Birth control pill and infertility

[VooDooChild]

I was reading the Corner of Joy blog and came across this tidbit:

She took BC as a teen to clear ear acne. Now she is infertile.

So I went to a doctor to speak with him about this, and imagine my shock when he asked if I had ever been on the birth control pill. He said that birth control pills are a very common cause of infertility because sometimes your body doesn't boot itself back up to make all the hormones it needs to when you stop feeding it hormones via pill. Even if your cycle looks completely normal, like mine did, it doesn't mean everything is just right. He said "women who take birth control pills are the #1 infertility patients". I was shocked. I was numb. I was so angry with myself

I went on the pill several years ago to regulate my heavy periods. At the time, we thought we may want another child, so I asked doc if the pill would interfere with future efforts to conceive. He said no, that most infertility is present anyway regardless of whether the pill was used. Did my doc lie? Was he misinformed? Evil? Or is Miss Thang just exaggerating?

Medically minded FJ'ers please weigh in.

cornerofjoy.blogspot.com

ETA to add linky

[NotALoserLikeYou]

From my experience watching women trying to conceive on "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" and "L.A. Shrinks," which practically makes me a doctor, this is somewhat true. Their doctors say long time use has quite the affect on their fertility.

But really, I think most people are able to get off of it and conceive just fine.

[luvsit]

I think there is research and anecdotal evidence that the birth control pill CAN cause infertility issues. I strongly feel that it at least contributed to mine and know several people in the same boat. I honestly don't think this is "publicized" enough or talked about enough by doctors because of course it is bad business for the companies that produce the pills. Some doctors who have more of a natural leaning will admit this truth though.

[GeoBQn]

I went on the pill when I was 17 to treat PCOS. My reproductive endocrinologist said that most women who go on pill to treat symptoms various symptoms (irregular periods, acne) do so without the doctor finding the root cause of the symptoms. Then they don't actually get diagnosed with PCOS until they are married and want to have children, go off the pill, and they are unable to get pregnant. I think that her infertility problems were already present, but masked by being on the pill.

[Dysfundamental]

Research suggests [link=http://www.everydayfamily.com/busting-myths-about-trying-to-conceive-after-birth-control-pills/]quite the opposite[/link], and color me unsurprised that intellectually lazy people like the Kardashians would choose ill-informed doctors who'd repeat unsubstantiated speculations on the tv.

[link=http://www.today.com/id/19803528/ns/today-today_health/t/can-birth-control-now-impact-pregnancy-later/#.UYL1wWt5mK0]Here's a discussion[/link] of an enormous study that bears out what GeoBQn was saying above as well. BCPs have no impact on fertility, but the group of BCP users has a higher than average number of infertile users, because the same issues being treated with BCP are risk factors for infertility.

[keen23]

I can only offer anecdotal reassurances. But, I went on the Pill- Triphasil- at age 17. I had no breaks in taking it until I was 23. I got off it, with the understanding it would take 3 months to conceive. Yeah, I got pregnant 12 days later. Then, while on the mini-pill and breastfeeding, I got pregnant with #2, when #1 was 10 months old. I went back on Triphasil, after #2 was six months old. Was on it for a year and a couple months. Got pregnant with my third child on my second cycle after coming off the pill that time around.

[Savoring Samsara]

My anecdata: I was on the pill nonstop for almost 7 years, both for the purposes of birth control and to treat severe adult acne. I stopped taking it one April with the intention of conceiving and was pregnant by May. So, definitely not associated with infertility in my case!

[August]

This peer reviewed article says no

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19268187

For more specific issues, it can be fertility preserving.

[Loveday]

Another bit of anecdata here. Went on the pill at 14 due to severe cystic acne. Used it off and on throughout my 20s for both acne and birth control. Went off in my early 30s because we wanted kids. Had no trouble conceiving. :)

[FeministShrew]

I was on the pill for almost 7 years with no break, got pregnant with my first after 2 months off. With number 2 I never had a period before getting pregnant, which pissed me off a little because I decided I wasn't ready for another baby & was waiting for a period to go back on the pill.

3 different doctors have told me the pill preserves fertility because if you're not ovulating for a few years there are more eggs available when you do try to conceive.

[browngrl]

There is no credible evidence that the birth control pill causes infertility. However the pill can mask infertility issues. The pill will regulate hormone levels and make a woman's cycles more regular so it might seem that there are no problems. When the woman goes off the pill - her infertility issues can be unmasked.

The blogger that wrote this post has stated in other posts that she WILL NOT seek the advice of a trained fertility specialist. So I suspect that the doctor she talked to has no proper training in this field. Maybe he had the same SOTDRT medical training that the Dugger's doctor - the one that told Michelle the pill caused her miscarriage- had?

[ADoyle90815]

My SIL was on the pill for years, and only went off it when she and my brother wanted a child and had no trouble at all with fertility since she was pregnant with my niece after a month. As far as I know, she only took it because they wanted to wait for a while after getting married to start a family.

[PhiMuLady]

I has been on the pill (both monophasic and triphasic) for 16 years before trying to conceive. Diagnosed with unexplained infertility - never found out the cause - and got pregnant with twins with assistance. Had an "oops" pregnancy 18 months later while on the pill and antibiotics.

I can't say that I believe that BCP's caused my infertility, but have to consider it because we had no other diagnosis after extensive testing/ruling out. I do think, however, that once an infertile's body has produced a full cycle of pregnancy/delivery/postpartum hormones, it finally knows what it's supposed to do and can make it possible to conceive again without assistance. At least, in my case it did.

[dawbs]

I think what Browngrl said is key--it can mask so much.

I was on depo for 5? years (give or take). (FWIW, I was a fan of depo. I had HORRID cycles w/ lots of pain and depo = no cycle, no bad side effects, etc)

I went off depo and waited for over a year to get my cycle back.

In the meantime I learned that 1-I have hormonally triggered migraines. I had never had a migraine before but my first one lasted 9 months. It had never come up because I hadn't had a cycle in over 5 years. 2-that I had ovarian growths (terratoma/dermoid cysts) and 3-that we are infertile (part of that is a result of #2--removing 1/2 of each ovary doesn't do wonders for fertility. Part of it is lousy swimmers [sorry Mr. Dawbs], part of it is unknown).

If I would have known we'd ahve to try for 3+ years to have a kid, I would have gone off depo much sooner. But depo didn't MAKE me infertile--it just made me not KNOW that I was infertile.

[mlady]

Oh for the love of...NO! It regulates things, but doesn't cure you if you have other issues. If you are having a cycle you don't need to "reboot" anything.]

This girl deserves to feel guilty, but not for taking the pill.

[atheistpride]

Those studies have a range though and the beginning of the range is different then using condoms or nfp. I haven't read the whole study so I don't know why there is a range or what it meant. My anecdotal is that it took almost a year to get pregnant coming off the pill which makes sense. It did say that there was an effect in the first few months for some women that wears off.

[Marianne]

My doctor always told me that the pill does not make sterile and that it was a lie / misinterpretation to say this...

[alaeangelorum]

Those studies have a range though and the beginning of the range is different then using condoms or nfp. I haven't read the whole study so I don't know why there is a range or what it meant. My anecdotal is that it took almost a year to get pregnant coming off the pill which makes sense. It did say that there was an effect in the first few months for some women that wears off.

It's because it's a review article, taking the results from various studies, which will of course be subject to statistical variation. It's quite possible (though I can't access the full article so I don't know for sure) that there are hardly any studies in which people assess return to fertility following condom usage or NFP, which is why there is no range for these figures.

[Sola]

Same with me. I went on the pill at 16 after suffering four years of horrendous periods. Chopped liver clots, flooding and severe pain right from my first period at twelve. After coming off it eight years later got pregnant with my son straight away but the period issues came back after birth. It then took me nearly six years to get pregnant again, because I had endometriosis which had been masked by the pill but I'd had since my first period.

[Beammeup]

I have PCOS. Taking the pill, giving my ovaries a rest, & preventing scaring has preserved my fertility. That's my anecdata.

[miffy]

My friends sister was told this by her doctor when she wasn't having any luck getting pregnant. Turns out it was a fertility issue, not the pill. She has a sweet little baby girl now. :D

[Nothing2CHere]

OK, here's my story. Started taking the pill (Ortho Tri-Cyclen) around 23, 24 years old - I honestly can't remember. But I had just turned 36 when my husband & I decided to try to have a baby, so I was on it for over 10 years. Within two months, I was pregnant. (And, um, we weren't even really trying that month - the one time we had sex [it was a stressful month, no time for much hanky-panky], I thought for sure it was too early in my cycle for anything to happen.) Given that a friend the same age as me had been trying to get pregnant for over a year at that point, I was shocked that I had no trouble at all; we had thought it would take us months and months before anything "took."

[Butterflykisses101]

3 different doctors have told me the pill preserves fertility because if you're not ovulating for a few years there are more eggs available when you do try to conceive.

This is NOT true...I was on the pill for the majority of the time between ages 15-19, went off just before I turned 20 and started TTC at 20, at 21 I found out I have low AMH, which is low egg reserves. I'm 23 now and still TTC and have the egg reserves of a 40+ year old.

[Patsy]

This is NOT true...I was on the pill for the majority of the time between ages 15-19, went off just before I turned 20 and started TTC at 20, at 21 I found out I have low AMH, which is low egg reserves. I'm 23 now and still TTC and have the egg reserves of a 40+ year old.

Right, but you're not every woman. "Preserves eggs" doesn't mean every single person who uses them is guaranteed a massive supply.

[Butterflykisses101]

The pill isn't guaranteed to preserve fertility at all. I think it's dangerous for doctors to be giving out that kind of information.