Everyone deserves access to birth control if they want it. But I would never push someone (any gender) to just have to deal with side effects that can ruin or end their life. My primary issue, especially for those who seek to misunderstand me, is that we tell women to put up with side effects or worse—tell them they are imagining them. And at the same time, completely validate men and say they deserve better. I’m not asking to medicate men into feeling miserable. I’m asking to believe and valida

I’m not saying you should never go on birth control, but I do think we should be aware of their side effects! So what should you do? After a patient decides to go on birth control, I suggest they consider getting a blood panel done a few months after to see if anything has changed. That's because birth control pills can cause vitamin deficiencies. Birth control pills can deplete your body of several B vitamins (riboflavin, B6, B12, and folic acid), vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc. I say this as a