Large government study backs safety of the pill

[Mac6yver]

msnbc.msn.com/id/6291053/

Oral contraceptives may reduce
risk of heart disease and cancer

The new findings on the birth control pill are from nearly 162,000 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest women’s health study ever done and one of the biggest on oral contraceptives.
The Associated Press
Oct. 20, 2004

PHILADELPHIA - The same huge federal study that led millions of women to abandon use of hormones after menopause now provides reassurance that another hormone concoction — the birth control pill — is safe.

%between%In fact, women on the pill had surprisingly lower risks of heart disease and stroke and no increased risk of breast cancer, contrary to what many previous studies have found.

Doctors say the type of hormones and the stage of life when they’re used may be what makes them helpful at one point and harmful at another.

“We’re still learning more and more about the biology,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Michael Diamond of Wayne State University in Detroit.

Study contradicts earlier findings
The new findings are from nearly 162,000 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest women’s health study ever done and one of the biggest on oral contraceptives. Results were presented Wednesday at an American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference.

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[%between%](javascript:OCW(‘http://www.msnbc.com/modules/pill/default.htm’,‘int520x400’,'width=520,height=400’) [MSN | Outlook, Office, Skype, Bing, Breaking News, and Latest Videos](javascript:OCW(‘http://www.msnbc.com/modules/pill/default.htm’,‘int520x400’,'width=520,height=400’)

About 16 million American women currently take birth control pills and hundreds of millions have used them since the first one came on the market in 1960. Most combine synthetic forms of estrogen and progestin in various doses.

Women taking these hormones after menopause were more likely to have heart disease and certain cancers — a finding that prompted part of this large study to be stopped in 2002.

Previous research on oral contraceptives suggested that they, too, raised the chances of heart disease. But the new study found the opposite — lower risk of heart attacks, strokes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other heart-related problems among the 67,000 women in the study who had ever taken the pill.

Overall, “there’s an 8 percent risk reduction of ever having cardiovascular disease” among women who had ever taken birth control pills, said the lead researcher, Dr. Rahi Victory of Wayne State. “If you use oral contraceptives early on, you’re probably going to be protected later in life.”

****Lower risk of ovarian, uterine cancers
****Women on the pill also had a 7 percent lower risk of developing any form of cancer — a small benefit that increased with length of use, Victory said. For example, women who took birth control pills for four years or more had 42 percent lower risk of ovarian cancer and 30 percent lower chances of developing uterine cancer.

MSN | Outlook, Office, Skype, Bing, Breaking News, and Latest Videos effect was seen on the risk of some specific cancers — breast, colon or bladder. But that was good news because of the previous work suggesting pill use made breast cancer more likely.

Studies in animals suggest that estrogen may reduce inflammation in the bloodstream and help prevent deposits from forming and blocking vessels, Victory said. But that was seen in animals whose estrogen levels were relatively constant for a long time — not the situation of women whose estrogen declines before menopause.

 

[Lilyofthevalley]

The thing with medical science is there will be one study saying one thing, and , then, another study saying something else.

 

[Black_Jaque]

As they say in medical school when handing out tests.

“For those of you who have copies of previous exams - don’t worry, you can keep them. We haven’t changed any of the questions, we just changed all the answers.”

 

[Benedictus]

Meh. It doesn’t really make a big difference (morally speaking) whether the Pill is good for a woman’s health or bad. The most serious side-effect of the Pill is an eternity hell. That’s why we are against it.

 

[Apologia100]

Benedictus:

Meh. It doesn’t really make a big difference (morally speaking) whether the Pill is good for a woman’s health or bad. The most serious side-effect of the Pill is an eternity hell. That’s why we are against it.

Well, that is if the pill is used for its primary purpose as a contraceptive. There are legitimate uses for the pill in regulating menses and treating dysmenoria. I wonder if they included the health risk compounding effect of women who use the pill and smoke? Taking the pill is not intrinsically evil, because there are cases of women who are prescribed the pill for reasons other than contraception.

 

[Joan_M]

Apologia100:

There are legitimate uses for the pill in regulating menses and treating dysmenoria. I wonder if they included the health risk compounding effect of women who use the pill and smoke? Taking the pill is not intrinsically evil, because there are cases of women who are prescribed the pill for reasons other than contraception.

Not really - the pill only masks symptoms. It does not treat anything. Most doctors that prescribe the pill to regulate the menses, etc., are basically too lazy to do anything else. Ever notice how doctors are so quick to throw the pill at you? It would actually take effort to really determine the cause of the problem and prescribe to cure it, instead of covering up the symptoms. There really is no legitimate use for the pill.:nope:

 

[Mac6yver]

Benedictus:

Meh. It doesn’t really make a big difference (morally speaking) whether the Pill is good for a woman’s health or bad. The most serious side-effect of the Pill is an eternity hell. That’s why we are against it.

I wonder, does the woman just go to hell, or does the man as well…?

 

[Mac6yver]

Joan M:

Not really - the pill only masks symptoms. It does not treat anything. Most doctors that prescribe the pill to regulate the menses, etc., are basically too lazy to do anything else. Ever notice how doctors are so quick to throw the pill at you? It would actually take effort to really determine the cause of the problem and prescribe to cure it, instead of covering up the symptoms. There really is no legitimate use for the pill.:nope:

Contraception is a legitimate use for those who choose it for that purpose.

 

[BlessedBe13]

Benedictus:

Meh. It doesn’t really make a big difference (morally speaking) whether the Pill is good for a woman’s health or bad. The most serious side-effect of the Pill is an eternity hell. That’s why we are against it.

Are you really serious? That is disgusting in my opinion. When I was still a practicing Catholic, I would wonder why people seemed to have such a negative view of the religion. No wonder. A lot of it is all scare tactics. You do this, you go to hell. You do that, you go to hell. Personally I would rather see people use condoms, or the pill, etc. than to get pregnant and have an abortion because they don’t want to take care of a child.

The doctor originally put me on the pill because of my irregular periods. There was something chemically wrong, and the pill fixed it. I don’t see that as being lazy.

 

[Black_Jaque]

Benedictus was being rather brief, but serious.

Seriously, the Catholic teaching is that any artificial contraception COULD land you in Hell.

That is because it is grave matter.

In order for the act to land you in Hell in and of itself, you have to KNOW that it is a sin, and you have to do it with full consent of the will.

Because it is grave matter it can also be part of many acts that LEAD you into Hell. This is the more common route. For example, you practice contraception (that’s one) without really knowing that it is sinful. Then you find out the true Church teaching on it. You are now faced with giving up contraception, insincerely practicing Catholicism, or dumping Catholicism altogether. If you choose to dump Catholicism altogether (that’s two), you have just gone a little farther away from Heaven. It’s possible that you could live an entire life without ever finding out or being convinced that Contaception is evil - in which case you won’t go to Hell automatically.

 

[Mac6yver]

I personally find it hard to believe that God would sentence someone to hell for using Birth Control. If that is true, the majority of this nation and the modern world is doomed to Hell.

 

[BlessedBe13]

Mac6yver:

I personally find it hard to believe that God would sentence someone to hell for using Birth Control. If that is true, the majority of this nation and the modern world is doomed to Hell.

I agree completely.

I will ask again. Would you rather have someone not take the pill (or use any contraception), get pregnant, decide the don’t want a kid (adoption is out, because they don’t even want to go through the pregnancy), and get an abortion. Wouldn’t it have been better to for that person to have been on the pill and prevented any conception at all, rather than to have conceived and then had an abortion?

Sure, you can say she shouldn’t have had sex at all. But if you look at the world around us, it’s quite obvious people are going to have sex regardless. I think it would be the “lesser of two evils” (although I don’t think the Pill is evil) to use contraception than to kill an unwanted fetus.

 

[Theodora]

Mac6yver:

I personally find it hard to believe that God would sentence someone to hell for using Birth Control. If that is true, the majority of this nation and the modern world is doomed to Hell.

Mac6yver,

Jesus puts it in another way: Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter that way. How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life! And few there are who find it.

Theodora

 

[BK80734]

One thing you need to be aware of is that, if you are having sex while on the pill, odds are that you ARE having abortions and don’t even know it.

 

[Mac6yver]

Woman have natural abortions every day. We call them misscarriages.

 

[Philip76]

Mac6yver:

Woman have natural abortions every day. We call them misscarriages.

That doesn’t make abortion right. And I mean ‘induced’ abortion. Don’t try to reduce the impact of the term by using it to refer to a naturally occurring miscarriage, even though that is fashionable.

 

[Finella]

Mac6yver:

I personally find it hard to believe that God would sentence someone to hell for using Birth Control. If that is true, the majority of this nation and the modern world is doomed to Hell.

God doesn’t sentence anyone to hell. We sentence ourselves. Believe it or not, we actually have a choice between heaven and hell.

It’s just like prison here on earth… nobody is there by accident (yes there are cases of being wrongly convicted, but God doesn’t make mistakes). If they chose to act contrary to the law, they pay the price.

Finella

 

[NightRider]

When I was much younger I thought very differently about the pill than I do now (almost 50!). However, since I gave birth to my son 23 years ago I have come to feel that there is something really disturbing about artificial hormones being introduced into a woman’s body. I do understand that some of us women are prescribed the pill to help with menses problems and that that is a legitimate usage, I still am very bothered by artificial hormones…they are unnatural and often come from animal hormones. This is all apart from our Catholic reasons, which we know about as Catholics. I just have a very hard time believing this cited study is showing the full picture, especially after all these years of physicians and researchers claiming that the pill is not all that healthy for women…such studies only confuse the real issues even further…

 

[BlessedBe13]

BK80734:

One thing you need to be aware of is that, if you are having sex while on the pill, odds are that you ARE having abortions and don’t even know it.

The pill prevents the pregnancy. Are you saying it would be just the same as killing an unborn fetus? There is a difference between preventing pregnancy and killing an uborn fetus.

 

[Benedictus]

BlessedBe13:

The pill prevents the pregnancy. Are you saying it would be just the same as killing an unborn fetus? There is a difference between preventing pregnancy and killing an uborn fetus.

One of the ways the Pill works is by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting. Even the package insert for Ortho Tri-Cyclen says so:%between%

Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus (which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus) and the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation).

orthomcneil.com/products/pi/pdfs/cycltri.pdf