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Topics: Advice, Cancer, Explained, Health, Life, Science, Sex and Relationships, Women's Health, Periods
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Advice, Cancer, Explained, Health, Life, Science, Sex and Relationships, Women's Health, Periods
Many women and people who have periods take contraceptive pills as part of their daily routines.
Whether you take them for hormonal or mental health reasons, as a way to ease period symptoms or as contraception if you're sexually active - it's clear many of us leave a sheet of these tiny pills by our bedside tables or in our bathroom cabinets.
However, as convenient and eagerly-prescribed as they may be, it's important to know, firstly, about the science behind how the pills work in your body, the potential side effects they could have on your physical and mental wellbeing and any possible health risks that come along with taking them.
And, regarding the latter point, a doctor has now revealed that certain contraception pills could actually reduce the risk of a serious cancer.
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"A lot of people think the pill always ups your risk of cancer, but that’s simply not true," says Andrea Milbourne, M.D., Head of the Section of General Gynecology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
"In many cases, it can actually lower your risk for certain cancers."
According to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, oral contraceptives - AKA 'the pill' - may affect a woman's chances of developing breast and gynaecological cancers which, in some cases, means a bigger chance of cancer.
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In others, however, it means protection against cancer.
But why is this?
Well, most oral contraceptives contain man-made versions of the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
And, as we know, taking the pill changes your hormone levels, which can trigger - or in some cases prevent - some female cancers.
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The MD Anderson Cancer Center states that the pill may help lower your risk of ovarian cancer and endometrial (uterine) cancer.
This is because women who take the pill ovulate, or release eggs from the ovaries, fewer times than women who don’t take the pill and, the more times you ovulate over your lifetime, the more hormones you’re exposed to.
Therefore, the longer you take the pill, the greater the benefits, the site explains, adding that taking the pill for five years or longer may cut your ovarian cancer risk in half.
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The National Cancer Institute states that such protection may last up to 25 years after you stop taking the pill, with some studies even suggesting that the pill may protect against ovarian cancer in women with BRCA genetic mutations, which significantly increase the risk of developing breast, ovarian, and other cancers.
Also, according to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, taking the pill for at least four years may cut your endometrial cancer risk in half if you’re at average risk of the disease.
And this protection lasts for as much as a decade after you stop taking the pill.
While the pill may also slightly raise your breast and cervical cancer risks, this marginal increase is only temporary, and it returns to normal about five years after you go off the pill.
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"Talk to your doctor and weigh all of the pros and cons before deciding if the pill is right for you," Milbourne advises.
"Don’t pick your birth control based on the cancer risks alone. The best birth control method is the one that works best for your lifestyle and your health concerns."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.