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Male birth control shot found effective, but side effects cut study short
- Thread starter excelsiorlef
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RowdyReverb
Member
That does sound highly inflated, especially given that psychological side effects (namely libido) of oral contraceptives have had conflicting evidence at best. In fact, I'm reading through the literature and I can't find an association between hormonal contraceptives and depression
I don't think it's common to do any tests. At least, in my personal experience, they just gave me a pap smear and then wrote out a prescription.
IUDs have their own set of scary potential side effects, though. Including perforating the uterus during insertion or migrating out of the uterus. This is one of the forms of birth control that they'll warn could render you infertile, if it isn't put in correctly. Also, my doctor warned that it could cause months of bleeding. I considered it as post-baby birth control, but got spooked by all the negatives and just went back to the pill (which worked for me, before).
Mine did something along these lines. Due to a family history of heart problems, we both agreed that for ease of mind we should make sure I'm not high risk for clotting issues. All was well and good, until I got the bill for the blood test that my insurance refused to cover. Nothing like paying over $1000 for that and be forced onto payment plans.
Aren't condoms by far the most used pregnancy prevention method?!
The closest I found was a correlation study out of Denmark recently that saw a 30 % risk increase for developing depression in women on medication. The actual prevalence was 1.7 % without the medication, 2.2 % on the medication. I'm going with the professor outright lying with that number or that she has severely misunderstood the research. It's somewhat telling that she's a professor of biology and philosophy; not medicine. She's not actually an expert in the field at all.
Pop-sci blog post on the Danish study: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-hormonal-birth-control-trigger-depression-2016101710514
Those side effects are pretty rare, thankfully. IUDs are emerging as a top recommendation these days. Especially the newer versions seem to be reliable, effective and have minimal side effects compared to pills because they producera minimal whole-body circulation of the hormone. Not to say your doctor was wrong or anything but they might have overplayed the downsides a bit.
The CDC says the pill wins: https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-use-united-states
I'm guessing among teens the condom wins, but I think men underestimate just how many sleezy guys there are out there who basically refuse to have anything to do with contraceptives. Even ignoring the jerks who refuse to wear a condom, there are a lot who would never have anything to do with something that affects their sperm production. Their entire self image is based on their dick.
"Since 1982".
Yeah, I'm going to need a more modern sample size. Some shit has happened since 1982 and I'm willing to bet condom use has consistently increased in the wake of it.
BladeoftheImmortal
Member
yea, while i was reading the study i thought to myself "wait a second, isn't that the same thing that happens to women...?"
glad tey talked about it in the article themselves....also release that shit, now. I want it!
glad tey talked about it in the article themselves....also release that shit, now. I want it!
Eye for an Eye
Member
You do realize the meaning of "since"??
Like every study from 1982 and onward has shown the same results of the pill and sterilization being the highest used contraceptive? All the studies are from 2006-2016 for the data. Read the reference links at the bottom of the page, it tells you when each study was done.
And some shit has changed in the world of hormonal birth control too, still making it the most popular option.
SciencePilot
Member
Birth control is tough. It's a shame there isn't a perfect solution yet. All solutions people have come up with so far have some dealbreaking flaw.
My girlfriend and I just use condoms. They're annoying because putting them on and taking them off interrupts the action. But the alternative is my girlfriend using the pill or an IUD, and neither of us wants her to have to go through that.
My girlfriend and I just use condoms. They're annoying because putting them on and taking them off interrupts the action. But the alternative is my girlfriend using the pill or an IUD, and neither of us wants her to have to go through that.
You have no idea how any of this works.
I must be extraordinarily unlucky, but none of the sex partners I've had for the last ten years have been on the pill or an IUD, nor have they carried condoms. I buy the condoms every single time. Feel free to make the small sample size joke of your choice (it's been about a dozen women). In three different parts of the world, too. Is it a generational thing?
KonradLaw
Member
Any man with a brain should welcome more options of male birth control. Vasagel seems most promising, but even with side effects hormonal pills would be interesting option too. Not any heavy side effects of course, but similiar ones to female versions would be acceptable.
The ability to not be at your female partner's mercy when it comes to controlling whether you have a child or not (because condoms have high risk of failing) is something men should welcome with open arms.
The ability to not be at your female partner's mercy when it comes to controlling whether you have a child or not (because condoms have high risk of failing) is something men should welcome with open arms.
Rimon-hanit
Member
So less choice for men and bigger burden on women, win win?
Your Entertainer
Member
If you're pretty sure you don't wanna be pregnant for a few years, a Mirena IUD is an outstanding option, imo...
what?
buying condoms isn't a burden on men. they're cheap as fuck, you can get them in different sizes, and if you're allergic you can buy different materials. unless there's a probable risk that your dick can fall off by wearing one, condoms are not a serious burden at all. on top of that, i'd wager that most sexually active women make an enormous chunk of that figure anyway.
the fact of the matter is that only women currently have to deal with chemical contraceptions that have long lists of negative side effects. and the answer to 'why take it then?' is that most women taking contraception don't want pregnancy. even though pregnancy is the responsibility for both the man and the woman, only the woman has to go through with the intense physical burden. women stand to lose a lot more if they don't take extra precautions which are currently only available for them despite the problems associated.
Muppet of a Man
Member
This is sadly a more likely explanation. They should definitely be reassessed for safety and taken off the market if they don't meet current day standards.
Makes for a nice headline that doesn't hold up at all to scrutiny.
- Looks similar to is hardly scientific
- No shit new medicine needs to be better than existing medicines. The original BC pills were a massive shock, 0 to 96%. Since then there have been many refinements and different pills for different side effects.
- Injections are less useful than pills
- A lot of girls (most in the west?) don't in fact take BC because they are sexually active, but to mitigate/control periods
- Testosterone is a more (societally) dangerous hormone than estrogen.
- Looks similar to is hardly scientific
- No shit new medicine needs to be better than existing medicines. The original BC pills were a massive shock, 0 to 96%. Since then there have been many refinements and different pills for different side effects.
- Injections are less useful than pills
- A lot of girls (most in the west?) don't in fact take BC because they are sexually active, but to mitigate/control periods
- Testosterone is a more (societally) dangerous hormone than estrogen.
Some of the arguments here are really crappy. "I suffered through similar shit when I start BC, therefore men should too" is a thoughtless argument. It reminds me of those "we shouldn't raise the minimum wage because I had to work to X first!" arguments.
Making more shitty birth control, but this time for men, doesn't solve the issue that we need better birth control. Shoveling out another unstable solution for seemingly no other reason than you want men to suffer just as much as you do both does nothing more than serve to create unnecessary problems and reeks of pure schadenfreude. Do the current solutions available put more of the weight on a woman? Yes. Does that mean we should haphazardly throw dangerous drugs out on the market to even the scale, purely out of spite? Of course not.
got people to click the link though didn't it?
Making more shitty birth control, but this time for men, doesn't solve the issue that we need better birth control. Shoveling out another unstable solution for seemingly no other reason than you want men to suffer just as much as you do both does nothing more than serve to create unnecessary problems and reeks of pure schadenfreude. Do the current solutions available put more of the weight on a woman? Yes. Does that mean we should haphazardly throw dangerous drugs out on the market to even the scale, purely out of spite? Of course not.
got people to click the link though didn't it?
I think condoms (the one for men) are the best method thus far and really have yet to be topped. By best, I mean with the least number of harmful side effects for both partners, but that's my view not a fact.
HarryHengst
Member
Its not dangerous because women have been taking them for decades now, with worse side-effects apparently. So yes, if it works and the side effects are even less than womans birth control it should be put on the market. If there is a better option, sure, that would be nice, but clearly that is still many years away, so withholding this option really is unfair to women.
Not to mention, they're the only method of birth control to protect against unwanted pregnancies and STD's.
But people are dumb and think something like the pullout method is just as good. D :
Night Hunter
Banned
Where is that method where they inject something into your balls? Still in the (early) testing phase I pressume. Because I am desperately waiting for that one.
KonradLaw
Member
Vasagel will be out 2018 at the earliest.
Night Hunter
Banned
Ok, that is actually sooner than I expected. And after a quick google search I guess that's in the US. Any word on the EU?
RowdyReverb
Member
No, I wasn't referring to tests. By screen, I meant ask pertinent questions about family history, smoking history, and medical history primarily to identify patients at increased risk of adverse events
Coriolanus
Banned
I mean, the big hormone they using is testosterone undecanoate. If your endocrinologist clears you for it, you can get that right now. Just so happens that it is mostly used for TRT.
If they make that thing OTC, bodybuilders will buy it in bulk, fwiw. Somehow i don't think that anyone gonna do that with a steroid any time soon.
shadowsdarknes
Member
It's not that surprising that men aren't really interested in a contraceptive with serious side effects.
I've seen a lot of, "Men are just wimps. Women have been dealing with this for years what an epic double standard" on social media comments.
That ignores a lot of context. And a lot of comments seem to assume that as soon as this shot is ready, men and women should be equally using these contraceptives. And that's simply not going to happen.
-Some people are going to find an oral contraceptive to be more appealing than a shot. Not all, but some.
-If female birth control never existed today, and they were in the process of testing it and rolling it out with the same side effects, many women would not be interested. But many girls are put on the pill during their teenage years by their mothers. The pill has already been ingrained in our culture.
-Some women take the pill to regulate and reduce the pain of their menstrual cycle. Some women claim that is their primary usage because the pain is so bad.
-At the end of the day, getting pregnant is still going to be scarier and more burdensome than getting someone pregnant. If you want to have sex and not get pregnant, you should still take precautions.
I've seen a lot of, "Men are just wimps. Women have been dealing with this for years what an epic double standard" on social media comments.
That ignores a lot of context. And a lot of comments seem to assume that as soon as this shot is ready, men and women should be equally using these contraceptives. And that's simply not going to happen.
-Some people are going to find an oral contraceptive to be more appealing than a shot. Not all, but some.
-If female birth control never existed today, and they were in the process of testing it and rolling it out with the same side effects, many women would not be interested. But many girls are put on the pill during their teenage years by their mothers. The pill has already been ingrained in our culture.
-Some women take the pill to regulate and reduce the pain of their menstrual cycle. Some women claim that is their primary usage because the pain is so bad.
-At the end of the day, getting pregnant is still going to be scarier and more burdensome than getting someone pregnant. If you want to have sex and not get pregnant, you should still take precautions.
Agent Gibbs
Member
Wasn't there one attempted suicide associated with this too? I'm sure the article I read on the study noted the suicide (which was unrelated) and an attempted suicide which was relate to the study -I'd assume due to the side effects? or scrutiny?
Its an interesting study and one I've been interested in for years - my interest started out due to mistrust of an Ex, who 'forgot' to take contraceptives quite frequently, so I wanted something other than condoms that I could control. but the reasoning developed overtime as I matured into wanting to control my own options and a sort of "why should women have to be the sole one responsible for this" attitude
The side effects are interesting and whilst not ideal I'd hope they would continue to research this
Its an interesting study and one I've been interested in for years - my interest started out due to mistrust of an Ex, who 'forgot' to take contraceptives quite frequently, so I wanted something other than condoms that I could control. but the reasoning developed overtime as I matured into wanting to control my own options and a sort of "why should women have to be the sole one responsible for this" attitude
The side effects are interesting and whilst not ideal I'd hope they would continue to research this
excelsiorlef
Member
Suicides were apparently ruled out as being caused by the drug and I think there was only one. It's mentioned in the article.
Audioboxer
Member
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Especially when the person doing so is seemingly lying about the data to make her case.
Didn't realise that there was a prevalent amount of men that refuse to wear condoms. The only one I knew like that basically did it to himself by doing so much drugs that he could barely keep it up even bareback.
I agree with the posters on here that we should be encouraging women off birth control with harmful side effects rather than getting men to start taking them too. Had 2 exes on the pill, and the hormonal changes were startling. Wouldn't want my current GF or daughters to be on them if at all possible.
Audioboxer
Member
The mini-pill can sometimes be a solution
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/conditio...6/the-mini-pill-progestogen-only-pill-or-pop/
This is obviously the sticking point for some "forgetful" couples
RockTurtle
Member
so i'm a bit confused about the premise of the OP.
better/modern research and medical standards are indicative of some sexist bias?
better/modern research and medical standards are indicative of some sexist bias?
Subpar Scrub
Banned
Or get it reversed, or IVF. It's not a one-and-done unless you didn't plan it well.
there's a male birth control shot developed in india i think that could be safe and effective: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance
hormonal methods definitely need to go away, when my gf tried it she was pretty badly affected
hormonal methods definitely need to go away, when my gf tried it she was pretty badly affected
That's sad but it's true that female pills have a lot of bad side effects. Some pretty thoroughly suppress the libido too, so you end up with the catch-22 of being able to have sex, but having no interest in it.
It's bad that the male injections were stopped too, but efforts should be made to reduce the side effects of the male pill too.
It's bad that the male injections were stopped too, but efforts should be made to reduce the side effects of the male pill too.
Yeah, they definitely did that, but that's isn't a very thorough way of testing. I think most women go on birth control when they're young enough to not have any medical history. It's strange knowing that there's a possibility that a pill being prescribed to you, could possibly kill you, and the only method of screening you is to basically ask: "Have you heard of anyone else in your family dying this way?" Obviously the odds of being someone who can die from the pill are very small, but still it feels strange how we all just accept playing the numbers. I suppose it's because getting pregnant can kill us too...
It basically tricks the body into thinking you are already pregnant, so you stop ovulating. So, I don't think that's really "balancing." A common side effect is mood swings, because your hormones are all being amped up, in a sense.
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