About Oral Contraceptives

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preyoflove

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Does the Church absolutely forbids the administration of contraceptives, regardless of form and reasons?

I’m asking this to advise someone who suffers menorrhagia (aka hypermenorrhea) or excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding, whose doctor prescribed an oral contraceptive to (according to the doctor) help regulate ovulation and reduce episodes of excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding. I mean is this accurate?

Shalom, amen.
 
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preyoflove:
Does the Church absolutely forbids the administration of contraceptives, regardless of form and reasons?
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No, the Church doesn’t. The Church does absolutely and always forbid the use of all contraceptives for regulation of conception. There are valid medical uses for oral contraceptives, but the period of their use would necessitate abstinence.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
An alternative is to find an NFP doctor who can treat the actual condition instead of covering it up with hormones. It’s my understanding (from an NFP doctor) that hormonal contracpetives are not necessary and other options exist. It doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion.
 
This is my over all problem with women’s health, the Pill is the answer to every female problem. I wish Doctors would look into nutrition and lifestyle before writing up the Pill. Your sexual organs are no different then any other system within the human body you need to take care of it just like you take care of your heart with diet and exercise. I’ll get off my soap box now.
 
As the previous posters alluded to, usually when birth control pills are prescribed for a medical reason such as the one you described, the doctor is merely trying to suppress the problem to regulate the cycle rather than trying to find out why the problem is present and to treat it. For this reason, most “medical” reasons for using the Pill can actually be handled in other (more healthy) ways. I would suggest that your friend try to contact the Pope Paul VI institute (found at popepaulvi.com), which specializes in the latter form of gynecological study and care and tries to provide solutions that are in line with Church teaching.

As the others have mentioned, though, one can be on birth control for medical reasons without disobeying Church teaching.

God Bless.
 
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cmcruz:
As the others have mentioned, though, one can be on birth control for medical reasons without disobeying Church teaching.
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Actually, I believe a better way to word it would be “A person can have necessary medical treatment, even if it has unintended contraceptive side-effects.”

When we word it the other way, it gives the impression that artificial birth control is okay under certain circumstances. I think that’s the wrong message.
 
One of the problems with women’s health care is a tendancy to prescribe the Pill for almost anything. I had the same problem as your friend. Bleeding almost continuously for three years. Each doctor felt he/she just had to find the right pill to take care of the problem. I had 10 different prescriptions. The problem turned out to be a fibroid in an odd position. Simple outpatient surgery was the correct treatment - no more problems. In the meantime, I suffered from all of the annoying side effects of oral homones.

While the ingredients in oral contraceptives can be helpful in treating condidtions related to hormonal irregularities, my understanding is that for almost every one of those conditions there is an alternative that works as well or better (as in my case).

I second the suggestion to try to find an NFP only doctor. They are hard to locate but worth it.
 
what about the depo-provera shot? i am on that to treat polycystic ovaries. And to be honest…I love it. Is that bad??
 
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Kater30:
what about the depo-provera shot? i am on that to treat polycystic ovaries. And to be honest…I love it. Is that bad??
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Hi Kate…I too have PCO and have been on medicinal BCP for them. If you’re not married and not having sex, you can be on medicinal contraceptives without issues. If you are married, then as long as you abstain during what would tend to be your fertile period, you should be ok.

Laura
 
If you are on hormonal contraceptives, you would abstain as long as you are using it. You never know when ovulation will occur to prevent an abortifcient properties, especially when you are using depo-provera. The low dose allows more break-through ovulation and thus relies more on the abortificent abilities. See ccli.org/contraception/Abortifacients.shtml for more info.
 
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Timidity:
Actually, I believe a better way to word it would be “A person can have necessary medical treatment, even if it has unintended contraceptive side-effects.”

When we word it the other way, it gives the impression that artificial birth control is okay under certain circumstances. I think that’s the wrong message.
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Good point.
 
If anyone knows a good gynecologist in L.A. who can treat dysmenorrhea and mittelschmerz without oral contraceptives, please let me know. My young daughter has been taking them since age 14 because of horrendous menstrual pain. She was hospitalized twice because of it; even WITH medication her periods are bad – and LONG: 8 days is not unusual.
 
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mercygate:
If anyone knows a good gynecologist in L.A. who can treat dysmenorrhea and mittelschmerz without oral contraceptives, please let me know. My young daughter has been taking them since age 14 because of horrendous menstrual pain. She was hospitalized twice because of it; even WITH medication her periods are bad – and LONG: 8 days is not unusual.
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You might try contacting one of the NaPro-practicing centers in your area. I pulled the following contact information for the LA area off of the Pope Paul VI website (which I posted a link for earlier):

Magnificat FertilityCare Center of Los Angeles
Lancaster, CA 93535
Features** NaProTECHNOLOGY®
**Phone: 661-723-9590 Fax: 661-948-9357
e-mail: polis.ten@juno.com

It can’t hurt to see if they have help to provide. I hope you find some relief for your poor daughter!

God Bless.
 
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Rascal:
If you are on hormonal contraceptives, you would abstain as long as you are using it. You never know when ovulation will occur to prevent an abortifcient properties, especially when you are using depo-provera. The low dose allows more break-through ovulation and thus relies more on the abortificent abilities. See ccli.org/contraception/Abortifacients.shtml for more info.
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Actually, that was Norplant, not Depo-Provera (DMPA), and the study was publishd in 1970. The Depo shot has only bee available since the 1990’s. As a general rule from someone who does medical research, if the research is over 4 years old, be really skeptical. This particular study was conducted in rabbits and was based on research done by Chang and Hunt during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The study in question was published in Sept. 21, 1970 (Vol. 9), edition of Fertility and Sterility.

After reading several of the studies cited in the article at ccli.org/contraception/Abortifacients.shtml, I’m flabergasted that the author, a supposed medical doctor, is so…inept…at interpreting the results of a scientific study. If this was a literature review written for a class that I teach, he would fail. I would have expected CCL to hire someone who knows something about research and statistics.
 
Preyoflove,

It is not necessarily true that birth control pills, or artifical hormones, are just covering up some other problem or that they are not treating the cause.

Sometimes the cause of hormonal imbalances is unknown and the best treatment available is to correct what is known, for instance, a lack or excess of estrogen or whatever.

Certainly a second opinion and self-study are helpful and informative, but it is perfectly acceptable according to the Church to take BCP for medical conditions.

One of the links below, for NaPro, looks a little iffy to me.
 
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Sola:
Preyoflove,

It is not necessarily true that birth control pills, or artifical hormones, are just covering up some other problem or that they are not treating the cause.

Sometimes the cause of hormonal imbalances is unknown and the best treatment available is to correct what is known, for instance, a lack or excess of estrogen or whatever.

Certainly a second opinion and self-study are helpful and informative, but it is perfectly acceptable according to the Church to take BCP for medical conditions.

One of the links below, for NaPro, looks a little iffy to me.
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I’m not sure what you mean by “iffy,” and I’m not sure on what you are basing that judgment, but I assure you that the Pope Paul VI Institute is in accord with Church teaching.

I did not say that all BCP are prescribed to merely treat the symptoms and not the problem–research suggests, however, that this is often the case. I agree that “sometimes the cause of hormonal imbalances is unknown” and that supplementing with hormones can often correct these imbalances. In fact, NaPro practitioners often prescribe hormonal supplements–but not via a BCP.

I hope that helps to clear up the misunderstanding. God Bless.
 
Thank you so much for all your views, brothers and sisters.

I’ll pray for you and for the preservation and advancement of the Culture of Life.

Shalom, amen.
 
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mercygate:
If anyone knows a good gynecologist in L.A. who can treat dysmenorrhea and mittelschmerz without oral contraceptives, please let me know. My young daughter has been taking them since age 14 because of horrendous menstrual pain. She was hospitalized twice because of it; even WITH medication her periods are bad – and LONG: 8 days is not unusual.
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I had the same problem at your daughter’s age. The doctor you want to find is a gynecologic endocrinologist. The minute I walked into a GE’s office when I was 23, I found relief…and it didn’t involve any birth control pills. In my case, the workup showed that I needed to be on a PMS pill for 3 days before my period was due. That’s all it took…pills for one week and no more mittelschmerz. If you have a major university-affiliated medical center in your area, they can help you find the right doctor.

For the person who was being prescribed OCPs for excessively heavy bleeding, I know exactly how you feel. But there is hope and you just need to blow off any doctor who thinks the pill cures everything. I was told for 3 years that I would need a hysterectomy to make my cycles stop…one went 6 months after my 2nd daughter was born. Then one day I found a MD who was into Holistic medicine. She was the first person to explain the physiology behind my problem (weight gained during the pregnancy was creating its own estrogen that wasn’t being balanced by enough natural progesterone). It took 2 days of an over-the-counter progesterone cream to make the bleeding stop. I asked the 4 different OB/Gynes who told me how I’d need a hysterectomy to make the bleeding stop why they never explained any of this and why they didn’t try the progesterone replacement. Not one thought it was a “permanent” solution. Well, granted that hysterectomies are permanent. But if I had gone that route, I never would have been blessed with my youngest son. All of the doctors agreed this was my problem…but none saw the simple solution as the place to start. As my new doctor explained, there wasn’t any money in OTC progesterone…but there was about $8000 in the long, painful treatments and surgeries that were being suggested.

It was mentioned above that some doctors see the pill as the cure-all for everything female. Isn’t that the truth? If it’s not the pill, then it’s surgery. Either way, they’re building in job security and just hiding the underlying problems. We’re treated as symptom groups and not people. Our reproductive systems are judged based on our ages and our career paths. No one even takes into account our faith and our beliefs. More’s the pity.
 
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cmcruz:
You might try contacting one of the NaPro-practicing centers in your area. I pulled the following contact information for the LA area off of the Pope Paul VI website (which I posted a link for earlier):

Magnificat FertilityCare Center of Los Angeles
Lancaster, CA 93535
Features NaProTECHNOLOGY®
****Phone: 661-723-9590 Fax: 661-948-9357
e-mail: polis.ten@juno.com

It can’t hurt to see if they have help to provide. I hope you find some relief for your poor daughter!

God Bless.
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Thanks cmcruz! It’s a lead! Much appreciation.
 
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justLaura:
Hi Kate…I too have PCO and have been on medicinal BCP for them. If you’re not married and not having sex, you can be on medicinal contraceptives without issues. If you are married, then as long as you abstain during what would tend to be your fertile period, you should be ok.

Laura
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I am not sure if abstaning is necisary. I may be wrong but I thought that you were allowed to use them as long as you were using them for medical reasons and not for contrception. I may be wrong though.
 
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