Contraceptives and birth control pills are commonly used among women who would want to correct their hormonal changes. Though most women would opt to go for contraceptives to have their hormones corrected and avoid unwanted pregnancies, recent findings revealed some contraceptives contents can trigger epilepsy.
A study from Texas A&M Health Science Center suggests that ethanol estradiol, which is known as the primary component of oral contraceptives, can be highly dangerous to the epileptic brain. The team's findings on possible epilepsy risk among women who take contraceptives are reported in Knowridge.
The study was led by Dr. Samba Reddy, Ph.D., R.Ph., a professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. As the principal investigator of the study, Reddy pointed out that women using hormonal contraceptives self-reported 4.5 times more seizures than those that did not.
"We were inspired by an earlier study which surveyed women with epilepsy and found that those using hormonal contraceptives self-reported 4.5 times more seizures than those that did not use oral contraceptives," Reddy stated. "We suspected for some time that hormonal birth control increases seizure activity in women with epilepsy, but now we know what part of the contraceptive is problematic."
The study found that when epileptic animal models received ethanol estradiol, they not only had more frequent seizures but the seizures were more likely to be uncontrolled. It was then added that controlled seizures are less likely to have a permanent damage on the individual while uncontrolled seizures, on the other hand, can lead to permanent brain damage.
In relation to the impact of birth control pills, it was added that birth control pills can potentially alter a woman's blood pressure, putting women at risk of high blood pressure, Health Line explained. Although it was not fully confirmed yet, studies are being done on hormonal birth controls as it reportedly increases the risk of ovarian cancer among women.