birth control woes

we talked about condoms last night and he brought up the fact that for him (and me) it just doesnt feel as good when you use a condom. the std thing is out of the question cause neither of us have any. the only thing we would worry about it the pregnancy which is probably the most expensive side effect next to aids.

i guess thats what we get for having 2 Bush presidents. abstinence only commercials and scare tactics about sex. lol.

even though he doesnt like using condoms either i know that if it came down to it and i decided not to use birth control at all because of what it does to my body he would be totally supportive. but then im also kinda scared to just quit birth control and think it might throw my body even more out of whack than it is right now. i am making an appt with my doctor to go over all options that dont involve estrogen.

I do hear what you are saying about preferring not to use condoms. It can be a bit of a pain to deal with those and you are meant to use spermacide with them as well and then you have to take them out of the pack and put them on and hold them in place etc etc (to use it properly to prevent slippage and breakage). Much nicer to not have to worry about all that.

I haven't engaged in the safest sex practices in my life... Remember waiting in terror for tests to come back, though. In hindsight I wish I had a little more self control and took better care of my body. That being said, I'm in a committed relationship now. Went on the pill recently partly to help with hormones (reduce testosterone) but also was happy to go on the pill so I don't have to worry about getting pregnant.

I'm a little phobic of getting pregnant. Worry that sometimes people do get pregnant even though they are using the pill properly. I think that a combination of methods would make things much safer. Condoms are probably the safest thing to use as one of the methods. But I do hear you that it isn't the same.

I do wonder if future generations will have a change in attitudes about condoms. Not sure about this... In NZ (fairly liberal with respect to sexuality - legal age is 16) there are massive ad campaigns 'there'll be no hubba hubba if you don't got the rubber' which are marketed to teens (late in the evening). The idea... Is to market condoms in such a way that they become associated with sexual activity in a positive way. To make them sexy, I guess. So you can get flavoured ones and ones with textures and so on and so forth. And to have ads that promote condom usage as a loving thing to do (where they are marketed as an 'invisible barrier' that is unobtrusive). To try and make it a positive part of the experience rather than an annoyance... That marketing campaign was a little late for me, however.

check this out (don't know if it or its variants are available in the US).

http://www.anagen.net/diane.htm

DIANE, ESTELLE (GENERIC)

Do you have any of the following:

1) acne/dermatitus/cysts/skin inflammation especially around jaw/mouth/nose?
2) oily skin and / or hair?
3) hair loss (on head)?
4) excess hair growth (abdomen, face, around breasts)?
5) ovarian cysts (you said you did already)
6) overweight and having SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTY losing weight?

This particular pill is something that is prescribed for precisely those symptoms (and as a bonus side-effect it acts as a very effective contraceptive pill).

Have you had your androgen (hormone) levels checked? Those symptoms arise because either:
1) Your ovaries are producing too much androgen (e.g., testosterone)
2) Your body is particularly sensitive to androgen (so that even if your androgens are within normal range your body is responding as thought they are through the roof)

The pill works by lowering testosterone levels. Lowered testosterone means that the sebaceous glands (pores) aren't as oily anymore and don't have hair when they shouldn't and do have hair when they should. The contraception prevents an egg being released (the ovarian cysts are when the egg doesn't make it out of the ovaries into the fallopian tubes - it gets stuck in the ovaries and it starts to retain fluid which turns it into a cyst). The more cysts and scaring from cysts that you have in your ovaries the harder it is for eggs to get past them into the fallopian tubes. So... It really is important that you take a pill to prevent the egg being released in order to prevent more scarring. That way when (if) you decide to have kids the egg will have more change of making it into the fallopian tube such that you can fall pregnant.

Have you heard of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)? Sounds like that is what you have... Except I can't figure why you would develop more of them while you were on the pill... I have a mild version of it... Don't have irregular menstrual cycles (so probably not much in the way of ovarian cysts) and my androgen production is normal, but I have the acne and access hair.

Might be worth asking about Estelle...

last time they did a blood test my testosterone was high, ive gained weight, gotten acne, my hair has grown waaaaay faster than normal and they have found cysts on ultra sounds. luckily the polyp in my uterus sloughed off with one of my periods but still caused massive pain. sometimes it feels like i know more than my doctors. i tell them for over 2 years "i have pcos" and they ignore me. when i first went to them with all these symptoms they blamed me. they told me to go on a diet and wash my face. and i tried to tell them "no its not me. this is not my body. i know my own damn body and this isnt it!" and they just brushed it off like i was hitting the end of my metabolism at 18. then i sit in a waiting room for 45 minutes for my doctor to talk to me for 3 and then i pay 20 bucks and get nothing out of it.

im seriously getting fed up with nobody ever listening to me. yes i know im only 20 but i know myself better than any doctor does so when i say something is wrong i want them to listen. and im also sick of doctors telling me its all in my head. i tried to tell my dad that if i were a man this would have been taken care of long ago and he goes "fine if you want to play the sexist card whatever" and i just sat there amazed. the sexist card?! its been shown in numerous studies that when men and women have the same symptoms women are more so told that its psychological while men are given treatment.

sorry, that was a rant lol. anyways. this time when i go in im not leaving until i have some answers. if they can make me wait for an hour and miss a day of work than they can sit down and listen to me talk.

on my last ultra sounds they said i had "several" ovarian cysts. i know exactly what it feels like when they rupture. i used to go to the e.r. before i knew what was happening but now im used to it. im worried that if they dont take care of this soon that my body will be so messed up that when i do want to get pregnant it wont happen.

Sounds like you need to find yourself a good GP and / or gynacologist.

You know... My symptoms aren't as bad as yours admittedly, but I was getting pretty upset with doctors fairly much laughing at me too. I was really embarrassed about the facial hair in particular. They would be like 'well I don't see any facial hair' and I was like 'yeah, thats because I spend about twenty every morning checking over my body and removing it all by plucking it out'. They said it was cosmetic and I should save some money for electrolysis if it bugged me and that I looked slightly Italian and Italian women were hairy (this coming from a male chinese doctor who clearly had no sympathy since he looked like he didn't even need to shave). They said my acne was 'mild' and 'cosmetic' too.

Grr
Grr
GRR.

Female doctors tend to be much more sympathetic. Especially ones who might be a little 'cuddly' themselves (PCOS and milder varients are VERY common in females and a leading cause of infertility. As such, you would expect that some female docs would have this condition and really read up on it and thus have more knowledge and sympathy for fellow sufferers).

> last time they did a blood test my testosterone was high

Then it sounds like Estelle (or similar) - basically a pill that REDUCES testosterone is what you need. Not all contraceptive pills do this - it is only some that do. And... The pills (like Estelle and varients) actually aren't supposed to be marketed as contraceptives. Contraception is a SIDE EFFECT of their reducing testosterone.

> they told me to go on a diet and wash my face.

Acne isn't caused by poor hygene. In fact... One should be careful not to over-scrub acne with harsh abrasive heavily fragrenced soaps etc. Acne is always hormonal.

There is controversy over whether the weight causes the PCOS or whether the PCOS causes the weight gain. They think that there is a reciprocal relationship, basically. Losing weight is a way of managing the symptoms. E.g., I got told that I'm really lucky that I'm within normal weight but if I get any heavier I could expect to develop full blown PCOS symptoms and I'd probably lose my fertility. I have a friend with PCOS who lost some weight (because she was severely stressed for a time and basically stopped eating). She forgot to take her pill properly... She didn't think it would matter for contraception since they told her she would never be able to conceive. She conceived during that time. She ended up miscarrying... But the point is that the reduction in weight increased her fertility.

But the main problem is that the PCOS does go some way towards CAUSING the increased weight. My friend is a health freak. Lives off steamed vegetables and stuff like that. Doesn't drink. Exercises a lot. Her body is toned to be sure, but she is still clinically obese (though she is a little person too so BMI isn't an accurate indicator for her). She does look like she is 'fatter' than me, though, which is TOTALLY UNFAIR because I don't eat well and I don't exercise and I drink a lot of beer.

Apparently... It goes like this:

- Insulun intolerance (so carbohydrate craving and much increased risk of diabetes) Basically... Your body is sending out this strong signal: THERE IS A FAMINE ON SO WE BETTER STOCKPILE FOOD NOW OR WE WILL LOSE OUR FERTILITY AND DIE!!! SO EAT CARBS!!! EAT CARBS!!! And your body tries to turn calories into fat as much as possible (instead of your metabolism just burning the frigging energy already)
- That causes an increase in the production of androgen in the ovaries
- That causes the symptoms of PCOS

Now, of course, if there REALLY WAS A FAMINE ON then around the time that the other people would be losing their fertility you would be maximally fertile. So... We are the 'famine queens' (so to speak) :-)

There are treatments that intervene on the INSULUN which (might) help with the weight AND with the down stream effects. It really would be worth talking to a sympathetic doc about this.

> im worried that if they dont take care of this soon that my body will be so messed up that when i do want to get pregnant it wont happen.

Yes. Please can you try and find a sympathetic doctor? Do you have any female friends who can reccomend someone? Could you try and find someone local via internet or something? Or could you find information about local doctors at their practices (e.g., sometimes there are little blurbs available on their main interests. You want to find someone who is sympathetic to 'womens problems')

PS - Starving yourself is NOT RECCOMENDED as a way of trying to increase your fertility. That is because of the significant risk of BIRTH DEFECTS as the mother and infant are nutritionally deprived

i have always gone to a female obgyn because when i first started going at 16 i was too uncomfortable with a male doctor. my family and friends are back in ohio and we live in illinois now. my mom and my sister go to the same obgyn (creepy i know).

we actually were talking about condoms a little bit ago because i just bawled my eyes for about 3 hours because i feel like a cyst just ruptured again. and he said if it comes down to us not having sex but you feeling better i can live. its not a big deal. i hate seeing you in pain so if you want to stop then stop. (i love him ) so then we remembered that when we first met and we used condoms the ones he had were too small. so were going to go to walgreens or something and get some bigger ones and see if that makes a difference. i didnt know they had like 30 kinds of condoms lol.

i had also been told that what happens is that if youre pumped full of estrogen your body makes up for it by producing more testosterone and thats why mine was high (or something like that). i did use to be hypoglycemic and have a family history of diabetes. i started when i was 11 and didnt go on the pill til 16 so there was a good 5 years with no cramps no nothing. then i get put on birth control and all these symptoms start showing up.

luckily i have just about the most understanding boyfriend in the world and he isnt complaining about "well what am i supposed to do?" my ex was helping me out with birth control when i first started because i couldnt afford it by myself. then all of a sudden he said that he shouldnt have to help me out because i wasnt giving it up enough for him. wonderful men lol

so anyways..... im going to finish this pack out cause i just started a new pack yesterday so i dont want to screw my body up and then were going to try condoms i guess. we were talking about all the forms and they all have horrible side effects an drawbacks.

let you guys know how it goes. wish me condom luck lol

Hey.

The symptoms you are having are most probably not caused by the pill you are taking so much as being symptoms that would have occurred whether or not you took the pill.

That is because that kind of pill doesn't lower testosterone and your body is producing too much of it.

It isnt' the case that if you stop taking the pill your body will produce less testosterone. It will probably be the case that if you stop taking the pill your body will continue to produce the same amount of testosterone and you will likely continue to have cysts, bursting cysts, acne, excess hair, excess weight etc. You might develop male pattern baldness and / or infertility too...

Fortunately there are medications that lower testosterone. That is what needs to happen for you to stop developing cysts, help get rid of the ones you have currently, clear up your acne, reduce body hair etc.

I'm super surprised that your gyn didn't put you on testosterone lowering medication once your hormone tests came back intead of ignoring the problem. If I were you I'd be looking for a more sympathetic (and knowledgable) doc...

I do (of course) wish you condom luck.

Though I am worried about your fertility etc if you don't get your testosterone levels treated...

Fortunately... It is treatable.

the most recent blood tests they said were "normal" but i have not seen them so i dont know if that means tht stuff was high but not too high. the blood tests my doctor in dayton did said my testosterone was high but this one down here didnt. and i told her about my high levels from the previous test.

thanks. ill get it figured out eventually

Ah, I see. Sometimes levels can fluctuate.

Take care.