So constantly taking estrogen , estrogen , women are taking estrogen so that they don't get the estrogen priming of progesterone , you're not getting any ovulation . And I've known women that have been taking oral con or that took oral contraception as like estrogen pills basically for 5 , 1015 years . Are there long term consequences of this as it relates to pregnancy , PC os menopause ?
And I've known women that have been taking oral con or that took oral contraception as like estrogen pills basically for 5 , 1015 years . Are there long term consequences of this as it relates to pregnancy , PC os menopause ? What if so what are some of those consequences ?
I like how balanced you ask that question . So women who take oral contraceptives as long as you're describing like 10 years or longer , we call those Olympic oral contraceptive users in terms of benefit . I think that especially when they first came out and even now it gives women reproductive choice and that's essential .
So , oral contra contraceptives help with reducing ovulation and reducing risk . We know that if you take the oral contraceptive for about five years , it reduces your risk of ovarian cancer by 50% . And that's significant because we're so poor at diagnosing ovarian cancer early .
So there's something about this idea of incessant ovulation that is not good for the female body . So if you look at , for instance , women who are nuns who uh don't take oral contraceptives and they have a period every single month of their reproductive lives , they have a greater risk of ovarian cancer . So if you look , then at women who have uh several babies and they've got a period of time when they're pregnant that they're not ovulating and then they breastfeed for some period of time , they have a lower risk of ovarian cancer .
