Heart Disease – Heart Attacks – High Blood Pressure – Strokes – Blood Clots

 

All of these conditions are variations on the same theme:  Heart disease, heart attacks, high blood pressure, blood clots and strokes all have common mechanisms.  All involve either obstructions in the blood vessels resulting from clot formation or have micro-vascular disease in the blood vessel walls.

 

Every one of these conditions: High blood pressure (hypertension), heart attacks (myocardial infarction), strokes, and blood clots have long been associated with the use of birth control pills (BCP’s).

 

 

Risk of Heart Attacks Doubled on the Pill

 

The Birth Control Pill has been the direct cause of a two-fold increase in the risk of heart attacks - regardless of which  generation or type of BCP used. Among women smokers, the interaction is even deadlier – being particularly dangerous for those over 34 years old and especially over 39 years old. This according to the Annals of Internal Medicine published in 2003.

 

One of the main mechanisms for heart disease lies in the formation of blood clots in the veins and arteries.  The Pill intensifies these clots, accounting for the upsurge in strokes, heart attacks and blood clots in the legs and lungs.

 

 

One in 20 Women Develop High Blood Pressure While on the Pill

 

Other mechanisms that contribute to heart disease are unknown.  For example, blood pressure readings increase by an average of 3 – 5 points for all users of BCP’s.  The March, 2006 Neurology journal states that 5% of women develop overt hypertension (high blood pressure) while on oral contraceptives.  But when the Pill is stopped, blood pressure readings tend to normalize within a few months.

 

 

Early Versions of the Pill Caused Strokes, Clots,

Edema and Uterine Tumors

 

The early versions of birth control pills (BCP’s) contained high dosages of synthetic, chemically altered estrogens and progestins. These substances turned out to cause significant numbers of strokes and blood clots in women.  High estrogenic effects, particularly  edema (swelling) and uterine tumors, caused drug manufacturers to cut back on the synthetic hormone dosages of the Pill. 

 

Over time, the big drug companies continued to reduce the dosages of the synthetic hormones in an effort to reduce these known side effects.

 

 

Women Shaving Mustaches on Earlier Versions of the Pill

 

Another reason why the pharmaceutical companies kept changing their formulation was because of problems with the first two generations of the Pill. In short, one of the progestin components had a testosterone-like activity.  Women didn’t much like getting increased pimples, facial hair and hairy legs. So a newer chemical was created, a progestin-like hormone that resembled a diuretic called spironolactone instead.

 

 

New Versions - New Problems

 

What has doctors concerned is that the incidents of blood clots have worsened in women taking the newer formulations of BCP’s, even though these pills have lower dosages of synthetic, chemically altered hormones than their earlier counterparts.

 

There have been three generations of BCP’s in the pharmaceutical industry over the last 50 years. The levels of chemically altered estrogens are at their all time lows, as are the progestins. The primary synthetic estrogen has pretty much remained the same chemical all this time, but the drug companies continue to experiment with the more problematic component - the progestin.

 

 

Latest Versions of the Pill Actually Increased Blood Clots

 

In the last 20 years, “Third Generation” BCP’s were introduced that were supposed to be safer and easier to tolerate than the previous versions. 

 

Unfortunately, these third generation progestin components were noted to cause an increase in blood clots of the legs and lungs according to Gender Medicine, published in 2005. This is particularly true with smokers.

 

The problem with the third generation progestins is that they actually cause more blood clots and strokes than the first two generations did - even though the dosage has been decreased. 

 

The reason is found in the chemical makeup of the synthetic hormones themselves: They are more powerful than ever.  In an article published in February, 2006 of the journal, Contraception, the authors concluded that blood clots among women taking the latest generation BCP’s were still significantly higher, doubling the risk compared to the older versions of BCP’s.

 

The progestin component of BCP’s continues to be the difficult chemical for the drug industry to synthesize. They’ve developed several forms of it, the most recent class being the “Third Generation” progestins.  Examples of third generation progestins include generic names like desogestrel (DSG), gestodine, and norgestimate acetate (NORGac).

 

There is now even a fourth generation of progestins on the market. Developed by the drug companies in more recent years, these have tongue-twisting names like drospirenone, dienogest, nesterone, nomegestrol, and trimegestone.  One of them, drospirenone was synthetically derived from a common diuretic called spironolactone and exhibits different side effects than the other hormonal mimics.

 

 

The Same Synthetic Hormones Increased Strokes

 

Looking at the effects of traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has on stokes, the future does not look good for BCP’s.  The Women’s Health Initiative study released in 2003, gave a powerful look at the effects of synthetic, chemically altered hormones on older women.  They noticed a 41% increase in stokes in just 5 years of study.

 

Birth control pills contain the same or similar chemically altered hormones.  The only difference is the age of the population taking BCP’s versus HRT. As more and more women on the Pill reach middle age, it will be morbidly interesting to  see if the incidents of strokes follows along.