Frightening Birth Control Effects and the All-Natural Acne Solution
An astounding 98 of females are taking, or have taken birth control at some point in time and many women take it primarily for its acne-reducing properties. This is scary because the birth control is far from a benign substance; it can produce a plethora of negative side-effects, and cause health consequences that persist even after a woman stops taking it. Read-on to discover how the birth control helps acne, the ramifications of taking the pill, and the safe and natural alternative that will give you flawless skin for life.
What Really Causes Acne
Modern living exposes us to a higher level of toxins then ever before – they’re in our water, our food, our air, our furniture and the products our skin come in contact with everyday. A build-up of toxins overwhelms the liver and other eliminative organs, and the body responds by pushing those toxins out through the skin. To further compact the problem, too many toxins leads to inflammation, and inflammation makes acne larger and redder and decreases the effects of the hormone progesterone. This is problematic because progesterone helps to reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and DHT is the hormone that gets into the hair follicles and clogs up your pores, and thereby causes acne.
To break it down into a simple equation:
More toxins = More inflammation
More inflammation = Less progesterone
Less progesterone = More DHT
Excess DHT = Acne
The Role of SHBG
At this point you might be wondering what all this has to do with the birth control pill, and why the pill helps to reduce acne in some sufferers. To answer that question, you need to first understand the role of the Sex Binding Hormone Globulin (SHBG). As the name suggests, SHBG binds to the sex hormones; it deactivates them and transports them throughout the body and blood. More importantly (with regards to acne), SHBG helps to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT, and thereby lowers acne-causing DHT levels in the skin. Birth control pills help to raise SHBG levels and in so doing, decrease DHT and acne. Sounds great right? Wrong. SHBG needs to be kept in a very delicate range; adverse symptoms and health problems can result if it gets too low or too high. Furthermore, the excessive SHBG levels caused by the birth control pill can result in imbalanced estrogen levels and a deficiency of testosterone.
Birth Control Pills and SHBG
Birth control pills used to raise SHBG only so high, but there’s a big push now to raise it way higher because birth control manufacturers can extend their patent life if they can get a new patent for acne from the FDA. In order to do so, they make their pills as anti-androgenic as possible, and as a consequence those who take their pills are at risk for dangerously high SHBG levels and consequently, low testosterone.
Side-Effects
Some common side-effects of the birth control pill include: loss of sex drive, painful sex, nausea, bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, weight gain, missed periods, spotting, fatigue and loss of energy; reduced ability to handle stress, loss of motivation and mood and personality changes. Many women report feeling as though the pill completely changed them; it can cause lasting depression and a complete loss of interest in activities that were previously enjoyable.
The Scary Long-Term Effects
One scary consequence of the birth control pill is that even when women discontinue it, their SHBG levels remain elevated; which means their testosterone may also stay low and side-effects may persist. According to the ‘Journal of Sexual Medicine,’ the chronic elevation of SHBG that birth control causes, can lead to long-term sexual, metabolic, and mental health consequences. Equally frightening is the fact that the birth control pill has been linked to an increased risk for all of the following: cervical and breast cancer; heart attacks and stroke; infertility, migraines, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease, bone loss, blood clots, yeast overgrowth and infections; and benign liver tumors.
The Ideal Acne Solution
Birth control pills are synthetic, manmade chemicals that differ greatly from the natural hormones found in your body and they disrupt your natural cycle which is disconcerting enough. Add to that the powerful effects it has on your hormones, the high likelihood for developing a testosterone deficiency from taking them, and the myriad of additional side-effects and risks, and it becomes very clear that oral contraceptives are far from the ideal solution for preventing acne (or pregnancy for that matter).
Fortunately, you can reverse acne and get flawless, glowing skin with safe and natural methods. The most important 1 st step is modifying your diet. Focus on eating a plant-based, wholefoods diet, high in fiber and low in fat. Meat should be vastly reduced (no more than 1-2 small servings per week) and dairy completely eliminated. Consuming a plant-based diet helps to boost SHBG levels just high enough to clear up the skin, but not so high that it becomes harmful or interferes with testosterone. It should be noted that sugar, alcohol and vegetable oils should also be vastly reduced or eliminated, because they are toxins that increase inflammation and worsen acne.
In addition to modifying your diet you should exercise regularly (breaking a sweat will help to remove excess toxins), optimize vitamin D levels through regular sunlight exposure, sleep at least 8 hours a night, and manage stress levels (high stress is a major acne trigger). If your acne is moderate or severe, you will likely need additional support through supplementation in order to completely reverse your acne. EstroBlock has been clinically proven to fight acne from the inside-out. Liv-D- Tox may also be beneficial because it helps to optimize liver function, and when the liver is working properly, toxins no longer have to be pushed out through the skin. One final supplement that’s worth discussing with your healthcare practitioner is DHT-Block, it is a powerful hormone balancer and a great compliment to EstroBlock.
*All the above supplements can be found here: http://www.unitynaturals.com
References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16409223[/fusion_text]
