Modern Medical Birth Control - Risks

 Sometimes people wonder why I go through all the trouble of charting to avoid pregnancy when women have so many other birth control options. 

I just wonder why they put themselves through medical birth control methods. 

Let's look at the risks of some of the modern methods. By the way - It concerns me that I had to do extensive searches on each website to find this information. Some even hide the full side effects from the FAQs portion of their site.

Hormonal birth control pills and patches

Taken from the pdf file (download here) for OrthoTriCyclen - "The use of oral contraceptives is associated with increased risks of several serious conditions including myocardial infarction, thromboembolism, stroke, hepatic neoplasia, and gallbladder disease, although the risk of serious morbidity or mortality is very small in healthy women without underlying risk factors. The risk of morbidity and mortality increases significantly in the presence of other underlying risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemias, obesity and diabetes."

OthroEvra (the patch) contains almost identical wording. 

Seasonique (the three-month no-period pills) -  "Vascular risks: Stop Seasonique if a thrombotic event occurs. Stop Seasonique at least 4 weeks before and through 2 weeks after major surgery. Start Seasonique no earlier than 4 weeks after delivery, in women who are not breastfeeding. (5.1)
• Liver disease: Discontinue Seasonique if jaundice occurs. (5.3)
• High blood pressure: Do not prescribe Seasonique for women with uncontrolled hypertension or hypertension with vascular disease. (5.4)
• Carbohydrate and lipid metabolic effects: Monitor prediabetic and diabetic women taking Seasonique. Consider an alternate contraceptive method for women with uncontrolled dyslipidemias. (5.6)
• Headache: Evaluate significant change in headaches and discontinue Seasonique if indicated. (5.7)
• Uterine bleeding: Evaluate irregular bleeding or amenorrhea."

Depo-Provera Shots - "Thromboembolic Disorders: Discontinue Depo-Provera CI in patients who develop thrombosis (5.2)

Cancer Risks: Monitor women with breast nodules or a strong family history of breast cancer carefully. (5.3)

Ectopic Pregnancy: Consider ectopic pregnancy if a woman using Depo-Provera CI becomes pregnant or complains of severe abdominal pain. (5.4)

Anaphylaxis and Anaphylactoid Reactions: Provide emergency medical treatment. (5.5)

Liver Function: Discontinue Depo-Provera CI if jaundice or disturbances of liver function develop (5.6)

Carbohydrate Metabolism: Monitor diabetic patients carefully. (5.11)
----------------------------------ADVERSE REACTIONS---------------------------
Most common adverse reactions (incidence >5%) are: menstrual irregularities
(bleeding or spotting) 57% at 12 months, 32% at 24 months, abdominal
pain/discomfort 11%, weight gain > 10 lbs at 24 months 38%, dizziness 6%,
headache 17%, nervousness 11%, decreased libido 6%. (6.1)

To ensure the patient is not pregnant at the time of the first injection, the first injection should be given ONLY during the first 5 days of a normal menstrual period; ONLY within the first 5-days postpartum if not breast-feeding; and if exclusively breast-feeding, ONLY at the sixth postpartum week."

Mirena (IUD device) (This was by far the most difficult to find information on. While others listed their "prescription inserts" with a bit of searching, Mirena asks that you talk to your health care provider for a full list of possible side effects) - "Call your healthcare provider right away if you think you
are pregnant. If you get pregnant while using Mirena, you may have an ectopic pregnancy. This means that the pregnancy is not in the uterus. Unusual vaginal bleeding or abdominal pain may be a sign of ectopic pregnancy.
Ectopic pregnancy is a medical emergency that often requires surgery. Ectopic pregnancy can cause internal bleeding, infertility, and even death.
There are also risks if you get pregnant while using Mirena and the pregnancy is in the uterus. Severe infection, miscarriage, premature delivery, and even death can occur with pregnancies that continue with an intrauterine device (IUD). Because of this, your healthcare provider may try to remove Mirena, even though removing it may cause a miscarriage. If Mirena cannot be removed, talk with your healthcare provider about the benefits and risks of continuing the pregnancy. 

Life-threatening infection can occur within the first few days after Mirena is placed. Mirena may become attached to the uterine wall. If embedment happens, Mirena may no longer prevent pregnancy and you may need surgery to have it removed. Mirena may go through the uterus. If your uterus is perforated, Mirena may no longer prevent pregnancy. It may move outside
the uterus and can cause internal scarring, infection, or damage to other organs, and you may need surgery to have Mirena removed.
Common side effects of Mirena include: Pain, bleeding or dizziness during and after placement. If these symptoms do not stop 30 minutes after placement,
Mirena may not have been placed correctly. Your healthcare provider will examine you to see if Mirena needs to be removed or replaced."

 

Essure - permanent placement of coils within the tubes - "The most frequent adverse events and side e ffects reported as a result of the hysteroscopic procedure to place the Essure micro-inserts were as follows: cramping (29.6%), pain (12.9%), nausea/vomiting (10.8%), dizziness/lightheadedness (8.8%), and bleeding/spotting (6.8%). Hypervolemia occurred in <1% of cases. During the rst year of reliance on the Essure micro-inserts for contraception (approximately 15 months after micro-insert placement), the following episodes were reported as at least possibly related to the Essure micro-inserts: back pain (9.0%), abdominal pain (3.8%), dyspareunia (3.6%). All other events occurred in less than 3% of women." A number of women had to undergo a second surgery because the initial surgery failed to properly place the devices or they became dislodged."

Tubal Ligation - difficult to find direct information since this is not a device or pill, but a procedure. Some general information may be found at webmd - "Minor complications include infection and wound separation. These affect about 11% of women after mini-laparotomy, and 6% of women after laparoscopy.³ Major complications include heavy blood loss, general anesthesia problems, organ injury during surgery, and need for a larger laparotomy incision during surgery. These affect 1.5% of women after mini-laparotomy, and 0.9% of women after laparoscopy. Although fewer complications occur with laparoscopy than with other kinds of tubal ligation surgery, these complications can be more serious. For example, on rare occasions, the bowel or bladder is injured when the laparoscope is inserted. The general risks of surgery are greater if you have diabetes, are overweight, smoke, or have a heart condition."

I encourage women to embrace their fertility. I wonder why so many doctors (and women) feel that loosing a period - and therefore fertility - is a fine or even good thing (think about those "unnecessary period" commercials). Fertility has long been feared by some men and now by some women.

I've heard it said that bottles were invented by men to separate the woman from her child. Don't allow men to separate you from your fertility.