Her Annoying Vaginal Discharge is caused by One Unlikely Culprit: Birth Control

After two years of birth control, she’s experiencing brown vaginal discharge that she describes as “annoying.” The discharge lasts for two weeks and is actually her uterine lining. Because birth control has disrupted her natural hormone levels, that lining is too thin to stay in place and now sloughs off throughout the month.

Case #: 1226

Concern：

I have been on the pill for almost two years, and lately I’ve been getting a lot of brown discharge. I don’t know what the cause is. It happens for two weeks straight and is pretty annoying. I’m not sure if it’s really light blood or just discharge. How will I be able to get rid of this?

Discussion：

Birth control pills are supposed to make sex more enjoyable. They were, in fact, invented to give women a choice so that sex didn’t necessarily equate to motherhood. Of course, the pill wasn’t the first development to allow women to enjoy intercourse rather than treat it as a duty. As early as 3000 BC, condoms were made from materials like linen sheaths and fish bladders. But the pill put women in control – or at least they thought.

The truth is that women lose control of their bodies while on birth control. Oral contraceptives contain synthetic blends of hormones produced naturally in the body: estrogen and progesterone. This means your natural supply of these hormones is only increased by synthetic chemicals. Both are treated the same by the body and can quickly cause imbalances; hormones are produced by a delicate process and released to perform very specific functions. Upsetting that process can lead to unwanted side effects like vaginal discharge.

What is Vaginal Discharge?

The vagina is a more complex organ than it appears. Because it is the passageway from outside to inside the body, it maintains a particular environment that helps prevent disease and illness. That environment is created largely by healthy bacteria. But bacteria alone aren’t enough to serve the vagina – it also needs secretions that help remove toxins and harmful bacteria from the body. Other functions of discharge include keeping the vagina moist and regulating its acidic environment.

Normal discharge is clear, milky white or slightly yellow. It varies in texture from thin to stretchy, depending on where a woman is in her menstrual cycle and whether or not she’s sexually aroused. Discharge that deviates from these colors and/or is clumpy or accompanied by a foul smell suggests a problem within the body.

Interfering Effects of Birth Control

Estrogen is one hormone largely responsible for producing vaginal discharge. Vaginal walls also release some fluid to keep muscles strong and healthy. But birth control pills interfere with discharge by disrupting hormone levels. Estrogen may become too high or too low, depending on how your body reacts to the pill. In turn, secretions can also fluctuate.

What about brown discharge? The answer is, again, estrogen. This chemical creates a thick, lush lining in the uterus to support the healthy development of an embryo. If a woman doesn’t become pregnant, an embryo doesn’t get implanted. The lining of the uterus is then shed during menstruation, and the entire process starts over with a new monthly cycle.

As already discussed, birth control interrupts natural hormone levels. Estrogen deficiency is responsible for the brown vaginal discharge you have. When that hormone isn’t plentiful enough in the body, the uterine lining doesn’t grow as it should. It instead develops a thin and watery consistency. As a result, the lining doesn’t remain in place until menstruation – it sloughs off throughout the month in the form of vaginal discharge.

Discharge No More

Restoring health to the vagina starts with detoxifying your body. You need to expel the excess hormones caused by your birth control. One of the best ways to do this is with an herbal formula designed specifically for women. Ingredients like Calendula and Mexican Wild Yam work with the liver to purify the body. (SEE: Herbal Formula for Vaginal Infection Relief) These herbs also restore beneficial bacteria to the vagina to prevent excessive discharge. You’ll no longer feel annoyed with yourself – just healthy, happy and back to normal.