Beyond the Pill summary

When Angela decided to stop using birth control after over a decade, she faced a challenge that's all too common, yet rarely talked about. A whole year passed without her period returning, which clouded her hopes of getting pregnant. 

Angela's story is far from unique. As a specialist in women’s health, the author Dr. Jolene Brighten meets patients like Angela all the time – women who are on the pill, or who used to be on the pill, struggling with side effects and symptoms their doctors never warned them about.

First, let’s clarify something. Brighten isn’t anti-pill. This popular form of hormonal birth control has given women unprecedented control over their fertility, symbolizing freedom and autonomy. But many women who are on the pill – about 60% – take it for reasons unrelated to contraception, such as painful periods. If you’re currently on the pill, regardless of the reason why you started in the first place, it’s worth asking yourself – are you sure you want to continue?

Just consider some of the pill’s broader effects on health. They can include infertility, reduced sex drive, digestive problems, fatigue, hair loss, and mental health struggles including depression and anxiety. On top of this, using the pill significantly increases the risk of serious health conditions such as blood clots, diabetes, heart attacks, autoimmune diseases, and breast, cervical and liver cancers. And as if that wasn’t enough… if you take the pill, your risk of developing Crohn's disease increases by 300%.

Pretty concerning, right? When you start to think about the long-term effects hormonal contraceptives can have, you might consider switching to something else.

But stopping the pill doesn't necessarily mean these problems immediately go away. Many women, like Angela, experience Post-Birth Control Syndrome, or PBCS – a set of lingering symptoms after stopping the pill. PBCS can include loss of menstruation, infertility, gut issues, and hypothyroidism, which means an underactive thyroid. All of this points to a disruption in how the body regulates itself. And it’s not all that surprising, when you think about how the pill works – by cutting off communication between the brain and the ovaries. 

But luckily, despite all these issues, there are things you can do to take back control of your body. Even if, for whatever reason, you choose to stay on the pill. The message is this: You can heal yourself.

The author Brighten is a leading expert in PBCS, and has designed a program to help women. To give just one example, it worked for Angela. After following Brighten’s program, Angela’s period returned, and she then got pregnant.

Let’s find out more about this program.