{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Thyroid Mystery Solved: Hashimoto's and Hypothyroidism Revealed","title":"107 Demystifying Prolonged Use of Birth Control Pills + Thyroid Connection with Emily Sadri","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3519,"description":"The Case:  Jenny went on the pill as a teenager to regulate her irregular and heavy periods. After 20 years on the pill, she decided to start a family. Going off the pill led to fatigue, insomnia, hair loss, acne, and when her periods returned after 3 months, they were painful, heavy and irregular. Her symptoms led her to suspect hypothyroidism but her levels came back normal.   The Investigation The first thing I did when I started working with Jenny was to run a full thyroid panel. While her TSH was normal, as her doctor had said, her free hormones were off. I knew that there had to be a connection between Jenny’s long history with birth control pills, her menstrual issues, and her thyroid but was the thyroid causing the issue or did the pill create a thyroid problem? To discuss this further, I reached out to Emily Sadri. She’s a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner and midwife who runs a functional medicine practice for women in Cleveland, Ohio. She specializes in abnormal bleeding, perimenopause, menopause, and fertility so I knew she would be a great resource for this episode.   How the Birth Control Pill Became So Popular Most people are familiar with the birth control pill and yet, most of the time this medication is prescribed it is not specifically for family planning as it was designed. Instead, women often turn to the birth control pill to help them deal with other issues. For example, it is common for young women to turn to the birth control pill to lessen heavy and/or painful periods. They may also start taking the pill to help them deal with acne or irregular bleeding. This will often happen soon after a woman starts her menses. Emily says this is a bit of an issue because a woman’s cycle takes time to find it’s rhythm and if a medication is used to regulate that early on, it may never find its own rhythm because the feedback loop between all of the hormones is interrupted.   How Menstruation Works To fully understand why this is an...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/9ZbRr0xzgu8-YRnig2AcyeY_Nu_m2EBquTr83LV8K2g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQ4NTg5LzE3MTE1/NjQxMDktYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}