According to U.S. statistics, one in five women between the ages of 16 and 45 uses some kind of hormonal birth control. Most of them tolerate common side effects like fluid retention and breakthrough bleeding, but there are additional dangers associated with hormonal contraception methods like the transdermal patch, hormonal IUDs, and the pill.

A recent study showed that women who use hormonal birth control are at bigger risk of depression (40% more than those who don’t use). The liver gets taxed by synthetic hormones because it has to break them down and that’s causing an extra stress on the liver. Therefore, it leads to poor detoxification and immune function, high cholesterol, and increased inflammation.

Serious downstream problems can occur because an overburdened liver can’t detoxify estrogen properly. So, it ends up back in the bloodstream in a more toxic form that increases the risk of breast cancer and other female health issues.

Thyroid function is another concern because hormonal birth control can affect the conversion of the inactive form of thyroid hormone (T4) to the active form (T3). This means that less T3 is available to be used by the body. Also, hormonal birth control interferes with methylation and optimal methylation is essential for detoxification, inflammation regulation, and more.

When women go off hormonal birth control, the non-pregnancy-related symptoms for which they originally started taking the pill can get worse. They may re-experience horrible PMS and irregular menstrual cycles as a consequence.

  • Natural Ways to Transition Off Birth Control

Nowadays, there are natural strategies a woman can use to ease the transition, recommended by experts.

Here are some of them:

Load up on healthy fats. They will help the body start producing its own hormones again. For example, consume more avocados, extra-virgin oil, and grass-fed animal proteins.

Emphasize dark green veggies. When coming off the hormonal birth control, supporting liver detoxification is one of the best things a woman can do. Broccoli, spinach, kale, chard, and arugula… they all support the liver and help flush excess estrogens from the body.

Take vitamin B. Taking a high-quality B-complex supplement is very important when women plan coming off the pill which depletes vitamin B stores in the body.