Tuesday, 18 September 2012

• My Birth Control Story

  
  
  It all started when I was a sophomore in college.  I was taking accutane (an acne medication) which is very strong and can cause severe birth defects. Even though I wasn't sexually active, it was policy that I had to take birth control pills (or at least the prescription for them) in order to take accutane. Since the pill also clears skin, I decided to start taking it. I was on the pill for the 6 months that I was on accutane, then stopped.

  In May 2005, I met my husband and we started dating. I went on the pill again. For the first 3 months I had break-through bleeding and I remember being mortified waking up next to my boyfriend in a puddle of blood. After some trial and error, I finally I found a pill that worked. I was never the best at taking them faithfully, and there were days I would miss and have to make up, but during our 2 years of dating and first year of marriage we never had a scare.

  In August 2009 we purchased our first house! During the move I misplaced a few packs of pills. I decided to find a new Ob/Gyn in the area, but I could not get an appointment until February. I ran out of birth control at the end of September, and we decided that until my appointment in February, we would try to conceive. October 2009 was the first month in years that I had not taken birth control pills, and I didn't realize how crappy they had made me feel. Suddenly, I felt wonderful and noticed a huge increase in my libido!

  The end of November came and went without a period, and it wasn't until December 11th (I was a little in denial) that I finally broke down and bought a hpt, POSITIVE. Joey was born on August 5, 2010!
  
  After his birth, I went on the mini-pill. By January I was ready to be done breastfeeding, and at the end of January my period came back. I went to the doctor mid-February and got a new prescription for the regular combination pill. March came but my period hadn't returned. And the hpt said POSITIVE. The mini-pill had not worked and we were pregnant. Unfortunately and sadly that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. I had a D&C in April. By the end of May my period came back, and again, I started taking birth control pills.

  But the pill for me was awful. Two weeks in, I bled for a week and again at the end of the month as expected. The same thing happened in July, so when I started bleeding in the middle of July, I stopped the pill. And in the middle of August I was pregnant with Bode.

  After Bode was born my plan was to have the Mirena IUD inserted. We weren't going to try for baby number 3 for a while. As written in my previous post (about my premature Bode), my IUD went completely through my uterus and had to be surgically removed. After that, I went on the mini-pill. I stopped pumping breast milk at the end of May, so in the beginning of June I started Ortho Lo. And of course I was miserable again. By mid-June I started bleeding, end of June period. July same as June, possibly because I missed 2 days of pills which can cause breakthrough bleeding. In August I missed no pills so it was a good month. In September, I missed ONE day and made up for it the next day but was already bleeding, WTF. I am still bleeding and miserable, so I told my husband I am done with this pill until I go for my yearly in October.

  Now my decision is to try a different pill or try Nuva Ring, any suggestions? I refuse to get the shot, I know way too many people that gained weight like crazy on it and then could not get the weight back off. I think I'm either going to do Ortho (regular) or Nuva Ring, but would love insight.

  I realize that every woman has a distinct and personal story when it comes to birth control. I also know that as a woman the pioneers behind birth control should be given much appreciation. They paved the way for the numerous options that I/we enjoy today!

  A brief history....

  1550 B.C. An Egyptian manuscript called the Ebers Papyrus directs women on how to mix dates, acacia and honey into a paste, smear it over wool and  use it as a pessary to prevent conception

  1700s Casanova's memoirs detail his experiments in birth control, from sheep-bladder condoms to the use of half a lemon as a makeshift cervical  cap

  1839 Charles Goodyear invents the technology to vulcanize rubber and puts it to use manufacturing rubber condoms, intrauterine devices, douching  syringes and "womb veils"

  1873 Congress passes an antiobscenity law that deems birth control info obscene and outlaws its dissemination. At the time, the U.S. is the only  Western nation to criminalize contraception

  1880s A large cervical cap is developed--an early version of the diaphragm

  1916 Margaret Sanger opens America's first family-planning clinic, in Brooklyn. It is shut down within 10 days

  1921 Sanger founds the American Birth Control League, which later becomes the Planned Parenthood Federation of America

  1930 Anglican bishops approve limited use of birth control; Pope Pius XI affirms church teaching against contraception

  1938 A judge lifts the federal obscenity ban on birth control, but contraception remains illegal in most states

  1951 Prompted by Sanger, Gregory Pincus begins research on the use of hormones in contraception. In Mexico City, chemist Carl Djerassi creates a  progesterone pill

  1954 John Rock, below, in collaboration with Pincus, bottom, conducts the first human Pill trial on 50 women in Massachusetts

  1960 In May, the FDA announces its approval of Enovid as a birth control pill (almost half a million American women are already taking it for "therapeutic purposes")

  1965 In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court strikes  down state laws prohibiting contraception for married couples; 6.5 million American women are on the Pill

  1970 Concerns about the Pill's safety and side effects prompt  Senate hearings

  1980s Lower-dose Pills dominate the market; 10.5 million American  women are taking the Pill

  2010 A new study of 46,000 women conducted over 40 years found that women on the Pill live longer and are less likely to die prematurely of all causes, including cancer and heart disease. Some 100 million women around the world use the Pill

  Fact Source and read more here.
  
  
  
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