Birth Control Pill for Medical Problems

[Listener]

Since the birth control pill came out in the early 1960’s, the Catholic Church has taught that it is morally acceptable to take it for medical reasons. The encyclical, Humanae Vitae states the following:

"15. On the other hand, the Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever. (19) "

I know that there are a lot of people on this forum that think otherwise, but I was around back then, and I know for sure that this is what the priests always taught.

I would like to start a thread for women who have been placed on the birth control pill by a doctor who was trying to solve a medical problem. I would like to know what the experience was like and whether or not the pill solved the problem that the doctor was trying to fix.

Please do not use this thread to object to medical use of the pill - that has been done in plenty of other threads. I am just curious if it was beneficial for anyone.

 

[renee1258]

Define medical problem? Women spend 10 minutes with a GYN and states her periods are not exactly 28 days apart or a zit before her period, and whoop we have a medical problem and the Pharmacuetical companies cash in. Been there done that. A lot of women don’t need the Pill, but so much money has been put into its creation, they only way to make a profit is to get more women then needed on it.

Medicine is to treat and to cure, the Pill doesn’t do that. No Pill has allowed a woman to properly ovulate and then have her period 11-15 days later. I don’t know about you, but women are suppose to ovulate. It just shuts it down and supresses the symptoms of a true medical problem, and artifically creates bleeding every 28 days. And that is if there is a problem. The 15 years later of being on the Pill, they render the woman infertile and make more money on her with IVF.

As for every couple or single woman who is faces with the potential of going on the Pill, I would first ask them to at least see a one hour presentation on what NFP is. I don’t think that is much to ask considering I get at least an advertisement on tv a day for contraceptives, but how much does the average couple see anything on NFP? Do you know the deceptively tell women in contraceptive advetising the pretty mcuh all forms of NFP are unrealiable by lumping true methods of NFP with the Rhythym method!

I understand Catholic Teaching, but the whole idea of shutting down a woman’s sexuality is a serious issue and in only GRAVE situations should it be considered. Unless you consider being a woman in itself to be a desease it has no beneficial value. The Pill was created for one reason only, not to have babies. I think you need to accept that.

The difference between men and woman is that for the male sexual organ to be rendered functional it has to be erect, which means the man has to feel pleasure. The part of the woman’s sexual organ that is used for intercourse can be used whether she feels any pleasure at all. The Pill pretty much renders the woman incapable of truely acheiving sexual pleasure. If there was a Pill, there wouldn’t be a market for KY Jelly. Even with KY Jelly it doesn’t create pleasure.

Simply women need to demand better health care from the medical field and stop allowing us to think that the Pill is a cure all. Sorry this isn’t the post you wanted to read, and but to render a woman into nothing more then an empty hole instead of a true sexual being isn’t something I am going to stand aropund and do nothing about.

 

[hopeandlove]

The Pill. I choose to go on the Pill when I was first married as BC, but I leave out the moral stuff and talk just medical – I was on the Pill for 1 year and everything was fine no acne no cramps, but there was weight gain, then I started to get these awful make me want to stay in bed all day cramps, So I went back to the Dr and she prescribed a Pill with a higher hormone level. Cramps got worse – went to a different Dr and found out my blood pressure, which was fine up till then, was 158/115. So I stopped taking the Pill, I had a period for a solid 2 months (not so fun) along with worse acne then I ever had a teen. My BP was back to normal within 2 days. And overall I felt physical better (especially after the 1st 2 months) not being on the Pill. So if you go on the Pill for a any reason be ready for the side effects, watch your BP (CLOSELY) and be ready for the side effects when you quit taking the Pill.

 

[trailblazer]

My teenage neice was placed on the pill due to medical reasons rather than birth control, but I forgot the exact reason as she had several problems including epilepsie.

 

[MistyF]

I am on BC for medical problems. As far as anyone who goes in and gets on it for acne or normal cramps - that is between them and God, I think. I won’t judge them, since it is not my place.

However, I have had 5 surgeries for endometriosis, and I live in pain from it. When I am off of BC it is far, far worse. I was on another hormone that put me into menopause (Depo-Lupron, not to be confused with Depo-Provera), but that cannot be taken long-term.

Because the pain from endometriosis is so debilitating, my options are:

• Live with it, likely lose my fertility and probably become addicted to Lortab, and eventually be stuck home in bed from pain, unable to work or care for my children properly
• Have a full hystorectomy (cures the endometriosis)
• User hormone treatments in the form of BC to regulate my cycles (the endometriosis can’t happen if I don’t cycle, and hormone treatments help to prevent it even when I do cycle)
• Have surgery every year (not really an option, the docs have pretty much said if it’s not under control they want to use option #2)
• Have children, because during the time when I’m pregnant and nursing, it basically isn’t a problem anymore - Gotta get married first, though (and I’ve probably got 17 years of fertility left - if I spend it having babies the whole time I have at least 8 more children coming my way - not a financial option)

For now, I’m using BC. It has been mostly successful for me, until this latest change in it. I switched to one that gives me a cycle every three months, which is, in theory, the best thing to prevent endometriosis. But, I’m having problems with it, so I will likely switch soon.

Now, I am on my way to becoming Catholic, but cannot rightly claim to be, yet. I’ve heard that there are Catholic doctors out there that can sometimes help in ways that other doctors don’t think to. I have done a lot of research into endometriosis, and I think if there were alternatives, I’d have found them. But I plan on doing more investigation.

 

[hopeandlove]

Let me add this to my previous post. I think that any reason to go on the Pill is between a women, her Dr, and God. I just wanted to throw my 2cents in and let it be known that sometimes the side effects are worse then what they are supposed to fix.

Misty – I am so sorry! I am so glad you have found a treatment that works for you.

God Bless

 

[Listener]

renee1258:

As for every couple or single woman who is faces with the potential of going on the Pill, I would first ask them to at least see a one hour presentation on what NFP is.

I’m sitting here trying to figure out why an NFP class would help a woman who is suffering from severe cramps that resemble labor pains, heavy bleeding, huge clots, endometriosis, fibroids, repeated miscarriage, etc. These are the types of problems I was thinking of when I was asking whether or not the pill really helped anyone with these problems. Of course, you might be able to postpone some of these problems if you were to get pregnant, but that is really not an option for a Catholic woman who happens to be single.

 

[Karen_Anne]

About 22 years ago I was put on the pill due to severe menstrual cramps (rolling on the floor - throwing up). It helped immensly (sp?). However, I stopped taking it a couple of years later due to migraines…Now I have migraines AND cramps:crying: . Starting to get into menapause though, so hopefully will have some relief in a few years:yup: .

Karen Anne

 

[1ke]

Listener:

I’m sitting here trying to figure out why an NFP class would help a woman who is suffering from severe cramps that resemble labor pains, heavy bleeding, huge clots, endometriosis, fibroids, repeated miscarriage, etc. These are the types of problems I was thinking of when I was asking whether or not the pill really helped anyone with these problems. Of course, you might be able to postpone some of these problems if you were to get pregnant, but that is really not an option for a Catholic woman who happens to be single.

NFP can assist in diagnosing the problem and there are in many cases (not all) remedies other than the Pill that can be used. See the book Fertility Cycles and Nutrition available through CCLI for more information. They charting of the cycle is a necessary component of knowing when to take certain supplements. It is not only the supplement itself, but the proper timing, that is important.

 

[penguinatheart]

I had horrible, uncontrollable cramps. Despite taking 2 Aspirin, 2 Aleve, 3 Ibuprofen, and 2 Tylenol every four hours and using heating pads, the pain was still almost unbearable unless I could somehow get to sleep. No school, no work, and they were only getting worse. My doc put me on low-dose birth control without the placebos, and now I have no problem with cramps and can function just fine. I don’t know what I’ll do when I get married / want kids and can’t use the birth control, because for now it is a total lifesaver.

 

[magdelaine]

For now, I’m using BC. It has been mostly successful for me, until this latest change in it. I switched to one that gives me a cycle every three months, which is, in theory, the best thing to prevent endometriosis. But, I’m having problems with it, so I will likely switch soon.

Hi Misty, God bless!

I have a friend with PCOS who is on ABC for similar reasons, so I know what you are dealing with is quite a cross to bear. FWIW, it may be useful to see a doctor who is familiar with Naprotechnology to help with your problem. You may well have to remain on birth control, but this kind of problem may also be aided by special nutrition, endocrine studies, etc.

popepaulvi.com/

About kids; I feel best myself while pregnant/or breastfeeding. Ecological breastfeeding usually keeps my cycles away for 15 to 20 months after the baby is born.

 

[Corki]

I would like to start a thread for women who have been placed on the birth control pill by a doctor who was trying to solve a medical problem. I would like to know what the experience was like and whether or not the pill solved the problem that the doctor was trying to fix.

Please do not use this thread to object to medical use of the pill - that has been done in plenty of other threads. I am just curious if it was beneficial for anyone.

TMI ALERT!

In my late 20s I developed a problem with continuous heavy bleeding/passing large clots. I litterally bled every day except maybe a dozen days for over three years. During that time, I saw several GYNs. I was given a “chemical D&C” first and then BC pills. They tried 10 different BC prescriptions. No change. I was resigned to this.

After getting married and trying to get pregnant, my OB found a growth that was removed and no more bleeding. All the pills did was mess up my system. I entered menopause in my early 40s and am convinced the pills are to blame.

 

[Lizziebel]

I’m sitting here trying to figure out why an NFP class would help a woman who is suffering from severe cramps that resemble labor pains, heavy bleeding, huge clots, endometriosis, fibroids, repeated miscarriage, etc. These are the types of problems I was thinking of when I was asking whether or not the pill really helped anyone with these problems. Of course, you might be able to postpone some of these problems if you were to get pregnant, but that is really not an option for a Catholic woman who happens to be single.

I have to agree with you about the NFP class. While it could be beneficial for certain issues, the ones you mentioned simply would not be addressed in such a class.

Neither would the case of needing hormone replacement therapy, which is why I went on bcp initially. I didn’t have any major side effects from them, but they are a pretty high dose of hormones. I ended up switching to a lower dose, non-bcp form of hormones.

Now, I would agree that alternatives to BCPs should be discussed. I don’t have much knowledge about endometriosis, but I’ve read that there are alternative medications that treat and alleviate the condition rather than masking it the way BCP’s do. And for those who need hormone replacement, lower doses of hormones are surely safer for the cardiovascular system than the high doses in BCP’s.

 

[Jolly_Joe]

I had horrible, uncontrollable cramps. Despite taking 2 Aspirin, 2 Aleve, 3 Ibuprofen, and 2 Tylenol every four hours and using heating pads, the pain was still almost unbearable unless I could somehow get to sleep. No school, no work, and they were only getting worse. My doc put me on low-dose birth control without the placebos, and now I have no problem with cramps and can function just fine. I don’t know what I’ll do when I get married / want kids and can’t use the birth control, because for now it is a total lifesaver.

Don’t take aspirin, aleve and ibuprofen at the same time, it’s not safe. You could just as well say you took 2 aspirin and 4 aspirin and 3 aspirin.

I don’t want to get into advising exactly how much is safe, you should talk to a doctor about that sometime since it’s not an emergency right now.

Tylenol does not add to the aspirin so that’s a different case, but you need to do something different for pain than stack aspirin and aleve and ibuprofen. They have the same mode and they add to each other.

Marv

 

[lllIIIlIlIlIlI]

I was diagnosed with severe PCOS two years ago (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and I currently take a high dosage of birth control and diuretics. My health before I was diagnosed was terrible; I was in agonizing pain, I was gaining so much weight and my face was disfigured by the overproduction of androgen (male hormones). I also had Hirsutism. I am NOT insulin resistant.

The birth control and diuretics have completely changed my life and my health is wonderful. I worried for years about taking birth control because of the Church’s stance against it. But finally being urged by my endocrinologist to take them, I feel foolish for my ignorance and not accepting my doctor’s advice sooner.

As for children, I’ve been told that because of the severity of my PCOS, I may never be able to conceive. It doesn’t bother me, though because I never had any desire to be a mother. I find the whole arrangement to be God’s Will and I figure, He knows what is best for me and if He does not want me to be a mother, I accept this whole heartily.

My parish knows I am on the pill; I asked their opinion about it and they gave me permission basically to use it since I am sick.

To any Catholic women who are diagnosed with PCOS and are hesitant about using birth control for therapeutic purposes, please do you research before filling prescriptions. If you can find a drug therapy that will work around your faith, by all means go for it. But if birth control is truly necessary for your body to function properly, please go to your parish; arrange a meeting with a priest or go to confession and ask for permission if you feel you need this. Please listen to your doctors, especially your endocrinologist. They are only trying to help!

That’s my two cents.

 

[St_Francis]

I had horrible, uncontrollable cramps. Despite taking 2 Aspirin, 2 Aleve, 3 Ibuprofen, and 2 Tylenol every four hours and using heating pads, the pain was still almost unbearable unless I could somehow get to sleep. No school, no work, and they were only getting worse. My doc put me on low-dose birth control without the placebos, and now I have no problem with cramps and can function just fine. I don’t know what I’ll do when I get married / want kids and can’t use the birth control, because for now it is a total lifesaver.

First of all, do *not *take all those pills. I had another problem which caused me a lot of pain, and took 5 aspirins at a time till someone told me the extras were just being flushed out of my body. But the main thing is that all of those will thin your blood, and that is really not a good thing. I still (25 years later) have problems with that, and it may have caused my bleeding problems when I had children.

I had cramps like that when I was young. The first doctor put me on the Pill, which didn’t help, and codeine. The second doctor just gave me codeine.

Then the third doctor told me that in a lot of cases, these severe cramps were caused by water retention, and advised bananas and CocaCola for the week before my period, along with as much reduction of salt intake as possible. He prescribed a mild diuretic to supplement the Coke (actually, he just put it that way so I’d remember more easily), and a very mild pain reliever (umm, I think this was around the time Tylenol came out, so it was a long time ago), and I think the bananas supply potassium to help balance out the salt.

And this did work. The relief from having that much pain every month was sooooo great!!! So, I put all sorts of different spices on my eggs, found out that cheese has a lot of salt and was able to move on with my life.

Hope this helps you or someone else!

 

[kslat]

Part of my beef with the use of birth control pills for medical reasons is that, so often, they are used as a cure-all. They treat the symptoms, not the disease.

If someone needs them, they should take them. I think women who are sexually active are well advised to reconsider, as the pills still have contraceptive effects. I agree with the Church, but the fact that something is not sinful is not the same as it being advisable.

 

[essie7777]

Medicine is to treat and to cure, the Pill doesn’t do that. …

As for every couple or single woman who is faces with the potential of going on the Pill, I would first ask them to at least see a one hour presentation on what NFP is. …
… Unless you consider being a woman in itself to be a desease it has no beneficial value. The Pill was created for one reason only, not to have babies. I think you need to accept that…
Simply women need to demand better health care from the medical field and stop allowing us to think that the Pill is a cure all.

Whilst i can admire your position it does suggest that you are a little misinformed.

There are naturally cases of women taking BC to prevent having children but nothing you have referred to here makes any sense if someone is suffering a medical issue which can be controlled through hormones (which is ultimately what BC contain in varying forms and amounts).

Your points make sense is someone is looking at BC to prevent reproduction but irrelevant for treatment of other medical issues such as endometritis, no amount of NFP conversation is going to change my symptoms or the symptoms of any one else who suffers from this medical issue.

At some point we would need to consider than the BC element is a byproduct in these cases. In my case the BC pill is better for me as there is an alternative method of delivering hormones (injections) as i am extremely uncomfortable with this. I loath needles! And either way it would impact on my reproduction ability … i choose the best medical option for me based on good advice, lots of research and experience.

A little compassion may be needed before blanket criticisng those who make the choice to take advantage of the hormone content in BC pills to alleviate symptoms of debilitating medical conditions.

…Now, I am on my way to becoming Catholic, but cannot rightly claim to be, yet. I’ve heard that there are Catholic doctors out there that can sometimes help in ways that other doctors don’t think to. I have done a lot of research into endometriosis, and I think if there were alternatives, I’d have found them. But I plan on doing more investigation.

A great post that laid out the issues in a specific case. I wish you luck with your search and keep us posted if you find anything of interest.

For myself, I concluded that the Church doesn’t condemn me and i’m sure no one would want to live constantly wit the debilitating consequences of suffering from a chronic medical issue that makes it hard to function normally without help and intervention. Like yourself in my case i am not ready to give up all chances of ever having children which is my only alternative, a hysterectomy.

 

[agapewolf]

Whilst i can admire your position it does suggest that you are a little misinformed.

There are naturally cases of women taking BC to prevent having children but nothing you have referred to here makes any sense if someone is suffering a medical issue which can be controlled through hormones (which is ultimately what BC contain in varying forms and amounts).

Your points make sense is someone is looking at BC to prevent reproduction but irrelevant for treatment of other medical issues such as endometritis, no amount of NFP conversation is going to change my symptoms or the symptoms of any one else who suffers from this medical issue.

At some point we would need to consider than the BC element is a byproduct in these cases. In my case the BC pill is better for me as there is an alternative method of delivering hormones (injections) as i am extremely uncomfortable with this. I loath needles! And either way it would impact on my reproduction ability … i choose the best medical option for me based on good advice, lots of research and experience.

A little compassion may be needed before blanket criticisng those who make the choice to take advantage of the hormone content in BC pills to alleviate symptoms of debilitating medical conditions.

A great post that laid out the issues in a specific case. I wish you luck with your search and keep us posted if you find anything of interest.

For myself, I concluded that the Church doesn’t condemn me and i’m sure no one would want to live constantly wit the debilitating consequences of suffering from a chronic medical issue that makes it hard to function normally without help and intervention. Like yourself in my case i am not ready to give up all chances of ever having children which is my only alternative, a hysterectomy.

Actually, you are the one really misinformed. Learning Creighton method and charting accurately have helped me discover medical issues I didn’t even know I had, and helped to diagnose the issues with other symptoms. PCOS- being a huge one, is helped by metformin, NOT the pill

My Creighton book has 4 pages of symptoms listed that indicate different health issues. Miscarriages can be low progesterone (which I also have and found because I was charting). This is helped by taking a natural progesterone, NOT artificial. Fibroids, polyps, cysts, can be discovered through charting. This is all connected to NAPRO technology…all from learning at an NFP class.

I’m not arguing the morality of taking an artificial hormone for medical needs, the church is clear on that. But there is a llooooong list of docs who will not prescribe it under any circumstances because its so bad for the body…its a class 1 carcinogen.

 

[Corki]

Whilst i can admire your position it does suggest that you are a little misinformed.

There are naturally cases of women taking BC to prevent having children but nothing you have referred to here makes any sense if someone is suffering a medical issue which can be controlled through hormones (which is ultimately what BC contain in varying forms and amounts).

Your points make sense is someone is looking at BC to prevent reproduction but irrelevant for treatment of other medical issues such as endometritis, no amount of NFP conversation is going to change my symptoms or the symptoms of any one else who suffers from this medical issue.

At some point we would need to consider than the BC element is a byproduct in these cases. In my case the BC pill is better for me as there is an alternative method of delivering hormones (injections) as i am extremely uncomfortable with this. I loath needles! And either way it would impact on my reproduction ability … i choose the best medical option for me based on good advice, lots of research and experience.

A little compassion may be needed before blanket criticisng those who make the choice to take advantage of the hormone content in BC pills to alleviate symptoms of debilitating medical conditions.

.

Not sure why you re-opened a seven-year old thread but I think you misunderstood what renee said.

Yes, there are legitimate reasons to prescribe the hormones in birth control pills to treat disorders. However, we live in a time when doctors all too often prescribe BC pills to treat everything from irregular bleeding to acne, often without doing any due diligence to determine the cause for the symptoms that have presented. I am a walking example. Doctors cycled me through TEN different types of BC to treat a symptom. After years of this, and other stronger hormones, a very wise OB/GYN actually diagnosed my problem as a fibroid in a bad location. Simple surgery and no more problem. The resulting havoc those different courses of unnecessary hormones did to my body led to, what I believe, was the difficulty we had conceiving our first child.

Renee was simply saying that women need to demand that their doctors not simply push pills to treat symptoms but look first for the real causes of the issues women face.

(renee, I hope I am interpreting correctly)