Young women experiencing 'nocebo' side effects are quitting birth control

Despite being prescribed to many, many, women and often from a young age, birth control pills are seriously under-studied.

They’ve been getting prescribed for decades in the UK and as plenty of us will be able to say anecdotally, it can feel like they’re given as a bit of a ‘fix any problem a woman has’.

And maybe it’s because of that lack of real scientific research that so much misinformation is spread about oral contraception.

This has become known as the ‘nocebo effect’ which is thought to be leading to young women quitting birth control.

But it’s worth highlighting there that oral contraception isn’t just prescribed to prevent pregnancy but also for other health reasons like helping with acne and heavy or painful periods. Yet while young women and girls take to social media to share their experiences with the pill, they might be citing ‘nocebo’ side effects, apparently.

They've been prescribed for decades and yet there is little research. (Getty Stock)

Essentially, this is the opposite of the placebo effect. So, we start to attribute symptoms and negative effects that might not actually have anything to do with the medication.

And that’s why it’s so tricky with birth control – the lack of research means it’s hard to tell what a legit medical concern is and what’s just nocebo.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield identified this as it said that ‘side effects experienced when taking oral contraception may be affected by women’s expectations and beliefs about the pill’.

They claim nocebo responses to it can include depression, anxiety and fatigue.

They found that around two in three women stop taking the pill within two years of starting it and that in many cases, side effects were central to the decision.

Dr Rebecca Webster, who supervised the research study, said: “The contraceptive pill gets a lot of negative attention, particularly on social media, and we were interested in how these negative views could be influencing the way women are experiencing oral contraception.

“The side effects are very real, but could some of them have a psychological component? If they do, that means we could develop interventions to help people deal with them.”

Some medical experts suggest it shouldn't just be a 'one size fits all' for the prescription. (Getty Stock)

The researchers collected data from 275 women between 18 to 45 who had taken birth control pills in the previous 18 months. And nearly every participant reported experiencing one symptom such as headaches, nausea, mood swings, acne, weight gain and weight loss (and a whole load of others).

A total of 126 women discontinued using the pill and it’s believed the nocebo effect might be impacting women’s experience.

Lorna Reid, lead author said: “It is important to acknowledge how some women’s experiences of oral contraception are impacted by the nocebo effect. With this information, women can make more informed decisions about their use of oral contraception.

“This is particularly so with younger women who may be exposed to more negative messaging around use of the pill through greater use of media platforms.”

It’s difficult to really know what is causing the side effects but when so many women are being handed a little-researched pill and are complaining about their experiences maybe the medical community should listen to them.

If providers want women to trust the pills they’re prescribing, perhaps the nocebo can be eradicated by actually knowing what side effects they do and don’t cause.

Maybe women should simply be listened to rather than accused of exaggerating their experiences and then the nocebo effect wouldn’t have so much power. But hey, happy Women's History Month.