Topic: birth control pill

Male Birth Control Debate: Would Men Really Take The Little Pink Pill?

Male Birth Control Debate: Would Men Really Take The Little Pink Pill?

For years, there’s been talk of inventing a male version of the birth control pill, but nothing has ever really caught on. Apart from condoms (and to an extreme, vasectomies), women have for the most part been relied upon to control and prevent unwanted pregnancies. However, researchers at Columbia University in New York have been testing a new male birth control pill on mice, and found that, unlike previous versions, this one appears to have a high efficacy with no harmful side-effects. This could mean that men will finally be able to equally share the reproductive responsibility, but the major question looming in men and women’s heads alike is, “Will men WANT to take the pill?” More »

Odds Are Your Birth Control Pill Won’t Cause Gallstones, New Studies Be Damned

Odds Are Your Birth Control Pill Won't Cause Gallstones, New Studies Be Damned

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal this week states that some of the newest and most popular oral contraceptives, including the drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol combo marketed as “Yaz,” could have a scary side effect. According to study author Mahyar Etminan (PharmD, MSc), of the University of British Columbia, data taken from nearly three million women who were on a pill combining ethinyl estradiol combined with one of seven progestins indicates that a small, but significant risk of having gallstones was found. A “small but significant” risk? What does that mean? How small and how significant are we talking? Should we be worried? More »

Even If Birth Control Decreases Libido, You Can Still Have Great Sex

Even If Birth Control Decreases Libido, You Can Still Have Great Sex

On the birth control pill? Fantastic! Chances are, next time you have sex, you won’t get pregnant. That is, if the pill makes you feel like having sex at all, which it probably won’t.

Uh. Not fantastic?

Good In Bed recently featured a post by Madeleine Castellanos, M.D., who wrote that hormonal birth control pills, which effectively decrease our testosterone levels, could very well cause a lack of interest in sex altogether. “Since testosterone helps fuel sexual desire, fantasy, and also lubrication in response to arousal,” Castellanos writes, “many women are left feeling very blasé about sex. Oftentimes, it is not an issue for women in their late teens or early twenties. But as their hormone levels start to decrease naturally with age, it can become a very surprising reality.” More »