Caution: Pill - Take only as directed

[Brandye]

OK, girls, this should really be posted in Chick Chat. It is posted here because few people look at Chick Chat (to my disappointment) and there seems to be an increase in the posted issues around erratic use of “The Pill.” This is serious stuff; read on.

Any of the hormonal systems for contraception are just what the name implies. They afford contraceptive protection by confusing the body. The mechanism for confusing the body is varying natural and artificial hormone levels. This is true for the pill, patch, ring, implant and shot. Do not holler that any of these are not available. Somewhere in the world, each is in use. The pill remains the most common and is the one most frequently misused.

Each of these systems should be used exactly as prescribed. Follow the directions from your prescriber and read the package insert. Ask questions until you fully understand. Then do what is told you. Taking the pill regularly is important. OK, an hour off is not really a big deal. If you take the pill two hours early one night and two hours late the next, that is a four hour increase between pills. During those four hours, or sixteen percent of prescribed administration, the strength of the hormones in your system decreases. This leads to confusion in your reproductive tract and can lead to the release of an egg. Do not follow the advice of your friends on “the pill.” There are at least forty different pills on the market. Some you take every day; some, you stop a week each month; some you change color of the pill for a week. Some use one hormone; some two; some add a third. Each has a different regimen. Follow yours.

Recently, two people have posted saying that they were on the pill, careless about taking it and, then, took a morning after pill. One was erratic so she took all the pills she had missed and her period came early. Some morning after pills are variations of the regular pill. Some regular pills, in different dosage, are actually used as emergency contraception. Mixing these all up leaves your body wondering what is going on and anything is possible.

For younger women (arbitrarily defined as under eighteen) there are many additional considerations to pregnancy. Using myself as an example: My breasts started to bud just before my twelfth birthday; my periods began almost a year later; I became fairly regular by seventeen; my breasts continued to grow past my 20th birthday. I am fairly typical with a year shift in either direction. Starting with the breast buds, my, and your, hormones started to change from those of a little girl (essentially sexless) to those of a mature woman (with all the attendant sexuality). The shifting hormones caused commensurate physical changes. Those are the days of wild mood swings, pimples, erratic spotting, irregular periods, and, unnoticeably, irregular ovulation, breast development, addition of body hair. That is without the interference of additional or unnatural hormones.

If you add contraceptive hormones to this mix, any or all of these developments may change. Not taking the pills on a regular schedule can actually affect physical development. Adding strong shots of hormones (regular pills and morning after pills) can affect breast development, facial hair, moods, cognitive development, acne and, especially pregnancy. Erratic pill schedules not do not decrease chances of pregnancy, they may increase chance of pregnancy. If your doctor puts you on the pill because of difficult periods, she will be monitoring closely and the schedule should be followed just as carefully even if you are not sexually active.

To read some recent posts (and in my experience) some young women are as casual with the pill as with aspirin. Hormones are serious drugs with serious effects and serious side-effects. Self-medicating with other hormones (morning after pill) while on prescribed medications (birth control pill) is playing with fire.

If you do not exactly what to do, call the doctor’s office and get advice. The first bit of advice I give is to use additional protection until after the next period. With two of the young women who have recently posted, it would be to stop all medication for two menstrual cycles and start over.

This is continued and expanded upon at post 26 in this thread. Please read it.

[Brandye]

I am only posting this to keep it up at the top. Perhaps the mod will give it a sticky.

When you begin any hormonal form of birth control you are assuming the responsibility to suse it as directed - exactly. The alternative is that you will be assuming the responsibility for a child.

[Brandye]

Questions continue about the pill so I am boosting this up.

Mod can you make this a sticky?

[Brandye]

I am going to do whatever is necessary to keep this on top until it gets a sticky.

[moose_hd]

I think the real problem is that a lot of people don't really read or search before they post, so even having it pinned wouldn't prevent generation of more topics on this subject. (Not that this isn't relevant info or anything. Even as a guy I found it very informative; they never taught us this stuff at school!)

[Brandye]

Thanks, Moose. The ones that concern me are the ones who are not regular with the pill and then get advice from their teen aged b/f to take an emergency contraception pill. I am constantly amazed by how cavalier women are in what they do to their bodies.

I am trying to bump this up again; the problem continues.

[WallyLlama]

Giving this a bump with a Ben Franklin observation:

"Igonorance is bliss."

[Lackadaisical]

The fact that the pill is extra hormones used to trick my body is the only reason that I (at 18) am not on it yet. My boyfriend and I have been together going on two years, and are very comfortable with each other in all manners, and are quite fine going on without sex until I am on the pill (which I wish to do). However, I have physical concerns about it that leave me unsure, and I don't even have a doctor (been trying for a year, no doctors in my area are taking patients) so I can't really talk to one about which pill to go on. I find that the problem some of the time isn't just misuse or ignorance, but situations like mine, where a doctor is seriously unavailable. I've had two friends try to give me their pill to take, but I refused because I believe that I shouldn't do anyting to my body until I know the effects for certain. It's very frustrating that I have to wait months/years to get a doctor to help me on something that I think is fairly simple.

[Brandye]

I cannot imagine the Canadian NHS being so back-logged. But then people cannot imagine six months for joint transplants in our NHS.

You are correct in that you should not go onto any hormaones without seeing a doctor. You will be limited by the NHS formulary but that is hardly a considration. Almost all pills have a generic equivalent. Surely in Dartmouth or Halifax you will find a clinic that specializes in women's health or whatever. I do not know where Yarmouth is (except a long way from here) and I do not know how clinics are distributed in the Maritimes.

Do wait until you see a doctor. Sharing meds of any kind is bad news.

[Lackadaisical]

I'm moving to Halifax in about 7 months, when I get there I plan on starting a new search for a doctor. Yarmouth is just a little town with no doctors. We've recently gotten three or four new ones, but they used a LOTTERY to choose patients. Needless to day, I didn't win. Waiting isn't hurting me, only giving me more time to love my boyfriend, so I'm mostly content.