Birth Control Pills

The birth control pill can have important adverse possessions on sexuality and mood in a proportion of women, increasing the likelihood of early discontinuation, according to a study by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction issue of Contraception at Indiana University.

The team found that of the women in the study who started on the pill, (randomly assigned to either orthocyclen or orthotricyclen), 38% were still taking it after one year, 47% had stopped, and 14% had switched to another pill. The women who stopped or changed to another pill were 4 times more likely to report sexual, emotional and physical side effects than the women who continued with their oral contraceptive. Some of these effects included reduce in sexual thoughts, less regular intercourse and negative mood changes.

Despite 40 years of use, there is no way of predicting which women are likely to practice adverse mood or sexuality effects from oral contraceptives, nor which OC formulations are more likely to be responsible.

"Though studies on the male contraceptive pill, still in the developmental stage, have already included evaluation of possible effects on sexuality, women have not had the benefit of such information in making contraceptive decisions,". The authors call for further research to identify predictors of such adverse effects, and to know the hormonal mechanisms responsible for such effects. In the meantime, women should be fully informed and clinicians need to talk about potential effects of oral contraceptives on sexuality and mood with their patients.

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