CBD Oil and Birth Control: What’s the deal?

Certainly one of the most asked questions to us remains the link between CBD oil and birth control. People do want to know more about the impact on birth control with natural medications.  We are aware that the mixing of alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs have been well documented. Therefore it is natural for people to be concerned about prescription medicines and CBD mixing. 

CBD Oil and Birth Control: The short answer

The shorter answer for this will be that you should be frequently asking these questions to the primary health care provider. Also, this must be done before you include CBD oil in your everyday routine.

In case you want to understand the concept with more details, just read on!

The very first thing that you should understand is that it’s very much possible that CBD interaction does take place with other medicines. Although it is completely natural but there is an effect on the metabolic rate of our body. But we also have good news for you! This also means that it can also interact with some medicines and make them more effective. This will make sure that the chemical dosage of the medicine that you are already taking can be lowered when you are having it with CBD oil.

Related: Does CBD Oil Relieve Chronic Pain?

Is CBD Oil and Birth Control safe to be taken together?

All of us have to be sage. None of us will want to take a risk of falling sick or feeling bad in any way. Several people do have this question in mind if CBD oil and birth control pills can be taken at the same time. So in case you were too embarrassed to ask the question, don’t be.

As per the statistics, the prevalence of contraceptive usage is 81% in the UK. And this can be compared to 70% overall in Europe. This also means that the United Kingdom does remain the highest user of contraceptives In Europe. It is also presently the first in entire Western Europe. And though, there are several kinds of contraception options available, birth control pills remain the most prevalent method.

Additionally, the UK has also legalized CBD product usage. Therefore, it’s natural to be curious if or not CBD oil will be affecting birth control pills. Especially when this is a relatively new concept, unfortunately, there is not much research done on this matter for determining with certainty if CBD oil with birth control pills might lower the effectiveness.

However, there are some leads that some researchers and pharmacists have used as a base and have theorized the outcomes on birth control pills and CBD interaction.

The CYP Enzyme System And Birth Control- Why Does This Even Matter?

Now, this is a scientific concept that you need to understand. Hormones present in the birth control pills are metabolized by the enzyme system called P-450 by Cytochrome. This is called a CYP enzyme system in short. It is vital that you should know a bit about this before we establish if CBD oil can alter the manner the hormones get metabolized in the body. This system is found in the liver that is majorly responsible for metabolizing all kinds of drugs that are found in common medicines.

Just like a portion of simple food like grapefruit, CBD oil will be affecting the CYP enzyme system that metabolizes the medicines. And this can cause the lower or higher concentration o the medicine in the system then it was earlier anticipated.

The key point to remember here is that the CYP enzyme is majorly responsible for the metabolism of birth control hormones. And CBD oil can inhibit the activity as per some studies. We have to say here again that much research needs to be done here. This means that we can’t say that CBD oil will affect contraceptive pills, or women that take birth control pills will get pregnant in case they take CBD oil.

Related: How Long Does CBD Stay In Your System?

Estrogen and Progestin Vs Progestin Birth Control Pills

Now there can be birth control pills with different hormones as well. One can be a combination of Estrogen and Progestin and the other being the progestin-only pills. These are also called a mini pill sometimes.

Specific kinds of birth control pills might contain different hormone pills. As we said one is the combination of the two hormones and the other contains just one hormone. As per the Canada Natural Health Service, the kind of birth control pills that one takes does make a difference. According to them, pills having estrogen hormones might be at a higher risk for not working in the manner it is supposed to be. This is because there can be an interaction of CBD oil with the CYP enzyme system. Now, this does include rings, patch, injections, or tablets.

Most of these concerns come from a study that was carried on in the year 1983. That had found that cannabinoids can be competing with the estradiol. This is the main female sex hormone. This can also prevent estrogen-based contraception from effective working. It can also lead to increased pregnancy risk and spotting.

While there might not have been enough pieces of evidence for finding if CBD oil does affect birth control, and in case this is a huge concern for you, talk to your doctor more on the contraceptives. The doctor can prescribe you an IUD or progesterone-only contraceptive.

You should know that there are some herbal remedies as well that can interact with birth control this includes garlic pills and St.Johns wort. Therefore while taking any supplements you need to be careful about this. At this moment, there are certain studies that are being done for determining if CBD oil and birth control pills do interact. They can also increase the risks of some side effects. But presently we don’t know what can happen.

CBD Oil and Birth Control: Simple steps for making sure you remain safe while taking CBD oil

Here are some basic yet effective tips that you should be keeping in mind while using CBD oil:

1. The very first thing before you start taking CBD oil or any other substance is talking to a health professional about it. A lot of people depend only on online research as it offers a sense of accomplishment. But it’s equally important that you are talking to somebody that is aware of your current health condition and has a professional valid medical opinion.
2. The second step before you buy CBD oil is that you are buying it from a reputed and reliable company. Of course, you will be able to find some cheaper options but always make sure that when it comes to CBD you only go with a high-quality product or its useless.
3. The final step you might take for making sure you remain safe while taking CBD oils doing complete research on the specific brand as well as the product. Also, it is crucial that you are aware of the place CBD has been sourced from. This will be helping you in finding the brand that you are able to trust.

For today, there are several good resources that you might use for understanding what is in the CBD oil that you are taking. There are third-party lab results available online. This will give you complete information on the content of the CBD oil. It will also be having information on the pesticides and herbicides if present or in case there are heavy metals.

CBD Oil and Birth Control: Bottom Line

Although there is not enough evidence on the CBD oil and birth control interaction yet. You can look at the CYP enzyme system and the way in which it interacts with other substances. This will give you much-needed clarity on the topic. We hope that this blog must have been informative for you. And in case you want to learn more about CBD oil and variety facets, you can scroll through our website. You can also find many educational and informative articles on CBD here so go ahead and take a look.