my condoms are the lady's choice

What I really love are the guys who bitch about having to buy condoms, e.g. "If you want me to use condoms, then you buy them." Heck no--we shell out the dough for the Pill every month, so it's only fair that the gentlemen get the condoms.

Hubby and I used spermicide on his military leave (lots of times;)). I am diabetic and ended up with a UTI. I had never had one. This just explains more than the doctors did.

*bump*

Saw this article on msn today. I thought I'd post it over here and see what everybody thought.

Personally, I'd rather risk an accidental pregnancy than death, but that's just me.

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Birth control patch linked to higher fatality rate

Report: Device has three times greater risk of stroke, blood clot than pill

Updated: 5:33 p.m. ET July 17, 2005

Gingerly, Kathleen Thoren’s family gathered around her in the intensive care unit, unable to speak to their beloved sister, daughter, wife, or even stroke her hands. The slightest stimulation might create a fatal amount of pressure on the 25-year-old woman’s swollen brain, warned the doctors.

“We were horrified, but we tried to just quietly be with her,” said her sister Erika Klein. “In the end, it didn’t help.”

The mother of three died last fall, just after Thanksgiving, after days of agonizing headaches that the coroner’s report said were brought on by hormones released into her system by Ortho Evra, a birth control patch she had started using a few weeks earlier.

She was among about a dozen women, most in their late teens and early 20s, who died last year from blood clots believed to be related to the birth control patch. Dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related problems, according to federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Several lawsuits have already been filed by families of women who died or suffered blood clots while using the patch, and lawyers said more are planned.

Risk three times higher

Though the Food and Drug Administration and patch-maker Ortho McNeil saw warning signs of possible problems with the patch well before it reached the market, both maintain that the patch is as safe as the pill.

However, the reports obtained by the AP appear to indicate that in 2004 — when 800,000 women were on the patch — the risk of dying or suffering a survivable blood clot while using the device was about three times higher than while using birth control pills.

The women who died were young and apparently at low risk for clots — women like Zakiya Kennedy, an 18-year-old Manhattan fashion student who collapsed and died in a New York subway station last April. Or Sasha Webber, a 25-year-old mother of two from Baychester, N.Y., who died of a heart attack after six weeks on the patch last March.

Some doctors, reviewing the Food and Drug Administration reports at the request of The AP, were alarmed. “I was shocked,” said Dr. Alan DeCherney, editor-in-chief of Fertility and Sterility and a UCLA professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

But other doctors said they would have expected some deaths and no investigation is warranted. They point to more than 4 million women who have safely used the patch and note that the FDA reports are called in voluntarily, rather than gathered scientifically.

“It doesn’t jump out at me to say, 'Let’s look at this any further,”’ agreed Dr. Steven J. Sondheimer, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. “I don’t feel that these need to be looked at in any detail.”

Well, it probably had a little more to do with the "lots of times"! ;) I got my first one after my first weekend vaca with the college boyfriend. Mom knew about the vaca and when I came home in excrutiating pain she took me to the doctor. As we drove she said, "In my day, they called UTIs 'Honeymooners diesease'!" :o But I'm sure the addition of the spermicide added even more foreign stuff to a sensitive area and encouraged the problem. I hate UTIs - I seriosuly wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. Also, be careful with spermicides. My friend learned the hard way that she is allergic - she said she burned for a day! :eek:

Next question - to the women who are on the pill but still want a back-up. Unless you are on the pill for other reasons (acne, endometriosis, etc) why in the world would you continue to put a hormone into your body if you don't need it? I mean, if you're just going to go through the trouble of condoms, or spermicide, etc, just use those methods and save the $ and annoyance of a daily pill. Not judging, just curious.

I'm on it to relieve the hellacious cramps I used to get every month. But I've always felt safer with some sort of backup. Apparently now that's just going to be spermicide because I found out I'm allergic to latex. :( :eek:

ETA: Yes... this too. My endo told me that I need to be watched and regulated A YEAR before I wanted to conceive. Your blood sugars have to be IMMACULATE before you try.

It does sound kind of odd when you think about it, but really it is all for the extra protection.

My endocrinologist encourages that use of another brith control method because I am a diabetic and I really cannot afford (healthwise) to have an unplanned pregnancy. This is my situation. I would rather have all the protection I can use than have an unplanned pregnancy and suffer those health risks.

I use the pill and condoms because it makes me feel a lot safer! I feel safe on the pill, but I don't like to take my chances, so we use a second method (plus it's not as messy!!)

i think i mentioned it before, but i'll repeat myself. condoms are for protection against std's and such where bc pills, etc. aren't. not to say that you are having sex with someone who could possibly be infected, but you can never be too careful. i much prefer being in a committed relationship where i don't want to have to deal with it, but honestly you can't be too careful. even for those women/men who have been married for a while. some people do step out on a relationship like it or not.
but if your man is perfect like mine, you don't need to worry about it. ;)

shelley j
sigma k

FYI - The pill can cause blood clots, too - especially if you smoke. That happened to my mom, who had a pulmonary embolism at age 32. (She recovered, thankfully, but has to be very careful now because she's prone to clots even though she's not on the pill and quit smoking.)

That is true, but the article was saying that the patch puts women at greater risk than the pill. Not that the pill will not cause blood clots.

Yes! And I'll say it again...using condoms with the pill is not pointless! Trust me...HPV is very hard to detect because most people don't show symptoms, but if you happen to be one of those (un)lucky people who are susceptible to the strain that causes cancer it is a very big deal. I cannot stress this enough! Having surgery is not fun, guys. (Oh, and even though condoms aren't 100% at preventing HPV infection, they're a hell of a lot better than nothing, so just be safe.)

Also, I just think the pill plus condoms is a good idea. Sure, you can use condoms by themselves...but what if it breaks? I am a big fan of taking extra precautions.

We ran this story the other day on our news. There was all this hype about the patch being unsafe, but then every expert who spoke said that there was no greater risk than the pill. There are risks to both since you are putting hormones into your body, but it said don't worry, your chances of getting a clot are so extremely low on both.

Does anyone know if there's a generic of Yasmin?
I just looked at the scrip my gyn wrote and she made it "dispense as written". I'm pissed, generic saves me money! But I don't know if there's one for Yasmin and don't want to call the office and look silly!

Nope...it sucks because I love it so I pay for it!