The Connection Between Oral Contraceptives and Candida
It might surprise you, but there seems to a be clear link between Candida and birth control. I have received quite a few questions about this topic and wanted to address it in a longer post. Sorry for the ~novel~ on here but I wanted to be thorough. There are also headlines if you’d like to skim/skip ahead to a section.
I’d just like to start out by saying that I am completely pro birth control and am a huge advocate of women being able to make their own decisions regarding pregnancy and their bodies. However, I believe the pill has a whole host of problems tied to it and have experienced first-hand the negative effects it can have. When it comes to contraception, the choice is obviously an extremely personal one where all pros and cons should be weighed, but like any decision, it’s important to have all the information fully available to you before making it.
Just a few potential side effects listed by the Mayo Clinic.
(Obviously some of these are super rare and very unlikely to happen to you, but others are extremely common, and it’s probably a given that something will change when you go on it). I will also note here that many women actually experience an improvement in PMS symptoms when starting the pill and for them it may actually result in a significant increase in quality of life, which may indeed be reason enough to keep on it. Although, usually a decrease in symptoms is actually just masking an underlying issue which is why any negative symptoms will typically just resurface once someone stops taking the pill.
- Changes in the uterine bleeding pattern at menses or between menses, such as decreased bleeding at menses, breakthrough bleeding or spotting between periods, prolonged bleeding at menses, complete stopping of menstrual bleeding that occurs over several months in a row, or stopping of menstrual bleeding that only occurs sometimes
- Headaches or migraines (although headaches may lessen in many users, in others, they may increase in number or become worse)
- increased blood pressure
- vaginal infection with vaginal itching or irritation, or thick, white, or curd-like discharge
- Mild increase of blood sugar — Faintness, nausea, pale skin, or sweating
- Mental depression
- swelling, pain, or tenderness in upper abdominal area
- Abdominal cramping or bloating
- acne (usually less common after first 3 months and may improve if acne already exists)
- breast pain, tenderness, or swelling
- dizziness
- nausea
- swelling of ankles and feet
- unusual tiredness or weakness
- vomiting
- Brown, blotchy spots on exposed skin
- gain or loss of body or facial hair
- increased or decreased interest in sexual intercourse
- increased sensitivity of skin to sunlight
- weight gain or loss
My experience on the pill:
I was briefly on the pill for a little over a year in college. While on it I experienced extreme PMS symptoms, it didn’t seem to do anything to help my regular cramps, and it made me very depressed. Although I dealt with depression before going on the pill, it intensified my symptoms (especially around my cycle), and oddly enough this never came up as a potential issue when my doctor originally prescribed it to me. My doctor recommended I start taking the pill for bad skin and keeping my periods regular (I was not even sexually active at the time LOL) and it’s possible the negative side effects were mentioned (It was a long time ago and my memory is not THAT accurate haha) but the positives were certainly the focus. Out of the above, I ended up experiencing five of the listed negative side effects. This is just my experience, so take it with a grain of salt, but after I got off the pill my mood swings and depression improved considerably.
How the pill can trigger Candida overgrowth:
I’d already peripherally heard things about the pill causing yeast infections or being bad for your gut health, but when I began my research and started to dig into this topic I became even more alarmed and was disturbed to see the amount of research that has already piled up around Candida and the pill. If you are into studies, check out the ones at the bottom of this post!
In recent decades, science has illustrated a close connection between estrogen dominance and Candida overgrowth. It’s pretty clear that Candida growth is exacerbated by estrogen, even anecdotally (does anyone else get their worst symptom flare ups on their period??!@me) Hormonal birth control (the pill, patch, vaginal rings, some IUDs) contain either estrogen and progesterone or either alone. Taking these synthetic hormones can disrupt the body’s natural hormone balance and allow Candida to flourish. These traditional contraceptives create an estrogen-dominant environment and the high levels of estrogen promote a Candida infection. The female body also has natural antimicrobial mechanisms to help prevent these infections, however, hormonal contraceptives seem to change the way these genes can express, reducing their activity. This becomes a self defeating cycle as it lessens one’s ability to fight off Candida in the first place. While the pill may not directly cause Candida overgrowth, it can create an environment that triggers it.
Alternatives:
If you are wed to taking the pill (it’s so convenient), then try a progesterone-only pill that is less likely to disrupt your natural balance of hormones, or at least less likely to lead to estrogen dominance. Although less effective, the traditional male condom, the diaphragm, or cervical cap won’t have the same hormone-disrupting effects either.
Last resort:
This is in direct response to a question I received (thank you for messaging!) and represents the case where alternatives to the pill aren’t an option for you, or you feel you’re getting more benefit from using it than not. If you have a chronic or severe Candida overgrowth case I don’t think it’s advisable to stay on the pill, as a hormonal imbalance could be a root issue for the Candida growth in the first place, but if you have more mild symptoms or find you’re already healing it may be an option. In this case, here are some tips to help you keep your Candida cleanse effective:
- Incorporate hormone balancing foods (basically the Candida diet, lol). Will probably write a separate post about this soon so stay tuned!
- Be stricter about your cleanse and diet. If you’re on the pill you’ll likely have to be more careful in other areas to keep your overgrowth at bay and continue healing. You should work with a doctor on your options and altering the length of your cleanse, but I’d imagine you’d have to stay in the initial phase for longer and have more restrictions.
- Prioritize buying organic and hormone-free foods. This one should speak for itself but it’s easy to not think about sometimes so try and make it a priority although it can definitely be more expensive.
- Get regular exercise. Physical activity can have a big impact on hormonal health, so making it a frequent habit can help with imbalances and will likely help your body detox anyways.
- Avoid soy. It’s already usually recommended to avoid soy when cleansing from Candida, but it’s an easy thing to let slip or sneak up as a hidden ingredient in some foods. Try and be extra careful about this one due to the link between soy and higher estrogen levels.
- Consider adding a hormone support supplement. There are many supplements that can help regulate hormones, but to keep it brief I’ll just reference vitamin D here. It’s likely many of the supplements you are already taking as part of a Candida program will help to regulate hormones, but Vitamin D is sometimes not emphasized. Rather than being a vitamin, it’s actually a prohormone, which is a substance that the body converts to a hormone and is helpful for a host of biological processes involving hormone regulation. Higher blood levels of Vitamin D was also recently linked to lower levels of estrogen: https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2016/02/vitamin-d-linked-to-reduced-estrogen-and-breast-cancer-risk.html
Studies:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5291939/
https://www.ejog.org/article/S0301-2115(16)30449-3/fulltext
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13625187.2017.1365835?journalCode=iejc20&
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29458551/
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/529699
