Birth control

[CDALY474]

Hey guys. So I’ve been reading and read that birth control can deplete your supplies. I have been on birth control continuously (no break for bleeding) for over 13 years. Could this be the reason my b12 is low? If I go off could I then absorb from pills? I’m working on getting preservative free injections from a compounding pharmacy now. The injections make me SO anxious! And I wasn’t anxious before. Not sure if anyone else has this. I’m also out of work because for dizziness for over a month now. Anybody else not able to work?

[fbirder]

Studies show that oral contrception can have an effect on B12 levels. Some people have over-interpreted the results of the studies that have shown this. For example, let's look at this study: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

"For example, Sütterlin et al [14] observed in a case-control study conducted in Western Europe significantly lower B12 levels in oral contraceptive (OC) users than in controls."

This sentence, well one word of it, will mean different things to scientists and to non-scientist. To the non-scientist 'significant' means 'major'. To the scientist it means 'measurable' or 'more than you'd expect from chance alone'.

The paper also has a misleading graph. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... It looks as if B12 levels in women taking oral contraceptives has plummeted to less than half the starting value. But they've used one of the common tricks for making a graph look worse than it really is - they've cropped the bottom off. Their vertical axis doesn't go from zero to 600, but from 300 to 600. So what looks like a 50% drop is really a 20% drop.

And they don't put their most important conclusion up front in the abstract, but towards the end where most people won't read it -

"Overall, this longitudinal study demonstrated that women receiving OC/DMPA may experience a suppression of their B12 level, but this decrease is rarely clinically significant and does not warrant regular measurement of B12 levels among users. Thus, data from this longitudinal study are overall reassuring about the effects of these two contraceptives on serum B12."

So it looks as if oral contraceptives can lower B12, but not by a lot. I'd say there was nothing to worry about unless you were already on the verge of being deficient due to a lack of B12 in your diet.

[Penni]

I have a contrecptive implant which works perfectly for me. It helps with my mood swings as well as other issues. It was when I didn't have one as I had my daughter that I had issues.

[Nackapan in reply to Penni]

With low b12?

[Penni in reply to Nackapan]

It doesn't have any effect on my b12 levels

[Nackapan in reply to Penni]

Oh that's good. When you said you had issues I thought you meant with b12.

[poppymurray]

Hiya... I was on the pill for 11 years, with only a few breaks for bleeding, but stopped taking it 18 months ago and have noticed a massive difference in my energy levels, clearer skin, weight and general mood/well being. I was off work for 3 months in 2016 with fatigue, dizziness, a continual headache and muscle aches/cramps before being diagnosed as b12 deficient. Within 3 weeks of starting injections through my GP I was a completely different person and I now self inject. You get used to the injections and it’s honestly absolutely worth it for the difference it makes. Hope you feel better soon

[Nackapan in reply to poppymurray]

That's good . How frequent do toh have to inject?

[poppymurray in reply to Nackapan]

I do 2-3 a week if I have symptoms but then can go a couple weeks without one

[Nackapan in reply to poppymurray]

Thank you . Thars interesting you can be flexible to needs . I'm trying every 6th day

[Loola88 in reply to poppymurray]

Funnily enough I had the opposite problem. Tried to come off contraception and essentially felt like that for 3 weeks a month (week before, week on and most the week after) I persevered for two years but it got to the point where I couldn’t function at work when I was on period because it made me feel so unwell. I’m now back on the injection and feel like a new woman. We’re all so unique, it completely fascinates me. I’m glad you’re feeling much better!

[AmHW]

Weirdly it was a change in oral contraceptive pill that I first attributed my B12 symptoms too. That was the only thing that had changed recently so I was convinced it must have been that. Thankfully my GP wasn't so sure and did a barrage of blood tests which picked up my very low levels. I guess i’ll never know if the pill did deplete them more quickly or not... but i’ve since found out some other members of my family also have it so I think it’s more genetics/autoimmune with me (although i’ve never actually been told I have PA)

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I find that progesterone doesn't agree with me - and if I remember correctly it is the progesterone element of contraceptives that are associated with interference with B12.