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Since the introduction of oral contraceptives in the early 1960s, the use of The Pill, as it is generally known, has soared to approximately 7 in 10 women of childbearing age. Among young women ages 18-24, oral contraceptives use is especially high, reaching two-thirds in 2008. It seems most women have no knowledge of natural birth control options whatsoever!
The widespread use of The Pill is a troubling issue because oral contraceptives devastate beneficial bacterial flora in the gut leaving it vulnerable to colonization and dominance from pathogenic strains such as Candida albicans, Streptococci, and Staphylococci among others.
By the time a woman who has used birth control pills is ready to have children, a severe case of intractable gut dysbiosis has more than likely taken hold.
Most people think that only the use of drugs such as antibiotics causes gut imbalances, but this is simply not true.
According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, many other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dysbiosis. What’s worse, a drug-induced gut imbalance is especially resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.
What does this mean for your future child’s health? A lot, as it turns out!
The Pill and Nutritional Deficiencies
First of all, gut imbalance brought on through the use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, she can experience nutritional deficiencies. If she has been taking oral contraceptives for a long period of time, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of the healthy food she is eating. The lack of beneficial flora in her gut prevents this from occurring.
In addition, beneficial bacteria actively synthesize nutrients. These include vitamin K1, pantothenic acid, folate (NOT synthetic folic acid), thiamin (B1), cyanocobalamin (B12), amino acids and others. In an imbalanced gut, a woman is missing out on the “natural supplementation” that these good strains provide to her and her growing baby.
Not well known is the fact that using the Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called “the intelligence mineral” as it is intimately involved in mental development.
As a result, it is very important for women who have been using the Pill for any length of time to wait at least 6 months before becoming pregnant to ensure that zinc levels return to normal. Low zinc is associated with lowered IQ and birth defects. If you are concerned that your levels might be low, try this easy at-home zinc deficiency test to give you peace of mind.
It really is quite disturbing to fully realize the very real potential that the use of The Pill has to trigger nutritional deficiencies!
Pathogenic Gut Flora from Birth Control Pills Produce a Myriad of Toxins
Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that takes hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances. They are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins even if the woman never eats anything but organic foods and lives in an environment with no pollutants whatsoever.
Indeed, an imbalanced gut has the potential to expose a woman and her baby to just as many or even more toxins than her environment through self-poisoning!
Gut Dysbiosis Triggered by The Pill and Anemia Go Hand in Hand
Most people with abnormal gut flora also suffer from various stages of anemia. This is because some of the most common pathogenic strains of bacteria that take hold in an imbalanced gut are those that consume iron: Actinomyces spp., Mycobacterium spp., pathogenic strains of E.Coli, Corynebacterium spp. and others.
Anemia during pregnancy is especially dangerous. Not only can it deprive the fetus of oxygen (iron helps build red blood cells and red blood cells carry oxygen), but it is linked to low birth weight and pre-term birth and the many long term health and associated developmental problems.
Can iron supplements during pregnancy combat this problem?
In a word, no! How many women do you know who consistently battle low iron during pregnancy despite consuming iron supplements and eating iron-rich foods? I personally know many such cases.
The reason is that the more iron a patient with gut dysbiosis consumes in either food or supplement form, the stronger these pathogenic, iron loving strains become! The extra iron “feeds” them, so to speak, much the same as sugar feeds Candida albicans. The cure for gut dysbiotic anemia is to heal and seal the gut, not take iron supplements!
A Baby “Inherits” Gut Dysbiosis from Mom
A human baby is born with a sterile gut. This means that there is no bacterial activity in a fetus’ digestive system prior to birth. The vast majority of gut flora that a child eventually develops is inherited from Mom. This occurs via the baby swallowing microbes both good and bad during vaginal birth. If Mom has a gut imbalance, it will be the same situation in her vagina. Hence, her children’s intestines will be seeded with the same microbes during delivery. Babies born via Cesarean section are at risk for even more unbalanced gut flora.
Children with imbalanced gut flora are particularly predisposed to autoimmune disorders in the form of allergies, asthma, and eczema. In more severe cases of gut dysbiosis, learning disabilities manifest such as ADHD, ADD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and others. Of course, there is sometimes an environmental “trigger” which instigates these disorders. But, it is crucial to keep in mind that gut dysbiosis is the primary underlying cause.
Think Twice Before Taking Birth Control Pills
When considering whether or not to take oral contraceptives, women rarely if ever consider the long term implications to themselves let alone their children. This is no surprise given that doctors rarely if ever mention this sort of thing when prescribing antibiotics let alone The Pill to their patients!
Therefore, it is vital that women be fully informed of the potentially devastating consequences to their health and that of their children from birth control pills. Even their grandchildren may be affected according to preliminary research. This full disclosure is critical and the most ethical course of action for prescribing physicians.
Sources
March of Dimes, pregnancy complications
Mineral Primer
Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD
More Information
170 Scientific Studies Confirm the Dangers of Soy
Why Even Organic Soy Formula is so Dangerous for Babies
The Dangers of Estrogenic Foods, Herbs, and Drugs
Sarah, the bottom line is, the people who are pushing for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the Philippines, like Pope and Ren B, don’t believe that using oral contraceptives can affect the baby. Also, unless you are a medical professional, they do not accept the actual experiences as valid. The senator that they are talking about, the one who supposedly plagiarized your site, by virtue of experience, believes that there is a correlation between oral contraceptives and serious side effects on the baby.
What is very obvious here is that the Filipino RH bill supporters are using you, your name, your blog, to discredit the experiences of a man whose baby he believed died because his wife got pregnant while taking the pill. They are using you to bring down another person. That they cannot dispute.
For what it’s worth, I am a mother too, and I believe that what you said in your article is possible. Although my case was not because of using oral contraceptives. But I believe you when you said that the condition you got as a result of oral contraceptives. In my case, I had urinary tract infection when I was pregnant, so the doctors had to make sure I was in antibiotics during delivery to prevent my baby from getting urinary tract infection. And so, I believe that when you said you passed on your condition to your baby, because I had an almost similar experience.
And THAT personal experience is what the pro-Rh bill supporters in the Philippines are trying to discredit, because you and I are not medical professionals.
This is the last I will post about this issue in your thread.
Leilani stop making excuses for that guy! the issue here is not really about the contraceptives but with SENATOR SOTTO (or one of his staff) copying excerpts from the blog, WORD by WORD. Even the punctuations were not changed! He has no decency to even cite his sources. Well what do you expect in a country where the culture of impunity run deep. He maybe thought he wont be discovered. Ha, the miracle of internet.
His first born died to pay for the sins he’s been doing in the present. Think of it as an “advanced payment” to god. This is of course, not taking into consideration that he has a high probability of possessing incompetent sperm cells.
ang sama mo! anong kasalanan ng baby dun?! “advanced payment” demonyo! anti-life!
Be careful with your accusations, Ms. Bautista. The only issue I’m raising here is that the senator STOLE Ms. Sarah’s work. As I wrote: however valid the cause you’re fighting for is, it DOES NOT excuse you from STEALING. And the senator did not “supposedly” plagiarize her site; his staff who wrote HIS speech actually confessed to it! Go ahead and fight for your cause, but stop defending a thief! And stop making assumptions and blind accusations as to who’s pro or anti. Get a grip.
the good thing about Melgar citing your name is that your blog is now making many hits. however, i think you should also thank the senator for copying your words. anyways, your blog entry is going viral, and take note of how they describe you. this is from another filipino who is for the passage of the RH bill. you are described as US recipe writer.
http://www.facebook.com/ofpicazo/posts/461981527168912
i feel that the description is very condescending, because your point in writing the blog is because you feel the need to help women avoid the same experiences that you had. the pro-RH filipinos are not actually taking your words seriously. look at how they describe you,
anti-vaccine quack
US recipe writer
although you are a recipe writer, you are also a blogger whose wisdom is born from painful experiences. Melgar, and the pro-RH filipinos, are using your blog, and your name, to discredit a filipino senator who is fighting a cause which you are also fighting.
“however, i think you should also thank the senator for copying your words.” Thank the author for PLAGIARIZING her work??? Are you serious? Fighting for a cause, however valid, does NOT excuse someone from STEALING somebody else’s work.
You’re asking the original author to “thank” the clown who PLAGIARIZED her work?
Would you send a “Thank You” note to the guy who stole your car?
Shared beliefs or not, people shouldn’t go around stealing other people’s work.
No matter how you try to spin it, that’s just wrong.
That’s wrong and that bozo should come out and apologize.
And Sarah doesn’t need any help making her work “viral”. She has over 3,000 youtube subscribers and almost 20,000 fans on facebook.
If anything, it’s that comedian who should publicly acknowledge the work of Sarah, thank her, and APOLOGIZE.
Try to visit Palawan
i would just like to add, it was the Filipino Freethinker blogger, Fernando Melgar, mentioned your name. if i may express my opinion… the battle between the pro-RH bill and the anti-RH bill is taken very seriously in the philippines, and your blog, and your name, was used by Melgar to discredit the position of Sotto who, like you, believes that contraception can harm the future baby. Melgar may have cited your blog and Sotto, if he indeed copied your words, did not, but while Sotto used your words to prove the same point you are making in your blog, Melgar used your blog, and your name to discredit the merits of the argument of the senator. at this point, the argument of Melgar, and those who are pro-RH are centered on the plagiarism issue.
I’m pretty sure the ex-comedian senator discredited himself quite blatantly by not attributing this blog as his source.
Malice or not, that is plagiarism.
They may share the same beliefs, but that is never an excuse for STEALING.
again, between the senator who did not cite this blog as his source for purposes of sending out the same message, and the filipino blogger who cited this source solely for the purpose of bringing down another person, i think we can see where the malice lies. also, it is not true that he did not cite a source. he did, but it was this source,
please also note how the blogger, and how another pro-RH filipino described you as US based recipe writer. i believe that they are not giving value to your actual experiences mainly because you are not a medical doctor.
just to clarify my link, in the article, the senator mentioned his source. this is what he said,
Sotto cited the book, “The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women, Exploding the Estrogen Myth” by Barbara Seaman, which stated that those who take pills but still got pregnant have more chances of having abnormal children or children with lower I.Q.
i would just like to say that the Philippine senator pointed out by some posters in your blog is against a government funded distribution of contraception to the poor families in the philippines. perhaps the senator copied what you said. but the senator also included in his speech the fact that his own wife took contraceptives, but they had a breakthrough ovulation. this was back in the 70’s. their baby was born with defects, and the senator said they were told by the doctor that the probable cause was side effects of oral contraception.
with all due respect, if the senator had verbatimly copied your blog, it was because like you, he is out to make the point that contraceptives have a lot of serious side effects that people are not aware of. only when it is too late that they know about it. i don’t think that the senator had malice intentions of copying your words.
on the other hand, the filipino blogger who put mentioned your site, Alfredo Melgar, is a member of the Filipino Freethinkers. he is part of an atheist group who is pushing for the reproductive health bill in the philippines. one of the controversial provisions of the bill is that government will use taxpayers money to make contraceptives accessible to everybody. the target demographics is the poor. those who are FOR the RH (reproductive health) bill do not believe that using side effects can seriously harm the woman using it, and the baby born despite the contraceptive use. given the tone of the posters, named Tweems and Joanna, they seem to be pro-RH bill, meaning they want the bill to be passed.
this is how Fernando Melgar described you in the article:
Sotto’s description of the purported ill-effects of birth control pills on unborn children was lifted nearly word for word from the blog of “Sarah, the healthy home economist”, a US based writer who also opposes vaccines for children and offers recipes for goodies like grain free pumpkin cookies.
i don’t know how you will take the words of Fernando Melgar, but those who are pro-RH are describing you in this way:
“(Sotto) copied from an anti-vaccination quack (Sarah)”
“truth of the matter? you mean the veracity of the medical opinions of the blogger?”
i just wanted to explain to you how your blog was mentioned. also, i would like to mention that the person, Sotto, is actually showing how oral contraceptives can affect the baby. Sotto is against the passage of the bill. The blogger who cited your blog is for the passing of the bill.
one senator qouted parts your blog en toto. just not sure if there was any attribution to you 🙂
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/269929/news/nation/sotto-s-anti-rh-speech-copied-from-us-blogger-who-writes-about-recipes
Wow! Your blog has been used by a senator in the Philippines for his anti-RH bill speech.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/269929/news/nation/sotto-s-anti-rh-speech-copied-from-us-blogger-who-writes-about-recipes