Home

Advertisement

Previous Entry | Next Entry

the joys of femininity.

  • Oct. 5th, 2007 at 12:32 AM
kitty bug
I have recently learned that my birth control could kill me.

Needless to say, I'm not using it anymore. At least, not that one, or any one that contains estrogen.

Cause I'm a fan of being alive, and having all my nerves responding to my whim.


I'm thinkin...Depo provera, or some variation on the IUD.


cause no stroke is good.

This change will also hopefully take care of the nifty-fun migraines that have been accompanying my periods as of late. Going all blind and woobly in my vision is interesting, but not terribly pleasant.




My room is nearly clean. YAY!
  • Mood: happy

Comments

( Leave a comment )
[info]morgansong wrote:
Oct. 5th, 2007 11:23 am (UTC)
wait.. um.. WHAT?
More details please? Was this a study or you specifically or what?
| Reply | Thread
[info]chamedragon wrote:
Oct. 5th, 2007 09:31 pm (UTC)
Re: wait.. um.. WHAT?
No, it was a study of migraines and periods and suchlike. Apparently there is a very high correlation between migraines with visual symptoms (blindness, spots, lightning bolts, etc...) and strokes when women who have that type of migraine use birth control with estrogen. Most of the pills, the nuvaring, and ortho evra all contain various amounts of estrogen. The one I was on contains the most, and I started, recently, to have really unpleasant migraines involving me going totally or partially blind. My younger sister was also having these problems, with other excitement as well, so she went to the gynecologist, who took her off her b.c. When my mom told me about that, I decided that it was a bad risk. So I have to change b.c.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]jemstone wrote:
Oct. 5th, 2007 10:18 pm (UTC)
Re: wait.. um.. WHAT?
Very wise decision. Very glad you took that path, is me.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]jemstone wrote:
Oct. 5th, 2007 01:59 pm (UTC)
What Jenn said...
"Yikes" doesn't quite seem to cut it.

Dead Mere is not on the docket for any time soon, thanks.
| Reply | Thread
[info]vox_dei wrote:
Oct. 5th, 2007 09:57 pm (UTC)
That's so scary. I just searched for articles about this and apparently low-estrogen pills double or triple the chance of stroke, and use of the patch is correlated with having 9x one's normal chance of stroke! YIKES. Apparently doctors have continued to prescribe the pill and patch because most young women's chances of stroke are so low that even multiplying the chance by nine doesn't leave many people at risk. Anyway, it really sounds like you did the right thing, especially with the migraines. I like your brain! I want it to be happy and blood-clot free!

I've heard some not-so-great things about depo-provera and other progesterone-only forms of birth control. They often make your period go away after being on them for a few months, but they are also associated with weight-gain of approximately 5 pounds per year, which kinda sucks for a long-term solution in my book. I know that there's a non-hormonal IUD called the paragard that lasts for up to 10 years and is removable at any time. I don't know if you want to be on a hormonal one (lots of people do for PMS and such... though you're probably on the other side of that fence now) but you might want to look into it.

I miss you, Mere! I hope you're doing well!
Beth
| Reply | Thread
[info]ripe_peaches wrote:
Oct. 7th, 2007 03:23 am (UTC)
It's only 3 pounds a year.
Also, if you start out not over-weight it doesn't have such an effect on your weight. If you're already over-weight it's easier to gain the weight.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]nightmorph wrote:
Oct. 6th, 2007 03:12 am (UTC)
Yeah, but . . . aren't IUDs less effective than pill-based forms of birth control? Or at least, not as effective as estrogen-based BC.

Besides, now that you aren't dating anyone, whatchu need it for? Sure, I know that lots of girls are on BC for medical reasons unrelated to pregnancy, but I thought it meant that they needed the estrogen. Which you can't have anymore?

What's in BC, anyway? Maybe they're more of a chemical cocktail than I thought. Not just estrogen, I take it?
| Reply | Thread
[info]chamedragon wrote:
Oct. 6th, 2007 08:52 am (UTC)
I needs it cause my period bees wonky.

Most birth control is a combination of Estrogen and Progestin, which is a chemical similar to progesterone. Both chemicals are involved in the female reproductive cycle, and birth control basically evens out that cycle, and prevents any fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall. Estrogen makes it harder for the sperm to GET to the egg, and Progestin changes the uterine wall, making it impossible for the egg to implant. There are a bunch of other hormones involved in the cycle, but those are the two that are used in BC. The reason women like pills containing estrogen is that the effects aren't quite so time specific as progestin only pills, which you HAVE to take AT THE SAME TIME every day, or they will possibly not protect you from pregnancy.

I actually ended up on a progestin only pill, cause the shot had some really nasty side effects I didn't wish to experience. If it doesn't work for me, I'll try something else.

And actually, IUD's are the MOST effective form of BC. They used to be problematic, back in the 70's, but they've made significant progress in the technology. Now its about a 1 in 100 chance, while the pill is about 3 in 100.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]nightmorph wrote:
Oct. 6th, 2007 05:29 pm (UTC)
/. sez: informative +5 moderation
Oh. Ohhhhhhh. Only a little of this stuff do I ever remember my wife telling me. I'd had it in my head that estrogen had both effects; not that there's another chemical in the mix that did it. Sucks to be on progestin. Egad. Exact same time every day? Color me knocked up. I'd never remember!
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]chamedragon wrote:
Oct. 6th, 2007 08:59 pm (UTC)
Re: /. sez: informative +5 moderation
hurrah cell phone alarm clock.

BTW, Have I mentioned how I think its so incredibly sweet how you refer to M. as "my wife" all the time? I can totally hear you in my head, and you always sound so happy about it.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]nightmorph wrote:
Oct. 7th, 2007 01:57 am (UTC)
Re: /. sez: informative +5 moderation
Aye!
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]ripe_peaches wrote:
Oct. 7th, 2007 03:20 am (UTC)
I read this and thought "wait...did I post a post without knowing it?!?!?!". Yes, Dead meres is bad but dead meres AND katts is worser.

P.S. Depo provera is a pain in the butt. Literally.
| Reply | Thread
( Leave a comment )