Effects of contraceptive pill on thyroid beyond interaction between oestrogen & levothyroxine

[hjh88]

Knowing the interaction between oestrogen and levothyroxine, I recently switched from the combined pill to the mini or progestogen only pill.

I had done a bit of scouting around ahead of the switch. Lots of searching this forum and the internet in general to see if I could find any interactions. Nothing glaring came up so I thought I would be a reasonable compromise - the contraceptive effect without the oestrogen and potentially fewer negative impacts on my thyroid health.

WRONG!

I’m now 11 days in and have had steadily increasing hypo symptoms from about day 3. Most noticeably pain and swelling in the neck around the thyroid.

So whilst it’s keeping me awake, I got to reading. How and why I didn’t find this stuff before I don’t know but it’s very, very interesting.

In particular, this article by all round incredible lady Dr Isabella Wentz:

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

I knew that the oestrogen in the combined pill could increase TBG.

I did not know that the pill can...

- Deplete levels of selenium and zinc

- Cause oestrogen dominance

- Change flora which can allow yeast and pathogens to flourish

- Suppress testosterone

- Lower DHEA

- Deplete folic acid, B12 and B6

And most interesting to me currently, the progestogen only pill (referenced in the article as pills “which stimulate pseudopregnancy”) can cause a shift in immune response from Th1 to Th2.

I had to do some very quick learning here as to what these are. Incidentally, the below paper describes how the dominance of Th1 is linked to hashimotos and Th2 dominance is linked to graves.

karger.com/Article/Abstract...

I have hashimotos and, if this paper is anything to go by, apparently I’m likely to be Th1 dominant. If the mini pill can cause a shift to Th2 dominance, I’m wondering if the pain in the neck I’m feeling is in some way related to a new-to-me immune response going wild on my poor thyroid.

I may be adding 2+2 and getting 5 but, at the very least, I don’t think it’s coincidence that I’ve started taking this pill and my thyroid is kicking up. Come tomorrow I won’t be taking it anymore!

It’s got me wondering, has anyone else had a similar experience?

If nothing else I hope this might help someone else who might be looking at switching from combi to mini.

[Jonpaul0_1]

Hi there

I found it interesting reading your post and it's similar to my situation. I was on the combined pill since I was 16. I changed to the mini pill in March this yr because I had been suffering with migraines the past few yrs. Headaches completely cleared up !! Then being on the mini pill I noticed my skin was getting acne and more hair was shedding. So I stopped taking it altogether 7 weeks ago.

Was diagnosed 4 weeks ago with underactive thyroid when I went to the docs because I was concerned about my hair loss.

Was the pill masking a lot of symptoms? My body is now trying to adjust itself and deal with levothyroxine. Luckily I have had a period too. If I'd have know exactly what birth control does I'd have come off sooner!!

[hjh88 in reply to Jonpaul0_1]

I’ve been wondering the same. Like you, I was on the combi pill from a young age and ended up taking it for about 14yrs. I can well believe that the pill caused some of the stuff I’ve got going on, particularly vitamin and mineral deficiencies and problems with changes in flora. But then again they can also come about with autoimmune thyroid problems.

It feels like a chicken and egg situation and I don’t know where one starts and one ends!

Hope you’re finding some relief in not suffering with migraines at least and best of luck with adjusting to levo. There’s so much great advice on this forum and it’s such a good learning tool. Hopefully that will help with figuring it all out.

And I absolutely agree. If I’d had any idea the potential harm the pill was doing to me, I’d have steered well clear!!!

[Jonpaul0_1 in reply to hjh88]

Yeah I'm pleased the migraines have gone it's the hair loss in finding hard to deal with. Being newly diagnosed aswell it's frustrating how long things take.

Getting advice on here has been helpful but also confusing at the same time !! Am hoping once my dose of levo is at optimum level it will stop the hair loss.

Thanks for the reply wishing you good health .

[hjh88 in reply to Jonpaul0_1]

My hair loss definitely slowed once the levo kicked it. I’m still shedding a bit more than I’d like but (before all this pill sharade that is) it’s on the turn with a higher dose I think.

I’ve seen lots of advice on here about iron deficiency or at least low in normal range iron can contribute to hair loss. Might be worth investigating if you’re feeling inclined!

Wishing you all the best in getting better

[Murphysmum]

I’m now very sceptical about “contraceptive hormones” and thyroid function as when I had what I call my ‘crash’ last year I had a mirena coil (progesterone). My gut instinct was to have the coil removed and within 4 days I felt a lot better!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m now over a year in and I’m still recovering, but things like hormone migraines and nausea went almost immediately, and the fact that I felt temporarily so much better tells me there was “something affecting something” in there!

If you do any reading on the coil at all, you’ll see that amongst he side effects there is something called a pseudo-tumor. This sounds really scary and it is! I had lots of symptoms of it, the headaches, pain in my neck/base of my skull, problems with my eyesight, brain fog and attention problems to the extent that I could hardly finish a sentence and I kept losing focus when speaking to others.

I too have spent a lot of time researching the interactions as I’ve now been left with oestrogen dominance and endo symptoms which I never had before and have no family history of.

So I’m avoiding all contraception whatsoever from now on. Apart from the barrier kind! The gp offered me another coil to combat the endo symptoms - err, no thanks!

[hjh88 in reply to Murphysmum]

Thanks so much for your reply Murphysmum. I was starting to feel like I was going nuts but, as horrible as it is to read of your experience, it’s reassuring to know it’s not unheard of!

Oh my that pseudo tumour sounds scary! Well done for listening to your gut. I think I’m getting to that point now but for a moment, with all of the doctors advice basically saying there should be no effect, plus the brain fog, it’s hard to fight the feeling that it’s imagined or it’ll get better just stick it out. This feels like another tick in the cons column when it comes to listening to the GP!

As I understand it, the coil and the mini pill work in the same way chemically, just different delivery method and dose I think? I’m sure that has an effect too but it’s heartening to hear that you noticed a difference within days or having it removed.

I am sorry to hear your still working your way back to health but hope you’re on the winning side.

I too am going to be avoiding hormonal birth control now. My foray into misadventures with the mini pill started with seeking advice on this but I was repeatedly steered towards hormones and after missing the info on links to thyroid health went with it. Once bitten twice shy that’s for sure!!