Will the pill make me gain weight? And other common birth control pill questions

April 28, 2011 at 4:27 pm (Clinician's Corner, Reproductive Health, Sex, Teen Health)
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Pack of birth control pills - will these make you fat?

Will these make you gain weight?

The pill is one of the most studied medications in history, and taking it is far less risky for most women than giving birth(1).  However, up to 20% of unplanned pregnancies may be the result of common misconceptions about its safety (2).  So, we decided to continue this week’s birth control theme by addressing some of the most common concerns about birth control pills. 

1. Will the pill make me gain weight? Not necessarily 

Most women – 60% – don’t gain or lose weight while on the pill.  Between 15-20% actually lose weight, while 20-25% gain more than 4.5 pounds.  Pills with more estrogen may cause water retention, and progesterone in some pills may increase appetite, both of which may lead to weight gain. Switching to another brand may solve these problems.

2. Does the pill cause cancer? Not necessarily

Here’s what the research shows:

  • Taking the pill for at least three years reduces ovarian cancer risk by 30%-50%;
  • Women who use the pill are 1/3 less likely to get uterine cancer than those who don’t;
  • Ever using birth control pills may reduce colorectal cancer risk by up to 20%;
  • The jury is still out on breast cancer.  Women with a family history of breast cancer should discuss this with their clinician when considering the pill. 

3. Aren’t all birth control pills the same? No

There are many different brands and varieties of the pill.  Each type has its own combination of estrogen and progesterone and so can affect an individual woman’s body chemistry differently.  That’s why you might have troublesome side effects on one type of birth control pill, but not on another.

4. I smoke.  Does this mean I can’t use the pill? Not necessarily

While some pill brands are suitable for smokers, most doctors will not prescribe combination pills (those with estrogen and progesterone) for smokers who are age 35 or older. Women who smoke and take the pill have a higher risk for both stroke and blood clots.  Both of these risks increase even more in smokers who are age 35 or older.  

5. Don’t I need to take a breaks from the pill ? No

There’s no medical reason for a healthy woman to take a break.  Since most side effects occur during the first months of pill use, women who go on and off the pill may experience side effects repeatedly.  Doctors do advise women to review their contraceptive needs after 15 years of being on the pill or at age 35. 

6.  Can taking the pill make it harder for me to get pregnant? No

There is NO connection between taking the pill and infertility. Fertility can return almost immediately after stopping the pill, which is why it’s important not to miss pills.

7. Does the pill have other benefits besides preventing pregnancy? Yes

The pill may provide many additional health benefits, including:

  • More regular periods
  • Control over when you get your period
  • Stopping ovulation pain
  • Reducing menstrual cramps
  • Minimizing PMS symptoms
  • Lowering the risk of anemia (which can result from having heavy periods)

Additionally, pill use can provide protection against:

  • Ectopic pregnancy
  • Acne
  • Non-cancerous breast growths
  • Pelvic inflammatory disease
  • Osteoporosis
  • Excess facial and body hair
  • Some types of migraine

8. If under 18, don’t I need my parents’ permission to take the pill? No

In California you do not need parental permission to get birth control.  California teens, click here to find a teen friendly clinic near you.

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RESOURCES:
Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/birth-control-pill/WO00098
Planned Parehnthood: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/ask-dr-cullins/cullins-bc-5398.htm

Coming Tomorrow:
Our favorite web resources on birth control

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Clinician’s Corner – Should You Use the New Birth Control Pill?

April 26, 2011 at 1:56 pm (Clinician's Corner, Health and Technology, Pregnancy)
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Should You Use the New Birth Control Pill?

Have you heard about Beyaz?
This is a newly approved birth control pill that is basically like the Yasmin (Yaz) pills. The only difference between them is that the Beyaz birth control pill has a form of folic acid in it. This means that for as long as a woman takes Beyaz correctly, she is getting over 400 mcg of this very important B vitamin every day. For more information about Beyaz, go to http://www.beyaz.com/.

What should you remember about folate and folic acid?
• Folate is a type of B vitamin found naturally in many foods. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate that you get when you take a vitamin supplement.
• Many teenagers and adult women don’t get enough of this vitamin which is very important for their health.
• Ideally, folic acid supplementation should be taken three months before you get pregnant and during the first 3 months of pregnancy or longer to help reduce the chances your baby will be born with problems of the spine and brain.
• If you take folic acid supplementation for a year or longer before pregnancy, it may help decrease the chances your baby will be born too early or perhaps with other serious health problems.
• The vitamin doesn’t last long in your body. If you become pregnant soon after you stop taking it, your health and the health of the pregnancy will not be getting the benefits of the vitamin. For more information about folic acid, go to http://www.gofolic.org/facts/index.html.

Why does Beyaz have folic acid in it?
Since so many women don’t get enough of the vitamin for their general health and don’t take a separate multivitamin every day, the folic acid in the pill may help women’s health in general. Also, some women get pregnant when they are on the pill, mainly because of not taking it correctly. If this were to happen, the pregnancy would also get the benefits of the vitamin.

What if you were to get pregnant while taking Beyaz?
You should stop the pill and begin taking a multivitamin with at least 600 mcg of folic acid. Sometimes, a woman’s doctor will advise her to take up to 1000 mcg of folic acid during her pregnancy. This depends on the woman’s health and if she had any problems with past pregnancies.

If you like the hormonal birth control method you are using now, should you change to Beyaz?
There is no reason to change your method if you feel good on the hormones you are taking. You may not feel as good on Beyaz. All women are different.

What is important is to continue to use your hormonal method correctly and take a multivitamin every day. You should also do this even if you are not using a hormonal method. You need folic acid and all the rest of the vitamins that are included in a multivitamin for your health. And if you should want a baby someday, remember, it is important to begin taking the vitamins before you become pregnant!

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Barbara Kass-Annese, RNCNP, MSN, is a clinician who has written extensively on the topic of vitamins and women’s health.  She also serves as a medical consultant to the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project.

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Beauty Box: Shampoos and Soaps with Vitamins – Hype or Truth?

September 1, 2010 at 7:21 pm (Beauty, Clinician's Corner, Vitamin Facts)
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Beauty Box w/ ShampooIt seems like almost every soap and shampoo made today has vitamins added to them.  But are they really going to give you the beautiful, healthy hair and skin that the ads promise?  They may help a little but not as much as you think!

Though it is true that your skin and hair absorb some of the ingredients in these products, it is also true that there is no way of knowing how much of the vitamins your body will actually get from them. There is also no way of knowing if the amounts they contain are going to help your hair and skin be healthier.

What we do know is that it takes more than shampoos and soaps to give your body enough of the vitamins your hair and skin need.  We also know that to have healthy skin and hair, your diet and multi-vitamins need to give you enough vitamin B 9 (folic acid) in combination with B5, B6, B12 and other B vitamins.  This helps your body to make enough new cells for skin and hair growth.

Without these vitamins and the others that come in a multivitamin, your hair can grow slowly, fall out and be weak. Your nails can also become weak and may break. You may get skin problems including acne.

All of this means that no matter what kind of product you use, you need to be healthy on the inside to look good on the outside! And that comes from what you put into your mouth, not on your skin and hair.

Barbara Kass, NP
Go Folic! Medical Consultant

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The Truth About Energy Drinks by Barbara Kass-Annese

August 19, 2010 at 10:00 am (Clinician's Corner, Community Contributors)
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Vitamins in Energy Drinks…. Do They Make You Healthy?
The vitamins in energy drinks aren’t going to make you healthier. In fact, though most have small amounts of B vitamins and vitamin C, the body quickly uses these up because of the large amounts of caffeine and other substances that are added to the drinks.  Also, energy drinks can cause your body to quickly use up the vitamins and minerals it already has.  In the end, this can be harmful to your health. Not having the right amount of vitamins and minerals can affect every part of you.  It can hurt your heart, bones, brain and your immune system (which helps fight infections).

Over time, regular caffeine and alcohol (some of the drinks also have alcohol in them,) may even increase the chances of getting breast cancer and for guys it may increase the chance of getting testicular cancer.

Why Do So Many People Use Energy Drinks?
When you have an energy drink you can definitely feel great. It increases physical energy and stimulates the brain. When this happens, you feel like you can do everything faster and even better. You can also sleep fewer hours.   All of this sounds good, but is there a downside to energy drinks?

The Truth About Energy Drinks
Even though energy drinks are everywhere and have some herbs and vitamins in them, the truth is they are addicting and stress out the body in ways that can be dangerous to your health.  After drinking energy drinks for a while, most people’s brains and bodies need need more and more of the drinks.  They become hooked just like any drug addict. It’s not surprising that over 8 million people are drinking them to a tune of $3 BILLION dollars!

Some people develop stomach problems, begin to feel very nervous and irritable and can no longer sleep well. Less sleep means that over the time, the body becomes weak and people become sick.

Blood pressure can go up and the heart can beat very irregularly. One medical study showed that healthy adults who drank 2 cans of an energy drink a day had their blood pressure and heart rate go up. When this happens the chances of a heart attack, stroke, internal bleeding, and even death go up.  This is true for adults AND TEENS.

In other words, energy drinks can make you think you are healthy while you are becoming very ill. You’re heart can be effected no matter how strong or young you are. If the drinks are used with caffeine pills, drugs, and/or alcohol, the problems can be even worse.

How Much Caffeine Are We Talking About?
One of the main ingredients in many energy drinks is guarana, a plant that is one of the richest sources of caffeine. It has up to 3 times the amount of caffeine as in coffee. By the way, the amount of caffeine doesn’t even have to be listed on the label of the drink.

Caffeine intoxication is like being poisoned and can happen to anyone at any time.  It causes seriously bad nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, stomach upset, tremors, rapid heartbeats, restlessness, and even death.  The sugar in some of the drinks combined with guarana, more caffeine and other energy  herbs can be a dangerous combination, even more serious then caffeine intoxication.

What About Alcohol and Energy Drinks
Some people mix energy drinks with alcohol because they think that the energy drink will off-set the effect of alcohol. It may, but that doesn’t matter because the combination of alcohol, caffeine and energy herbs is very dangerous for the nervous system and heart.  Your heart can beat irregularly.  You can also become dehydrated and end up the hospital. You can even have a heart attack. Anyway you look at it, these substances are a potentially dangerous mix.

Pregnancy and Energy Drinks
If someone becomes pregnant while drinking energy drinks, it can hurt the development of the pregnancy. How serious is unknown. The baby’s brain and physical development can be effected. This can cause the baby to be born with physical and
developmental problems. Even if someone is taking her daily recommended amount of 400-800 mcg of folic acid in a multivitamin, she probably isn’t protected from the bad effects of the energy drinks.

Get Help Right Away
If you are drinking energy drinks and ever having problems urinating (peeing), vomit or have cramps in your stomach, you may be overdosing. Go to a hospital right away. Emergency rooms and Poison Centers are seeing more and more energy drink related nausea and heart problems as the number of people using the drinks increases.

Don’t Stop Right Away
If you or any of your friends drink these every day, you shouldn’t completely stop at one time. You could become very nervous, even depressed and have no energy. You should drink less and less every day so that your body doesn’t have a bad reaction from the withdrawal of the caffeine. The great news is that when your body gets used to not having the caffeine, your energy will come back. You still need to take your vitamins every day, eat healthy foods and exercise.

“Toxic Jock”
One last important issue about energy drinks. Research has shown that energy drinks can cause some guys to have what people in the medical community are calling “toxic jock” behavior. This means some guys get aggressive, have unprotected sex, abuse drugs more and can be violent. This is not a good mix for anyone to be around, particularly girls and women. Be careful and take care of yourself so that you don’t get forced into a sexual situation or get physically hurt.

Read more at Suite101: The Truth About Energy Drinks: What you Need to Know

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Barbara Kass-Annese

Barbara Kass-Annese, RNCNP, MSN, is a clinician who has written extensively on the topic of vitamins and women’s health.  Currently with the California Family Health Council, she also serves as a medical consultant to the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project.  We are lucky that she has agreed to write a semi-monthly column, “Clinician’s Corner” for our blog.

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Clinician’s Corner: June 27 is National HIV Testing Day!

June 25, 2010 at 12:30 am (Clinician's Corner, Health Events, Reproductive Health, Sex)
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Every 9½ minutes someone in the US is infected with HIV. Act Against AIDS. Be the Solution: NineAndaHalfMinutes.org

I remember the day I got a call telling me that one of my closest friends had died of AIDS. I couldn’t believe it. I had seen Jeff 2 months before and he looked great.

Besides feeling very sad at losing a wonderful friend, I also felt very angry with Jeff. I didn’t know how many times over the years I had reminded him of the importance of regular HIV testing.  His answer was always the same. “I’m careful. Besides I never have sex with someone who has HIV.”  About two months before his death, Jeff became very ill and ended up in the hospital with a very serious case of AIDS. There was nothing anyone could do to save him.

I am no longer angry with Jeff for not having regular HIV testing but will always be sad that he is no longer here. You may also know or have known someone with HIV or AIDS.  Someone you liked or loved may have died.  We all know AIDS is serious.

Tragically, over the years, the numbers of men, women and teens who have died from this very serious disease has increased. AIDS is the major cause of death for African American women ages 25 to 34.  It is also the fourth leading cause of death for Latina women ages 35 to 44.  HIV doesn’t know the difference between color and sex or anything else for that matter.  And to make matters worse, of the over 1 million people who have it in the United States, one in 4 of them don’t know they have it!

Some Facts You Should Know

Every 9 and ½ minutes someone in the United States gets HIV.  You or someone you are having sex with can have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS but still feel great.  It can take a long time after infection to begin to feel sick.

You can get HIV from anyone. It doesn’t just have to be through sex. HIV can be passed through using IV drugs (intravenous/in the vein) drugs. You could have sex with someone who has used IV drugs in the past, got HIV but doesn’t know it!

Pregnancy and HIV

If you have HIV or AIDS and are planning to get pregnant, it is very important to talk with your health care provider BEFORE you get pregnant.  You can find out how to take care of yourself and the medicines you should take to protect the baby.  To learn more about HIV and pregnancy, go to http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/hivaids.html.

A pregnant woman can pass HIV to her baby in different ways: during pregnancy, during labor, during delivery, and during breastfeeding. By taking the right medicines, a mother can reduce the chance that her baby will get HIV by almost 99%. Without taking medicines, 1 in 4 babies born to HIV-positive mothers have HIV.

Get Tested Today!

Whether or not you think that you could have come in contact with HIV, whether or not you planning to get pregnant some day, please get tested now.

If you are HIV-positive, knowing your status will help you start treatment early. If you don’t have HIV, testing will help you be sure.  Then you can take steps to avoid getting HIV in the future. Tell everyone you care about to get tested, too – talk, Tweet, and Facebook post about it.

Tools for Taking Action

The Act Against AIDS http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org/ campaign offers great information and tools:

Learn how you can protect yourself from HIV:
http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org/get-the-facts.php

Learn how to stay healthy if you have HIV:
http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org/resources.php

Download buttons, badges, and banners for your MySpace and FaceBook pages or Web site: http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org/resources.php

Locate an HIV testing site near you:
http://www.hivtest.org/

Take the HIV test.  Get educated and share what you learn.  You will protect yourself and your loved ones.

Barbara Kass-Annese, NP


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Clinician’s Corner – Do Vitamins and Birth Control Mix? – by Barbara Kass-Annese

May 27, 2010 at 2:46 pm (Clinician's Corner, Reproductive Health, Vitamin Facts)
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There are many kinds of birth control methods that have hormones in them.  These are the birth control pills, patch, ring, implant and shot. They are all very safe and effective ways to prevent pregnancy. However, the hormone methods may increase your body’s need for a few vitamins like folic acid and vitamins B 6 and 12. This is why it is great idea to take a multivitamin every day while you are using a hormone method.  It won’t hurt you and even if you eat pretty healthy, it will still help you.

One of the major vitamins in a multivitamin is folic acid.  Folic acid is also called vitamin B9.  This vitamin is very important for every part of your body. It also needs to be taken a few months before and during pregnancy to help a baby develop normally and not be born with serious problems. In addition to vitamin B 9 there are many other B vitamins that need to work together to keep you healthy and to help folic acid work its best.

The B vitamins help you remember things better because they help the brain and nervous system. They can affect your mood. If you don’t have enough of the B vitamins your energy level may go down and you might feel more emotional, nervous and irritable about things. B vitamins are very important for your bones to grow well and for you to have healthy skin, hair, eyes, and mouth.

What should you do to keep enough B vitamins in your body?

Take a multivitamin every day that has 400 mcg of folic acid in it. Eat foods that have good amounts of all the B vitamins in them.  It is also important to not drink caffeine or alcohol and to not smoke. All of these cause the body to use up vitamins and minerals too fast. This means they cannot work the way they need to work to keep you looking and feeling healthy.

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Barbara Kass-Annese, RNCNP, MSN, is a clinician who has written extensively on the topic of vitamins and women’s health.  She serves as a medical consultant to the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project and is currently with the California Family Health Council.  We are lucky that she has agreed to write a semi-monthly column, “Clinician’s Corner” for our blog.  Look out for more of her contributions!

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Clinician’s Corner: Is there a “Best Way” to Take Vitamins? by Barbara Kass-Annese

April 20, 2010 at 9:25 pm (Clinician's Corner, Vitamin Facts)
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Morning or Evening? With or Without Food? Is there a “Best way for taking vitamins?Best Way” to take a vitamin supplement?

If you’re reading this, you already know that taking a daily multivitamin with 400-800 mcg of folic acid is good for your health. But how can you get the most from your supplement? It all has to do with when and how you take it.

Should I take my multi-vitamin on an empty stomach or with food?

Try to take your supplement with a meal. Your body makes better use of vitamins when you already have food in your stomach. If you can’t take it with a meal, try to take it within 30 minutes of eating. Taking supplements with food can also help prevent nausea.

When is the best time to take a vitamin?

It’s most important to take the supplement when it is most convenient for you and when you’ll remember to take it. However, you may not want to take it in the afternoon or evening. Doing so may prevent you from sleeping well that evening.

Do vitamin supplements and medicines mix well?

If you are taking any medicines, ask your doctor if taking a multivitamin is safe. Some vitamins don’t mix with certain medicines such as blood pressure and blood thinning medicines. Other medicines may increase your need for certain vitamins.

Do multi-vitamins replace a good diet?

No! Vitamin supplements cannot replace a good diet. They won’t give you protein, fiber and many other important nutrients found in foods. Your diet should include fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. Vitamin supplements need to work with these foods to help you stay healthy.

Is there anything special to look for when buying supplements?

Be sure that there is a ‘USP’ on the label. USP stands for United States Pharmacopia. This means that the supplement meets national quality standards. Also make sure that the vitamins aren’t old. Check the expiration date on the package. If it has expired, will expire soon, or there is no expiration date, don’t buy the supplement.

Anything else I need to know?

Keep your vitamins in a dry, cool place. Don’t store them in a hot and humid place like a bathroom. Also, be sure to store them safely so that little children can’t take them.

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Barbara Kass-Annese

Barbara Kass-Annese

Barbara Kass-Annese, RNCNP, MSN, is a clinician who has written extensively on the topic of vitamins and women’s health.  Currently with the California Family Health Council, she also serves as a medical consultant to the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project.  We are lucky that she has agreed to write a semi-monthly column, “Clinician’s Corner” for our blog.

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