraindications but you may find some of these surprising. I know I did.

Five Reasons You May Want to Reconsider Hormonal Birth Control

Reason 1: Smoking and Age

You are probably familiar with these warnings. You may have heard them on television commercials or seen them on magazine advertisements. Or maybe you read my article about risk communication and saw them there. The problem with these warnings is that the wording makes it seem like you are only at risk if you are over 35 and a smoker. But the truth is that these two risk factors stand independent of each other. You are at increased risk if you are over 35 years of age. You are at increased risk if you are a smoker of any age. And if you are a smoker who is over 35, you have an exponentially higher risk for blood clots when using hormonal birth control.

Reason 2: Migraines

According to a 2010 article in the Reviews in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43% of women in the United States suffer from migraines. That’s a huge number of women. Also, according to the same article, 43% of women using birth control are using hormonal contraception (the pill, rings, shots, implants, etc.). I’m not a statistician but I’m guessing there is some overlap between the women that suffer migraines and the ones using hormonal birth control. This is problematic for two reasons:

  1. A great deal of evidence suggests that migraine, particularly migraine with aura, is associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, and that this risk may be further elevated with the use of hormonal birth control. But if you don’t believe me, both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization advise that women who suffer migraines with aura should not use hormonal contraception.
  2. Reevaluation or discontinuation of combination hormonal contraception is advised for women who develop escalating severity/frequency of headaches, new-onset migraine with aura, or nonmigrainous headaches persisting beyond 3 months of use.

A 2016 meta-analysis of seven research studies demonstrated “a two- to fourfold increased risk of stroke among women with migraine who use combined oral contraceptives (COCs) compared with nonusers.” But once again, like so many other things about hormonal birth control, the authors of the study report that research is lacking in this area and more studies need to be done.

Reason 3: Family Clotting Disorders

Many people have a clotting disorder and simply don’t know it. When I had my stroke while on birth control pills, I had no idea that I had the fairly common clotting disorder Factor V Leiden (FVL affects between 3-8% of people). But what I did know was that my grandmother had had two strokes. And my aunts and uncle had all had blood clots.

Unfortunately, women are not systematically tested for clotting disorders before they begin using hormonal birth control. This is very dangerous and why it’s so important to give your doctor a thorough family history; something I know I wouldn’t have considered that vital when I was 18 years old.

A lot of health professionals don’t take the time to review your family history, making it even more important that you mention your family history of blood clots and your concerns about hormonal contraception. You might even insist on being tested for clotting disorders before increasing your risk of a dangerous and sometimes deadly blood clot.

Reason 4: Depression and Mental Health

I explore this further in this article but the basics are:

  • Hormonal contraceptives can cause mental health issues
  • Women who suffer from mental health issues are much more likely to suffer from increased symptoms when on hormonal contraception
  • Often the longer hormonal contraception is used, the greater the symptoms
  • Discontinuation of hormonal contraception can usually alleviate mental health symptoms

Reason 5: Diabetes

Dr. Hugh J. Davis, the first doctor to testify at the Nelson Pill Hearings said the following (page 5930):

“A woman, for example, who has a history of diabetes or even a woman with a strong family history of diabetes is not an ideal candidate for using oral contraceptives… [they] produce changes in carbohydrate metabolism which tends to aggravate existing diabetes and can make it difficult to manage.”

Hormonal birth control elevates blood glucose levels, can increase blood pressure, increases triglycerides and cholesterol, and accelerates the hardening of the arteries, among other things. They knew this in 1970. But what about the research now? Well, if you’ve read any of my other articles it probably won’t surprise you that the current research is… wait for it… you guessed it… INCONCLUSIVE! Here’s a look at what I’ve found:

“Cardiovascular disease is a major concern, and for women with diabetes who have macrovascular or microvascular complications, nonhormonal methods are recommended.

There is little evidence of best practice for the follow-up of women with diabetes prescribed hormonal contraception. It is generally agreed that blood pressure, weight, and body mass index measurements should be ascertained, and blood glucose levels and baseline lipid profiles assessed as relevant. Research on hormonal contraception has been carried out in healthy populations; more studies are needed in women with diabetes and women who have increased risks of cardiovascular disease.”

And:

“The four included randomised controlled trials in this systematic review provided insufficient evidence to assess whether progestogen-only and combined contraceptives differ from non-hormonal contraceptives in diabetes control, lipid metabolism and complications. Three of the four studies were of limited methodological quality, sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and described surrogate outcomes. Ideally, an adequately reported, high-quality randomised controlled trial analysing both intermediate outcomes (i.e. glucose and lipid metabolism) and true clinical endpoints (micro- and macrovascular disease) in users of combined, progestogen-only and non-hormonal contraceptives should be conducted.

Not enough evidence is available to prove that hormonal contraceptives do not influence glucose and fat metabolism in women with diabetes mellitus.”

As a side note, a recent study demonstrated a link between hormonal contraceptives and gestational diabetes.

Contraception is a very personal choice. I believe all women should research the risks associated with using hormonal contraception, but especially if you experience any of the health conditions above. Should you weigh the risks and benefits of using hormonal birth control and decide it’s still the right choice for you, please take a moment to review the symptoms of the blood clot and seek help immediately if you notice any of these.

Real Risk Study: Birth Control and Blood Clots

Lucine Health Sciences and Hormones Matter are conducting research to investigate the relationship between hormonal birth control and blood clots. If you or a loved one have suffered from a blood clot while using hormonal birth control, please consider participating. We are also looking for participants who have been using hormonal birth control for at least one year and have NOT had a blood clot, as well as women who have NEVER used hormonal birth control. For more information or to participate, click here.

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Weight Gain and Hormonal Contraceptives

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The Pill and Weight Gain

Once upon a time, a 26-year-old woman went to her doctor and asked to be put on the new birth control pill that allowed women to only have four periods a year. She had seen it advertised on television. Four months later, 15 pounds heavier and suffering from mild depression, she returned to the doctor feeling miserable. The doctor told her the weight gain and depression were not from the pill because those were not side effects of hormonal birth control. This left the young woman feeling like it was her fault she had gained weight. Needless to say, that didn’t help with the depression. But she switched back to her original birth control pill and lived happily (but heavily) ever after. Well, until it gave her a stroke two years later.

I’ve written a lot about my stroke and about blood clots and birth control pills, but there are many other side effects from hormonal birth control. More often than not, we are told that these side effects do not exist; that they are all in our heads. Are they? Or are we simply being ignored and lied to?

What Does The Research Show?

When researching my thesis, I was interested in finding out what women knew about the risks associated with birth control pills. I created a survey based on a published study by researchers in this field. The original study outlined which side effects were and were not associated with birth control pills. The survey used in my thesis demonstrated the following:

“When the women were asked to select which risk factors were associated with birth control pills, most women, 76.7% of the 313 who answered the question, selected blood clots. Weight gain, which is not considered a health risk or even a side effect of birth control pills, was the selection most chosen (79.9%).”

The number one answer most women chose was weight gain, yet all the research I read said that weight gain was not a side effect of birth control pills. My own doctor had told me it wasn’t a side effect when I stood before her 15 pounds heavier after switching pills. Even as I wrote my thesis, I wondered how we could all be so wrong. Well, it turns out we weren’t. The pill can cause weight gain. And they knew it could, even back in 1970. The following is testimony from the Nelson Pill Hearings.

Dr. Francis Kane (page 6453): [In a Swedish study of 344 women] Of the 138 women who stopped using the medication, weight gain and emotional disturbances were the most frequently reported, 26.1 percent and 23.9 percent.

Dr. Louis Hellman (page 6203): My private patients… come off the pill because of a host of minor reactions. The most prevalent one is weight gain. The modern American girl just does not want to gain 5 or 10 pounds if she can help it.

What About Today’s Birth Control Pills?

I took another look at what I could find out about weight gain and hormonal contraception now. According to WebMD:

“When birth control pills were first sold in the early 1960s, they had very high levels of estrogen and progestin. Estrogen in high doses can cause weight gain due to increased appetite and fluid retention. So, 50 years ago they may indeed have caused weight gain in some women. Current birth control pills have much lower amounts of hormones. So weight gain is not likely to be a problem.”

Maybe larger doses of hormones cause more weight gain. But I don’t think that means that smaller doses cause none. And what about taking that smaller dose for a decade or more?

Most current medical information dismisses weight gain completely. On the Mayo Clinic website’s FAQ page for birth control pills it says:

“Do birth control pills cause weight gain? Many women think so. But studies have shown that the effect of the birth control pill on weight is small — if it exists at all.”

That’s right, ladies. Just like your menstrual cramps, weight gain on the pill probably doesn’t exist. But wait, the Mayo Clinic says there are studies that show hormonal contraceptives don’t cause weight gain. Where are these studies?

Inconclusive? Or Incorrect?

A recent meta-analysis (2014) conducted by Cochrane (an independent group that reviews randomized controlled trials and organizes medical research information) found the following:

Available evidence was insufficient to determine the effect of combination contraceptives on weight, but no large effect was evident. Trials to evaluate the link between combination contraceptives and weight change require a placebo or non-hormonal group to control for other factors, including changes in weight over time.

You mean to tell me in the 40+ years since the Nelson Pill Hearings we haven’t been able to conduct one conclusive study to determine how hormonal contraception affects weight? Perhaps it’s time to start asking why. All those studies that provided insufficient evidence, who funded them and who might stand to lose if they were conclusive? I don’t know for sure but I do know that one of the few things women fear as much as an unintended pregnancy is weight gain. Even the staunchest feminists among us often fret over our figures.

According to Naomi Wolfe’s The Beauty Myth, “thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal.” Setting aside how disturbing that is, we can easily see how the fact that hormonal birth control can cause weight gain might adversely affect the pharmaceutical industry’s bottom line (pardon the pun).

At the Nelson Pill Hearings, there were at least a half dozen experts–doctors specifically chosen to testify before Congress–that mentioned weight gain as a side effect of the birth control pill. Including ones who admittedly worked for the pharmaceutical industry. But now, nearly five decades later, the research is inconclusive. Doctors are telling patients that hormonal contraceptives are not responsible for weight gain, yet 80% of women surveyed thought that weight gain was a side effect. Like so much surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, something doesn’t add up here. And who is paying the difference? Women. Yet again we are being told that it’s all in our heads. Have you had experience gaining weight on hormonal birth control?

Further Testimony on Weight Gain

This testimony from the Nelson Pill Hearings just scratches the surface of the side effects caused by hormonal contraceptives. I’ll be expanding more on a lot of this testimony in future articles. But perhaps Dr. Victor Wynn explained most succinctly how these side effects manifest when he testified (page 6303):

When I say these changes occur, I mean they occur in everybody, more in some than in others, but no person entirely escapes from the metabolic influence of these compounds. It is merely that some manifest the changes more obviously than others.

Dr. Robert Kistner (page 6082): I tell her about the side effects plus a weight gain edema and I may even give her a prescription for this.

Dr. John Laragh (page 6165): We do not have any firm clues. But it does look as though those who accumulate salt and water and gain weight on the oral contraceptives might be especially vulnerable [to increased hypertension].

Dr. Francis Kane (page 6449): Complaints of moodiness, being cross and tired, alterations in sexual drive, weight gain, edema, and insomnia were commonest in the group using the estrogen-progestin group.

At the hearings, Dr. Herbert Ratner (page 6737) was asked by James Duffy, minority council:

Mr. Duffy: You use the word “disease” here. Disease to me seems to be a pretty strong word and I am just curious why you would consider weight change to be a disease?

Dr. Ratner: You realize that obesity is one of our major problems in this country.

Real Risk Study: Birth Control and Blood Clots

Lucine Health Sciences and Hormones Matter are conducting research to investigate the relationship between hormonal birth control and blood clots. If you or a loved one have suffered from a blood clot while using hormonal birth control, please consider participating. We are also looking for participants who have been using hormonal birth control for at least one year and have NOT had a blood clot, as well as women who have NEVER used hormonal birth control. For more information or to participate, click here.

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Risk Communication and Hormonal Contraceptives

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birth control pill risk label

When it comes to the dangers associated with hormonal contraceptives, how is risk communicated to women? Back in the 1960s when the pill first came out, only the doctors and pharmacists received the information pamphlet included with birth control pills. The burden was on them to decide what information to share with women and what information to omit. This was a central theme of the 1970 Nelson Pill Hearings. What are the risks of the birth control pill and how do we inform women of these risks? Here is testimony from several experts about the issue of informed consent.

Dr. Hugh Davis (page 5928): “In many clinics, the pill has been served up as if it were no more hazardous than chewing gum. The colorful brochures, movies, and pamphlets which are used to instruct women about the pill say next to nothing about possible serious complications. The same can be said for the veritable flood of articles in popular magazines and books which have convinced many women that there are few satisfactory alternatives to these steroids and that careful studies have proved there is little or no risk to life or health in the pill… It can be argued that the risk benefit ratio of the oral contraceptive justifies their use under certain circumstances, but it cannot be argued that such a powerful medication should be administered without the fully informed consent of each woman.”

Dr. Roy Hertz (page 6039): “My view would be that the application of these medications in their present state of knowledge constitutes a highly experimental undertaking. That the individual called upon to take these materials, particularly for prolonged period of time, should be regarded as, in effect, a volunteer for an experimental undertaking. I think she should be so informed.”

Dr. John Laragh (page 6167): “I think we have to do everything we can to simplify communication, to use education, to use techniques of repetition, to simplify the package insert. We can only go ahead in this area, and with many other powerful drugs… by full disclosure.”

With so many doctors insisting that women be informed of the risks of using hormonal birth control, we now have concise, unbiased, and easy-to-read risk information that comes with every package. Or do we?

Modern Risk Communication for Hormonal Birth Control

Because of my experience of having a stroke caused by hormonal birth control, I used my master’s thesis to investigate how drug manufacturers communicate the risks of taking birth control pills with respect to blood clots. Specifically, I was interested in determining whether the package inserts fully disclosed the risks for blood clots and whether/how women were informed of these risks by their physicians. The first part of my research assessed the risk communication, provided by the manufacturers, for three different types of hormonal birth control. This included reviewing the warning materials included with each packet of pills and determining whether the following information was included:

  • Did the information state that blood clots are a risk of taking this medication?
  • If so, did the information state that genetic disorders can increase the risk of blood clots?
  • Did the information list symptoms of a blood clot?
  • Did the information tell women with symptoms of a blood clot what to do in that situation (i.e. go to the emergency room, etc.)?

In addition to these questions, each insert was given a general overview of content, design, and language. Language and design play important roles in the understanding of risk and benefit. “Risk information typically is presented in often-ignored smaller print; as part of a large, undifferentiated block of text… or simply hidden in plain view… Even when found and read, risk information often is missing key pieces of information that consumers need to evaluate drug risks” (Davis). Unfortunately for women, this is the case with oral contraceptives.

How are Risks Communicated?

  • All of the inserts were text heavy, used extremely small font, and were designed in such a way that the paper would need to be rotated at least twice to access all of the information.
  • All three inserts had a larger portion and a smaller, perforated portion (presumably for a woman to tear off the larger section and keep the smaller) which means a woman would have to thoroughly read both sections of the inserts fully for all of the risk information (something that is unlikely due to the redundancy of much of the rest of the information).
  • Technically, each of the inserts lists all four points of information that were examined in this study, however, clotting disorders are only mentioned in the smaller sections, while symptoms of blood clots are only listed in the larger sections.
  • Each insert has statistical information about the risks involved with taking the medication but without the disclaimer that it is based on studies run by the very company who makes the medication. (Research has shown that studies funded by pharmaceutical companies that make oral contraceptives produced more favorable results than independent studies of the same medications.)

In general, the most highlighted information on any risk communication for birth control pills is a version of this:

Do not use [pill type] if you smoke and are over age 35. Smoking increases your risk of serious side effects from the Pill, which can be life-threatening, including blood clots, stroke or heart attack. This risk increases with age and number of cigarettes smoked.

I didn’t smoke and I was only 28 when I had my stroke from birth control pills. But the way this is worded leads women to believe that they are only at risk if over 35 and smoke. Which is patently false. All women who use hormonal contraception are at risk for blood clots. In fact, “the reality is that the estrogenic effects of combine hormonal contraceptives increase the risk of a potentially life threatening blood clot (venous thromboembolism or VTE) by between 400% – 700% for ALL women at any age including those that don’t smoke and those that do smoke. (Comparing Annual VTE Impact across 2nd-4th Generation CHC’s in the U.S. 2013).”

As Joe Malone points out in Five Half-truths of Hormonal Contraceptives, these types of warnings (being over 35 and a smoker) infer that if you are neither, hormonal contraceptives are perfectly safe for you. They are not. They weren’t safe for me and they weren’t safe for his daughter.

Another problem with these warnings is the conditional language stating that serious side effects “can be life-threatening.” A stroke, a heart attack, a blood clot—these things ARE life threatening. But as the research shows, conditional language like that helps give the patient confidence in the medication. After all, something like that can’t happen to me…

Would women feel as confident in their choice to use hormonal birth control if the warning accurately read: “This medication increases your risk of life-threatening blood clots by 400-700%”? Doubtful.

The Right To Know

Over 40 years ago, Dr. Edmond Kassouf testified at the Nelson Pill Hearings (pg 6121) about the information the drug companies were providing about birth control pills:

“Some of the pamphlets mislead and misinform, others are frankly dangerous, but all have one thing in common—they all seem to disparage the reader’s right to know.”

I wonder, how much has really changed?

By creating documents that are so text heavy, with dense language couched in conditional terms, in font barely large enough to read, pharmaceutical companies are clearly not designing for their audience, or any audience for that matter. But perhaps that is their intention.

 

Real Risk Study: Birth Control and Blood Clots

Lucine Health Sciences and Hormones Matter are conducting research to investigate the relationship between hormonal birth control and blood clots. If you or a loved one have suffered from a blood clot while using hormonal birth control, please consider participating. We are also looking for participants who have been using hormonal birth control for at least one year and have NOT had a blood clot, as well as women who have NEVER used hormonal birth control. For more information or to participate, click here.

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