Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jan
22
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Well, We Don’t Prescribe Birth Control.”
“Well, we don’t prescribe birth control.” Family practitioner at a Catholic practice to mother with three children. Mother was there for a head cold.
There are 59 comments to this post.
Nothing wrong with an office not prescribing birth control if it goes against their religious beliefs, at least not in my opinion. But what the heck does that have to do with a cold? I’m a little confused here… did they see a Mom with three kids and just assume that she was there for birth control?
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I agree – I’m confused by this statement. Personally, I would prefer to go to a practice that does not prescribe birth control (They won’t look at the BCP as the end all be all of female issues) But did the practioner just come out and assume the mother was there for birth control? I would love to hear more from the OP!
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You know, I really have to wonder about the context of this because I can’t believe that some one would make a random statement about that subject. Maybe the mom asked if the antibiotics would interfere with her birth control. Maybe the mom asked if the doctor was taking new patients and wanted to schedule an annual exam. I think it was very brave of the provider to volunteer that information as it is likely to get a very angry response if some one comes in for a checkup and asks for a refill on their birth control and is told only then that the practice doesn’t do that.
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Beth had this to say,
Jan 22, 2012 @ 3:08 pm (Quote)
Whatever the story behind this, if a medical practice is going to provide well woman care AT ALL, then they should be offering the full range of reproductive health services. No doctor should be able to pick and choose which parts of their specialty they will provide. If you don’t want to prescribe a medication that is considered part of your scope of practice, then pick a different specialty. It’s just like ridiculous pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for any number of things. You don’t want to put what’s written on the paper into the little bottle, don’t be a freaking pharmacist! You don’t want to prescribe the pill, don’t claim to provide ANY reproductive health services. I don’t care what your religious beliefs are, they have no place in your professional life.
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Cameron Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 6:49 pm (Quote)
I agree. When a practitioner opposes some part of providing care, it’s called “invoking the conscience clause” in the United States. The states where this is legal are: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. If a woman in the remaining states wishes something from her health care provider, it would be the law for him/her to provide it, regardless of conscience.
The “conscience clause” came into effect after Roe vs Wade, and it looks like the Obama administration is going to rescind a lot of it.
Personally, I oppose the idea. There are a lot of jobs out there which don’t require men and women to violate their beliefs while working, and if that’s what you believe, you need to find one of those jobs. What if a firefighter refused on moral grounds to rescue a gay man? This is a slippery slope to fundamentalism.
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adrienne Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 8:59 pm (Quote)
there are plenty of women out there who are uncomfortable having a doctor treat their pregnancy or reproductive health who disagrees with their (the women’s) personal morals. it’s great these women can find people they feel comfortable working with. anyone who doesn’t can *gasp* find a new doctor. not to mention birth control pills aren’t exactly health care anyway, what with their crap ton of side effects and no medical indication.
and as a side note, your fireman example doesn’t quite compare analogously. the difference is discriminating against specific people v. not providing certain services to *anyone*.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:25 pm (Quote)
There are places in the US where people can’t find a different doctor. Location and insurance can make it incredibly difficult to change providers. If I have one option for medical care, that doctor damn well be willing to provide the full scope of whatever their practice is.
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Christine Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:32 pm (Quote)
Makes sense. So the small town should be without a doctor totally, rather than have one who won’t provide BCP. Here’s the thing – you are arguing based on a very small number of cases. The vast majority of people in this country would have another option. So how about finding a solution that doesn’t violate a doctor’s first amendment rights? Like, mail order pharmacies… oh wait… they already have those.
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Bonita Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:33 pm (Quote)
People who think Drs should check their religious beliefs at the door usually don’t hold anything sacred and therefore do not have a place in criticizing people who choose to live their value system both at work and in their private lives. Deep seated and wholly believed religious principles are to be lived out, not squelched. Last I checked religious freedom was assured in America (I’m assuming this happened in the US). To those who hold nothing sacred, this doesn’t make sense, I know, but they are imposing their beliefs just as much as they accuse others of imposing their own beliefs.
I would rather go to a pro-life Dr who doesn’t prescribe birth control. That is my choice as a patient. If people want birth control they can go to a Dr who provides that service.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:32 pm (Quote)
I agree completely. I have left practices on the basis of the physician performing services that violate my beliefs (not necessarily religious beliefs, mind you) because I, frankly, do not want to receive care from a doctor who believes that my children are not fully human and do not have equal rights to myself as patients and as people. That’s my prerogative as a patient and as a person of conscience. And yes, I would rather pay more out of pocket, or negotiate reduced-cost care, than see an OB whose practices I find morally repugnant, in order to see a physician whose practices reflect my beliefs. Again — as the patient, I should have that choice, for the same reason that I prefer not to patronize businesses that donate to anti-gay organizations or use services from companies with questionable business practices.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:33 pm (Quote)
Seriously. If you have an objection to doing part of a job, then you need to pick a different job.
I want to catch babies, but I don’t want to perform c-sections. Am I going to go to medical school and become an ob/gyn and then refuse to do surgery? No. I’m going to become a midwife.
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Kristy Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 6:07 am (Quote)
In your own practice you should have every right to decide what services you offer. You can’t decide not to offer those services to certain people… but you can decide what you will and won’t do.
No one would tell a vegan chef they couldn’t open a restaurant and serve only vegan food. “But people expect a restaurant to serve meat… it is part of the job” isn’t going to fly. Her place, her menu.
Now if a doctor took a job in a clinic which *made it clear when hiring him* that passing out birth control was considered part of the job… then I could see him being expected to do so. But just as a restaurant isn’t expected to offer every food or service offered elsewhere a doctor can choose not to offer every service as well. If people don’t like it they can take their business elsewhere… and you can even have a list of places handy to give them when they ask.
And the ‘but some people don’t have enough docs to choose from’ doesn’t fly either. You wouldn’t tell the vegan chef “But we don’t have a good steak house for miles… you have to serve steak.” If they can point you down the road to one… they have done *more* than their duty in dealing with you.
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funnieronpaper Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 9:25 am (Quote)
O.o Huh? Since when is serving steak comparable to medical services? Are you saying women are nothing more than a piece of meat? Doctors should be allowed to offer services a la carte? You’re comparing apples to oranges when you compare a chef to a doctor.
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Kristy Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:45 pm (Quote)
Doctors should have every right to offer only those *non essential* services that do not go against their personal beliefs. Any one who wants services they do not provide has every right to go somewhere else.
Don’t twist my metaphor… the *meat* was the service (so comparable to birth control) not the customer. You are comparing apples to oranges when you compare *essential* medical services to birth control and elective abortions.
Other doctors can and do offer services a la carte… for example some hospitals do not offer emergency services. Only in the case of elective services which might prevent or end a life does anyone ever seem to complain.
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Jespren Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 7:24 pm (Quote)
Doctors and pharmacists have a right not to perform or fill/carry all kinds of things. Plastic surgeons are not required to do *all* plastic surgeries, just the ones they want to do. A family practice doctor can decide what they will and won’t do, like some family practice doctors don’t feel comfortable treating infants, others do, some don’t treat patients with chronic conditions, in fact many general practice docs won’t treat or prescribe for a ‘chronic’ condition. A doctor who does lapbands doesn’t also have to do stomach stapleing. And pharmacies ruetinesly decide what drugs to carry and what not to. Some carry morphine, some don’t, some don’t carry the ‘script’ version of medicines that you can now buy otc. Even a pain specialist can deny to prescribe a patient pain medicine of any type.
Doctors offer scripts and procedures they think are helpful to their patients, they aren’t short order cooks. No doctor, or pharmacist should be forced to preform or prescribe a service or script they think is not in their patient’s best interest. Want the test/med/service doc A thinks is unnecessary and won’t oblige you with? Feel free to try doc B, not force doc A to ignore his professional and ethical judgement.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:01 pm (Quote)
First of all, a pharmacist has no right to decide what is, or isn’t, in a person’s best interest. If you want to be a pharmacist, you need to fill whatever prescription is on the paper. If you object to HBC, you should not be allowed to be a pharmacist, because you have no right to impose your beliefs on anyone else. It seems to easy to say, ‘well, go to a different pharmacy,’ but that isn’t an option for everyone often due to location and insurance concerns. If you are a pharmacist your job to to double check drug interactions and, if non exist, fill the damn prescription.
If you are a doctor and you choose a specialty, then you should not simply be able to pick and choose which parts of the specialty to will perform. Plastic surgery is a poor example because so many of the procedures are purely patient choice. If you claim to provide reproductive health services, you need to provide them all. Sure, a family practice doctor can choose not to treat children, but they can’t say they treat children and then refuse to provide childhood vaccines, or not prescribe antibiotics for an ear infection. If a family practice doctor provides well woman care (ie, annual exams), then they should be providing all of the care that is within they typical scope of practice, PAP, STD testing and prescribing birth control. If you don’t want to write birth control prescriptions, then don’t claim to provide well woman care.
That is not the same thing as looking at an individual patient and determining that a course of treatment is not suitable.
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Jespren Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:08 am (Quote)
A family practice doc absolutely can say ‘we can see your kid for general care, but you have to go elsewhere to get vaccines’. It’s completely within their rights to practice as they see fit. I even ran into exactly that myself. And plastic surgery is a *perfect* analogy because hormonal bc is an elective, lifestyle choice. It is not treating a medical condition (although it can be used to mask the symptoms of a medical problem), it’s offering a lifestyle choice. In NO OTHER REALM of medicine are doctors required to offer elective treatment that they feel is not in their patient’s or their practice’s best interest. They shouldn’t be required in the realm of elective (anti)fertility medicine either.
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jaed Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 6:44 am (Quote)
First of all, a pharmacist has no right to decide what is, or isn’t, in a person’s best interest. If you want to be a pharmacist, you need to fill whatever prescription is on the paper.
This is a profound misunderstanding of what pharmacists do. A pharmacist who fills a prescription knowing it will harm a patient – for example, because it’s incompatible with another prescription the patient is taking, or because the patient has a health condition that contraindicates it – can lose his or her license to practice. If pharmacists merely had to put pills in a bottle according to “the paper”, they wouldn’t require medical training and licensing. A clerk could do that much.
And I would love an OB who didn’t do caesarean surgery. Such an OB would need to make sure cover from a surgeon was available in case a crash caesarean became necessary, but wouldn’t have any financial incentive to push women into surgical birth. Sounds good to me.
And no, OBs aren’t required to perform surgery. GYNs aren’t required to do labiaplasty either – in fact, they aren’t required to do gynecological surgery at all. You have a very odd idea there, that every doctor *has to* provide *all* possible procedures that might be offered by another doctor in the same specialty.
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Tee Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 7:38 pm (Quote)
I respectfully disagree. Your religious beliefs should not be set aside due to your job or anything else. I can only speak for Christianity but in that regard, you should stand by your morals and ethics. Part of witnessing is doing just that. So while I understand your point, I can’t say I agree.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:05 pm (Quote)
If you have moral objections to doing part of a job, then you shouldn’t be doing that job in the first place. Your right to stand by your morals and ethics ends when they impact another citizen.
No one should be using their professional position to “witness” to or proselytize, particularly to patients in a medical setting.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 8:43 pm (Quote)
I respectfully disagree as well. I as my name implies survived years of infertility. I am devoutly Catholic and am grateful for the care that I got from my pro-life Catholic doctors. After years of being sidelined by the standard American medical system, my wonderful Catholic doctors helped me get well enough to conceive naturally. If you don’t want to go to a Catholic doc then don’t, but don’t tell me that I have to go to your doc.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:09 pm (Quote)
I’m not saying that you have to go to a different doctor. I’m saying that if I happen to see your doctor, they shouldn’t be able to deny me a service that is in the typical scope of practice for their specialty because they have a moral or religious objection to it. If they have a religious objection to a part of the typical scope of practice, then they should choose a specialty that doesn’t conflict with that.
Fire Fighters can’t choose randomly who they save, teachers can’t decide not to teach students based on religion (barring private school, of course) and doctors shouldn’t be able to skip out of performing services that are within the accepted scope of practice for their specialty.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:14 pm (Quote)
You’re saying that my doctor would have to do what he knows to be wrong which means that he would have to become someone else. I feel sorry for you. There are so few pro-life docs in this country and you feel that you have to change them. Must be really scary to be you.
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Beth Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:30 pm (Quote)
You’re right. I find people who are anti-choice terrifying.
To think that anyone else should have any say in what I do or don’t do with my own body is absolutely frightening.
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Rebecca Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:20 am (Quote)
To the point you think its appropriate to deny a medical practitioner the same choice? How is that different than a doctor who is upfront about his or her religious beliefs and their impact on your scope of care? Does a woman’s right to personal autonomy override a physician’s in a non-emergency situation?
What if instead we were talking about a doctor who said he or she wouldn’t do a c-section without an emergency or very strong medical indication? How is that different?
I hope that my doctors (and lawyers, and firefighters etc) have a strong moral sense. In non emergency situations, I have no problem with any professional saying that they are not comfortable with something in their field for religious reasons, they have that right, just like I do. . . and if I tell them that I have moral or religious objections to some other suggestion, they’re probably more likely to listen.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 9:19 pm (Quote)
P.S. I live in one of the most liberal states in the country (not one listed above) and my docs are perfectly within their legal rights to not prescribe birth control.
And as stated above your fireman analogy doesn’t hold water.
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Brige Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 10:24 pm (Quote)
That would be like saying all Dr.s have to prescribe narcotics… I know a few who refuse to for anyone because of the addictions and problems they cause… if a Dr. doesn’t want to prescribe hormonal birth control, he/she doesn’t have too… its not really a life or death thing like escaping from a fire… you choose your practitioner, and they choose you as well.. its essential that your wants/expectations and theirs align… I think its crazy that so many drs refuse to see nfp/fam as bc… should they all have to be aware of it and able to “prescribe” it as a treatment? no… in the same way what you’re saying they need to do is very anti-choice… I mean Drs are allowed to tailor their practices to suit their needs/comfort level… I wouldn’t want a Dr. who didn’t like HBC prescribing it to me… he probably wouldn’t be as versed in it and everything that can happen as a result… (I can’t tell you the number of people I know PERSONALLY who have experienced life threatening complications from HBC) I would probably not want to prescribe it myself if I were in practice… not for the religious objections but on the first do no harm… I don’t think HBC is very safe… but that’s just me… and I would want a DR that felt the same… in the same way I look for Drs that aren’t adamant about vaccinating on a certain schedule… its all about choice… and drs don’t give up their autonomy when they get a medical license… now are they under an obligation to save someones life… (serial killer who killed their son, yeah) but to write a script for Yaz… no…
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Knitted in the Womb Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 11:41 am (Quote)
Your example of a teacher is very apt here. An individual might study to become a teacher with no intention of ever teaching in a public school due to disagreements with the public school. They might want to teach at a Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Montesorri, or other type of private school. And as long as that individual finds a school that fits what he/she wants to teach…then that is fine.
Likewise I think that a doctor should be allowed to join a practice that only offers services that fit in that particular doctor’s skill set and moral boundaries. This applies to much more than just birth control. As pointed out, most plastic surgeons place limitations on what surgeries they will perform. The vast majority of OB/GYN’s will not perform abortions. If we make a law that eliminates concientious objection in medicine, we will loose the vast majority of OB/GYN’s currently in practice.
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Stephanie P had this to say,
Jan 22, 2012 @ 5:17 pm (Quote)
My guess is that Mom hadn’t even gotten to the point of what her visit was for and Doc jumped to the conclusion that because she looked worn out and happened to have 3 kids that she’d be begging for birth control. I’d love to see the pink link but either way this is an odd statement in context of Mom’s purpose of visit.
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road2vba2c had this to say,
Jan 22, 2012 @ 6:07 pm (Quote)
Mine! I had a new patient appointment with a new family practice, I was sick and had no option but to bring all three kids with me. I really liked the doctor and practice, but it was just odd how she brought this up. It was after she’d consulted me about the cold, as we were wrapping up. I smiled and said, “I don’t need it.”
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 8:44 pm (Quote)
I’m guessing that this is something that they’ve found they need to make sure that all new patients are clear on but it sounds like the delivery was the problem. I’m sorry.
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IF Survivor had this to say,
Jan 22, 2012 @ 6:08 pm (Quote)
I’m waiting for the pink link. I’m guessing the doctor was just out to lunch mentally.
For those that are talking about antibiotics… Antibiotics do not do anything to colds.
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Jane Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 6:12 pm (Quote)
Quite often you don’t know if it’s a cold or a bacterial infection until you go to the doctor and the doctor does all this doctorly stuff to tell you which it is. 
If it’s bad enough to go to the doctor, it could well be more than a cold.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 8:38 pm (Quote)
I disagree. I’m not confused about the difference and most of my close friends are not confused most of the time. Besides most bacterial infections will run their course like a virus as well. Quite frankly, many doctors hand out antibiotics like candy to get the people out of their office. I know too many people these days have never learned good self care and run to the doc for every sniffle.
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Rebecca Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:24 am (Quote)
There could be other reasons for having to run to the doctor with every sniffle. My son gets every cold known to man and has a chronic condition which requires a monthly trip to the doctor (unrelated to the poor immune system). However, if he misses more than four days in a class (without doctor’s notes) he automatically fails that class. Parental notes are not sufficient. Even though a severe cold will run its course, many employers will not let you return to work after a multi-day absence without that note from the doctor either.
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Dee Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:42 pm (Quote)
OTOH, I kept saying, “oh, it’s just a cold…it’s just a cold that won’t go away…yeah, it’s a nagging cold” etc., and ended up with hearing loss from a severe ear/sinus infection. Looked like a cold, felt like a cold, but sometimes, it’s OK to go check with the experts if you aren’t 100% sure.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 6:57 pm (Quote)
Sorry girls, I obviously went off on a tangent that didn’t stick to my original argument. My original argument was that the OP said she went there for a cold and several of the comments were talking about ABX’s which are not indicated in a cold.
Secondary infection is a different issue.
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This is a huge problem in America! To think that one *has* to do something because it’s available?! R U Kidding? isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black?
This site is all about professionals who do only what they are taught, like a automatic c-section for a breech delivery, and getting here because they don’t think for themselves, educate themselves, or do things that are contrary to the “rules” of their profession.
And here we are with a situation where the practice had decided to do something outside the norm, doing so because of whatever dictates their conscience, and the response is they *have* to do it??
As a HUMAN you have the right to do whatever you want to. If what you love is reproductive medicine and helping people have babies, and object to birth control- go for it! It’s our option to see a different doctor. (as it would be if the doc had a 70% c-section rate and we believed differently)
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May I pipe in and say that I feel some of you are implying things about birth control that kind of offends me? Maybe for some of you birth control was just some willy-nilly luxury item, but for me it was the difference between going to school or staying home, keeping a job or not. The heavy heavy bleeding, the cramps strong enough to cause fainting and vomiting, birth control was a MUST for me to get by. And let’s not forget people with PCOS, endo, or other conditions that can be greatly improved or controlled by the right HBC.
I’m sure many of you didn’t mean for your posts to sound like I was being lazy, or carefree, or spoiled or slutty, but that’s how it felt, and it hurts. I get enough angry, shameful looks from a pharmacist who doesn’t know me from eve, I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m being a bad person because a pill was right for me.
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IF Survivor Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 6:54 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry if you took any of my comments that way. I’ve been exactly where you are. I was on the pill for 11 years only to later learn that I should have never been on it and that it only made things worse. It still angers me that as a single woman the docs just kept changing my pill as I got worse and told me the rest was in my head. As soon as I got married the whole tune changed. All of the sudden the docs were actually worried about why I was rocking on the floor 3 days a month. I pray that your docs are listening to you and that you are truly on the best treatment for you.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:48 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry if that was the impression you got from the discussion; I can say for my part I definitely do *not* lump together women who actually need a service with women who just take what’s given to them because it’s the “expected” or “easy” thing to do. It’s a bit like c-sections; yes, they’re overused, but there is a legitimate time and place for them, too. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t critically examine why so many doctors push c-sections and HBC, but we should also remember why both exist in the first place (to save lives and preserve a high standard of care.)
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TTC Lurker Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:37 pm (Quote)
mharry, whenever birth control pills come up here, there is generally an overwhelming near-consensus that people here think they are terrible. I don’t know about slutty, but there is almost a conspiracy-theory type feeling about the pill. There is even a comment above saying that the pill has NO medical indication.
You were brave enough to speak up; I was not brave enough in the past. I have debilitating pain, and the pill gives me a decent quality of life. I have been off of them for almost two years, and my quality of life has gone down the tubes. Up to 50% of the time in some amount of pain, up to 25% of the time in severe pain requiring narcotic painkillers (which just make the pain manageable). I have to take a 6-month break from TTC for other reasons, but my RE highly recommends birth control to keep my suspected endo in check – with surgery planned closer to when I can start TTC again.
I also don’t think it is unreasonable for doctors to offer birth control (while being forthcoming about known side effects). Many women silently deal with a lot of menstrual pain because they don’t think it’s abnormal. But it is, and recent research shows that birth control most likely does reduce pain (and THAT would be a medical indication). Of course it’s up to every woman to research all of their options for contraception and for treatment of menstrual symptoms, but for me, if I’m not TTC, a little nausea is better than the hell I have been living with.
http://news.yahoo.com/women-pill-less-menstrual-pain-171653848.html
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Tee Reply:
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:54 pm (Quote)
I have to agree that the comment about the pill having no medical indication threw me for a loop. While I don’t believe in using birth control pills for birth control, I absolutely believe that hormonal birth control can be very useful for other conditions. I’ve been self injecting Depo for nine years due to severe endo. (Five surgeries, including the loss of my left ovary and tube.) I’m really sorry that you’re struggling with the same problems.
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Jane Reply:
January 24th, 2012 at 4:13 am (Quote)
One of my issues with the BCP is that doctors will often prescribe the Pill because it makes a woman bleed every 28 days. The woman complains of problems with her cycle and the doctor says, “Well take this!” instead of saying, “Okay, let’s figure out why you only have a period every five months.”
A lot of what the Pill does is mask the symptoms. If you went to a doctor with a headache that had lasted for three weeks, you wouldn’t be satisfied if the doctor handed you Advil and said, “This will take care of the pain!” You’d say, “Actually, I was hoping you’d tell me why I have a headache.” Because you could take Advil for the rest of your life and never uncover the pinched nerve or the dilated blood vessels in your head that were causing the headache.
THe female reproductive system is VERY complicated. I get that. But these are doctors who claim to love a challenge, and therefore they should be able to say, “Okay, let’s figure out whether you’re ovulating. Let’s figure out if you’re making enough progesterone and enough estrogen. Something’s going on here.”
Instead no, it’s “Here, if you take the Pill, you’ll bleed every 28 days, and it’ll probably be less bleeding, so you’ll feel better.”
That’s sloppy medicine. It doesn’t cure PCOS, doesn’t cure anovulatory cycles, doesn’t cure anything, just covers it up, and yet that’s often the only answer a doctor will give.
It’s not just hating the Pill, therefore. It’s hating sloppy, nine-minute-office-visit medicine.
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Holly Reply:
February 6th, 2012 at 4:32 pm (Quote)
As a PCOS patient I can tell you that HBC is NOT the answer for PCOS! It masks the symptoms.. sure.. but it doesn’t *FIX* anything! Every six months I have a month long period that has to be ended by D&C, my last one, I nearly bled to death. My iron was at blood transfusion levels… I avoided the transfusion through infusions and got the same result.. just felt crappy for longer.. but birth control can make so many MORE issues! Birth control has been offered as a way to control the bleeding… but look at all the side effects that come with it! It doesn’t make the PCOS “go away”, it doesn’t “cure” the PCOS.. it masks a symptom.. It is far better to try progesterone creams, diet, exercise, etc to *control* symptoms.. rather than *mask* them! I would LOVE to go to a dr that does not prescribe birth control! That way, maybe I could get someone to support me in HEALING my body.. not just masking symptoms! 
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I’m so sorry you were made to feel this way. I think there is a difference between prescribing birth control and prescribing a medicine to help with a medical problem but also happens to be used as birth control. Many doctors who do not prescribe birth control for “family planning” will prescribe it for medical necessity. But doctors who don’t prescribe it for family planning are also more likely to know alternative treatments for a lot of the medical problems birth control pills are used for. The pills do often mask the problem instead of dealing with it. But I don’t think anyone was judging your character for being on BCP for your problem.
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Add Your Comment.
Great… cause the last time someone gave me those they did *nothing* for my *COLD*. Do you perhaps have any other suggestions??
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