Obstetrics/Gynecology and Sublimation - Page 5

[Aura_Kitten]

yes, birth IS like moving one's bowels.

and just a little aside ~ on the subject of sex drive taking a nose dive on the pill.... i'm on the pill and have not had this high of a sex drive in years. (maybe TMI.) so ~ hormones effect all women differently. (i'm also not going to deny that there is a huge pyschological component as well...)

and about the actual rates / %'s for the side effects ~ i'm not sure about any of you but i have had zero success finding any sources for these.

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by klothos

thank you for the information. do you know what the rates are for the occurrences of those possible side effects? from what i know, they are extremely low, but i'd be interested in any evidence to the contrary you might be able to provide.

There have been plenty of studies done over the years to show that the Pill causes all of these things and more.

What often happens is that a study will be released showing that the Pill causes or increases the chances of breast cancer, for example; then six months later, another study will be released into the media showing that the Pill does not increase a woman's chances of getting breast cancer; the study that shows that the Pill does no harm is usually financed by a pharmaceutical concern.

What you need to do is look at who/what finances each study, how the study is done and with what kind of follow-up is done. Follow the money trail $$$.

Another way to figure out things like this is to ask your older women friends and family members how many women developed breast cancer, for example, before 1960 and how many after 1960...doctors call this "anedotal evidence". I do not believe that the old lie that, "people never talked about those things in those days". I can remember everyone in the media talking about Mamie Eisenhower's hysterectomy in the 1950's.

...the breast cancer rates for the American population has mushroomed since 1960, and statisticians can factor in diet, lifestyle, environmental pollutants, stress, birthrates, breastfeeding habits all they want, but there are many women who develop breast cancer or some other complication from the Pill, and have no family history of breast cancer.

There are many studies that can be done also for each of the complications listed on the package insert for the Pill, but they are simply not done.

Some more anecdotal evidence here....

In my own family, no one in the last seventy years has had gallbladder disease. Yet among my seven younger sisters, three have had their gallbladder removed - all three of them were prescribed the Pill, and they had the problem after only one child.

When my sisters questioned the surgeon who did the gall bladder surgery and the doctor who prescribed the Pill if the Pill could have caused the gall bladder disease, all of the doctors said, "No"., and frankly I do not believe them. Where did the disease come from? We were raised as vegetarians! Why would a drug company not do a study to figure out how something like this happens? Because they do not care.

I have never been on the Pill and I have four children and, so far, have no gall bladder disease. (crossed fingers)

You could research further back, into the 1920's and 1930's when doctors were doing the research to synthesize hormones. Diethylstilbestrol was developed from this research, and even in 1938, doctors knew if they developed a hormone that can be taken by mouth, it would be very potent to survive the digestive tract, and that is just what happened with diethylstilbestrol; this artificial hormone was so potent that it crossed the placental barrier, which many doctors naively thought was a "bloody sieve" and caused congenital malformations in the second generation and now is believed to cause third generation problems; it was used as an anti-miscarriage pill from 1945 until 1971 even though there never was any solid scientific evidence that it did this. Diethylstilbestrol was also put into cattle to fatten them up for the market until 1979 so everyone has had the benefit of this hormone.

It was from this research that the Pill was developed.

I know there are many studies out there.

There was a book entitled First, Do No HaRm, about a young woman who married a medical doctor, went on the Pill, and had several major physical complications only to be told that it was all in her mind. She died of these complications, and her family sued, and wrote the book...I have the book somewhere, and it had a short run...

The truth is out there, just read and learn.

[sarajane]

I was on the pill once in my life only because it was prescribed to rid me of an ovarian cyst. It did work, the cyst went away. I had no side effects, (lucky me). Can't say if there was any sexual side effects as I wasn't sexually active during that time. I was 19 and didn't know or care much about anything but that cyst going away and didn't question the method used. Thankfully it did work without any harmful effect (that I know of). I used the pill (ironically) right up until my wedding day (prescription amount recommended had passed). So, I guess you could say I would of had sexual side effects if there were any seeing as it was probably still in my system but didn't notice any.

I vaguely remember using it longer than originally planned (as in, after the cyst was gone I filled the rest of the prescription anyway) only because it made my cycles so much better. (I had extremely painful ones that had me in bed for at least a day). Thankfully now a little older and little wiser I have found more natural ways of making those better. Turns out alot of the cycle pain was from the cyst in the first place.

Well, gee. Didn't mean to write that much on something so simple but there's my story!

[eksmom]

As a former Pill user (used it for about 3 years), I can't tell you how happy I am to be off the Pill. I went off in Dec 2002, had my dd in Sept 2003 and haven't used any hormonal methods since then. I guess I am one of those "freaky" women who likes being a woman - I really enjoy noting all of the physical/emotional/libido changes that I go through as a result of my natural cycle. I never felt right about messing with Mother Nature. I have way more sex drive than I used to but the best part is that I experience a normal range of emotions now - highs as well as lows, and I have a lot of moments of sheer contentment that I never had before. I think the Pill was suppressing my emotions and pushing them towards the negative end of the spectrum. It would take something monumental for me to ever use hormonal BC again.

I was on Depo instead of the Pill for about a year, and boy don't even get me started on how bad that stuff is. It messed with me so badly - zero sex drive, dryness (sorry TMI), irritability, depression, you name it. I was a b!$ch on wheels while I took the shot. As much as it affected me, I was scared it had also ruined my fertility, so I was quite thankful when I got pg the first cycle off the Pill.

[jplain]

Originally Posted by applejuice

In my own family, no one in the last seventy years has had gallbladder disease. Yet among my seven younger sisters, three have had their gallbladder removed - all three of them were prescribed the Pill, and they had the problem after only one child.

When my sisters questioned the surgeon who did the gall bladder surgery and the doctor who prescribed the Pill if the Pill could have caused the gall bladder disease, all of the doctors said, "No"., and frankly I do not believe them.

Actually, the Pill used to cause gall bladder problems frequently, and any surgeon who has been around long enough would know that.

The lower-dose pills most women are on now are much less likely to cause gall bladder problems, but it sounds like genetics might be a factor for some women.

A friend of mine was told that her severe digestive problems attributed to her gall bladder (which was then removed) resulted from long-term Pill usage. Her surgeon said the reason none her other doctors made the connection was that they were all too young to have known about the link!

Carolyn

[crunchy_mama]

hmm, this thread is very interesting. I unfortunately don't have much choice in dr's in my area. I have finally found one I like who is male- he gave me my first pap that didn;t hurt.

that is interesting about abc and the gall bladder I have 2 relatives that both had to have their gb removed both when teir 1st children where about 1- both have been on bc for an extended time 10+ years

dr's do not like to tell you the side effects of bc. I was on depo for 3 yrs, and pill for 1- I was depessed, continual infections, no sex drive, extreme weight gain- like a pp I was pretty much told that it was in my head-finally after I gave up bc my NP mentioned how awful she thought depo was- yet they didn't think it was imp to tell me while I was on it.

sorry for typing nak'ng

[PapayaVagina]

has anyone ever read the obgyn.net forums? the professional forums? if anyone ever wants to know what OBs really think, they should go there.

Oh boy, just when I was starting to forget about those nasty forums. Ugh. I used to go there and read those and the post I remember the most was about a woman who had refused a vacuum extraction. The doctor was on there telling the story and the very end of it said "Who does she think she is?" Yeah.