Unusual use of Birth Control

[jaaraf]

Oh, I forgot to add…With regards to side effects, all medications do have them. The physician has to weigh the risks and benefits. In this case, contraception is not the reason for taking the pill, it’s to treat the DUB.

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Karen,

She was telling the exact truth. I know this because we have been together for two years, neither of us have had sex with anyone, we are waiting until we get married, and we are going to be engaged soon (she is also 22, so this isn’t a teenager afraid of what her parents will say). She explained this to the doctor and he either didn’t listen or didn’t believe her, because he kept pushing the BC pills. I don’t find that to be very professional behavior, nor do I like the way he matter-of-factly told her she would need to have an abortion if she got pregnant.

Listen to the CA show “Why NFP?” with Jason Evert. He talks a lot about artificial BC and its effects.
catholic.com/radio/calendar_search.php

 

[larry85704]

I don’t think there are and rules posted by the Church concerning what medicine you can and cannot take. This includes birth control pills. Now if you are having sex and using artifical birth control that is different.

I think the Church needs to be involved in this area. Medicine has to do with life. It can extend it, make it fuller, or shorten it. With the explosion of quack medicine, even from established MD’s, and things like cosmetic surgery shouldn’t the Church have some position?

Wouldn’t this topic be a great on for a pastorial letter by our bishops?

 

[jaaraf]

She explained this to the doctor and he either didn’t listen or didn’t believe her, because he kept pushing the BC pills. I don’t find that to be very professional behavior, nor do I like the way he matter-of-factly told her she would need to have an abortion if she got pregnant.

It’s a shame that a lot of my colleagues badger women into doing what is clearly unethical and immoral. When I was doing my senior clerkship, I have also seen it openly done, in an extremely disconcerting case to a woman who refused to have a sterilization prcedure along with her caesarian section. She was already openly crying while the nursing staff and OB-GYNE resident were already insulting her. All I could do was encourage her to stick to her decision about her own body.

It really is unprofessional. You can always present the patient with all possible courses of action, but you can never impose to the point that you are pressuring someone. The decision is, in the end, entirely up to the patient, not the doctor.

 

[timotheos]

My mother was trying to talk low enough I think for me not to hear, but apparently the 20 year old has low potassium levels from what it sounded like.

I don’t know. “Passing out” can be a result of a lot of things, and “low potassium” I suppose could be one, but there are a lot of other reasons that should be considered. Assuming a link was made between her passing out and low potassium, then you have to figure out why the potassium is low, and there are also many reasons for this. It’s mighty odd to jump to prescribing BCPs; offhand I can’t even figure out how the two would be connected.

-Tim

 

[El_camino]

I am home for the summer from school and other obligations and staying at my parents house. I am am male and I have been away from home a total of 10 years other than periodic visits. Therefore, I am sort of “out of the loop” in regards to situations in the family and I am having a hard time knowing how “devoted” my Catholic family really is to the faith anymore. Honestly, I’m not too “close” to them, but do care about them.
Tonight, my mother was preparing dinner and second oldest sister (who is 24 and a nurse) walked into the kitchen.
About two weeks ago, my youngest sister who is 45 minutes away at school and 20 yrs (single) old passed out at work. ON top of that, something is possibly wrong with her usual reproductive cycle but I can’t confirm that. So, my mother made sure she went to the doctor to see if something was wrong with her and had some blood work done. The appointment was last week and the results came in today.
So…while I was in the kitchen today along with my mother and 24year old daughter, I overheard my mother tell my sister (the nurse) the results of the test for the 20 year old sister just as I was leaving the kitchen. My mother was trying to talk low enough I think for me not to hear, but apparently the 20 year old has low potassium levels from what it sounded like. I did not hear all of what the doctor “prescribed” the one thing that jumped out at me sounded like my mother said the doctor prescribed birth control pills for her!?
Well, my heart sunk and I just about had a few things disrespectful to say to the “doctor” or at least ask my mom if she realized what the (*&I she was doing.
My questions are:
-Could a doctor have done something this stupid and un-ethical isn’t this blatent malpractice?
-What does birth control have to do with helping a 20 year old with low levels of nutrients and taking meds for anxiety?
-What can I do about this or who do I approach and how without insulting my parents who do attend mass each Sunday but are Msort of “blah” in my opinion (not to judge them but that is what I witness)?

Thanks and God bless…

Low potassium levels sometimes develop due to hormonal problems… Birth control pills are sometimes prescribed because they keep hormones under control… IN this case, the birth control pills are medicine and they are not used in a deliberate manner to avoid pregnancy… so they are allowed…

Blessings,

EC

 

[timotheos]

Low potassium levels sometimes develop due to hormonal problems…

True, but mostly adrenal-type hormone problems, I think. I haven’t heard that ovarian hormonal disorders can cause significantly and symptomatic low potassium, but maybe there is something new out there…

-Tim

 

[El_camino]

True, but mostly adrenal-type hormone problems, I think. I haven’t heard that ovarian hormonal disorders can cause significantly and symptomatic low potassium, but maybe there is something new out there…

-Tim

My sister had the same thing… The Dr. prescribed birth control pills… it went away and she stopped taking them… so in that case, as I said, it was due to medicinal purposes, not to deliberately not get pregnant…

Blessings,

E.C.

 

[Randy_Carson]

I am home for the summer from school and other obligations and staying at my parents house. I am am male and I have been away from home a total of 10 years other than periodic visits. Therefore, I am sort of “out of the loop” in regards to situations in the family and I am having a hard time knowing how “devoted” my Catholic family really is to the faith anymore. Honestly, I’m not too “close” to them, but do care about them.
Tonight, my mother was preparing dinner and second oldest sister (who is 24 and a nurse) walked into the kitchen.
About two weeks ago, my youngest sister who is 45 minutes away at school and 20 yrs (single) old passed out at work. ON top of that, something is possibly wrong with her usual reproductive cycle but I can’t confirm that. So, my mother made sure she went to the doctor to see if something was wrong with her and had some blood work done. The appointment was last week and the results came in today.
So…while I was in the kitchen today along with my mother and 24year old daughter, I overheard my mother tell my sister (the nurse) the results of the test for the 20 year old sister just as I was leaving the kitchen. My mother was trying to talk low enough I think for me not to hear, but apparently the 20 year old has low potassium levels from what it sounded like. I did not hear all of what the doctor “prescribed” the one thing that jumped out at me sounded like my mother said the doctor prescribed birth control pills for her!?
Well, my heart sunk and I just about had a few things disrespectful to say to the “doctor” or at least ask my mom if she realized what the (*&I she was doing.
My questions are:
-Could a doctor have done something this stupid and un-ethical isn’t this blatent malpractice?
-What does birth control have to do with helping a 20 year old with low levels of nutrients and taking meds for anxiety?
-What can I do about this or who do I approach and how without insulting my parents who do attend mass each Sunday but are Msort of “blah” in my opinion (not to judge them but that is what I witness)?

Thanks and God bless…

If your sister is single and celibate, she can take all the birth control pills she wants. The pill is not sinful in and of itself - it is the purpose for which it is used that matters.

If she is single and not celibate, then she has several problems, and taking birth control pills is just one of them.

As a side note, when I was first married, my wife rarely had a menstrual cycle - rarely as in almost never.

A doctor prescribed “the pill” as a means of jumpstarting her period and after about six months, she was able to stop taking the pill and her cycles have continued normally for nearly 18 years of marriage including seven pregnancies and three kids.

Now, was she wrong to have taken “the pill” as a Catholic? Well, she wasn’t going to get pregnant any way since ovulation was not occuring.

Getting her hormones working routinely was the key to future pregnancy, so I believe in this case that the medical benefit of “the pill” enabled us to do precisely what God intended as one of the purposes of married sexuality - procreation.

Hope this helps. :tiphat:

 

[Sabda]

Well, it’s obviously only anecdotal, but I used the pill for 5 years straight and had no problems becoming pregnant immediately (we used condoms for 3 months after I stopped the pill–became pregnant the first month we did not use any of these). This was the case twice, even though I was in my mid to late 30s on both occasions and have a history of sometimes severe fertility problems in my family, including my sister.

I was on the pill for 3 years got off of it and had a nightmare of periods for almost 3 months. Extreme bloating for 3 months solid and really scanty periods. The first month I was off of it was fine and then after that month things went nuts. I never had any problems while I was on the pill it was only once I got off of it. Asked my doctor about it and he said that getting off the pill had thrown my hormones all out of wack and I was just going to have to wait for the pill to work it’s way completely out of my system. Yes, I can definitely believe the problems with the pill. If I knew a woman was going to be taking the pill I’d definitely warn her about my own personal experience just so she knows that there can be problems.

 

[Gardening_Mommy]

First of all, the sibling hasn’t taken it upon herself to share her situation with the OP, so it is definitely none of his business.

Secondly, the doctor is certainly aware of the side effects of the medication he or she prescribed, but he or she is a highly trained medical professional who has actually examined the young woman in question and is qualified to make decisions about which medications to prescribe. You are not.

Yeah, and those “highly trained medical professionals” frequently hand out BC like candy, not fully understainding (or caring) about well-documented side-effects, including later increased likelihood of certain cancers. Not to mention the studies about the problems all of that synthetic estrogen is causing in our water supply…

The mom and sister of the OP were discussing this in his presence, so they must not have been too concerned about this being in strict confidence. If your sister is being put on something dangerous while being told it’s 100% safe, then YES, you need to talk to her.

I had a friend, who was Protestant at the time, who asked her doctor for a BC that would NEVER act as an abortifacient because, “We believe that the child is a person as soon as the sperm and egg unite.” What did this trained professional put her on? The Pill, which is abortifacient whenever the ovulation is not suppressed.

 

[cheerfulcherub]

Hi there, I just want to understand one thing you guys are saying. If you are married and sexually active but are on BC for medical reasons (ie after have 3 C-sections my ovaries are completly strangled by scar tissue and come ovulation I am in pain, like a knife in me, for 2 weeks as the scar tissue traps the cyst that is growing.) The BC would stop ovulation and prevent the extreme pain. Would that be sinful?? Before anyone jumps to conculsions I declined the GP’s advice but just curious??

 

[agapewolf]

There are so many threads about this, I’ll try to sum up.

-IF BCpill could actually be used to medicate and assist in fixing problems and the unintended side effect was to stop ovulation, it could possibly be a moral means.

However…I know many many docs who say that the BCPill is poison and nothing more. Think about it…where else do we take a “pill” to make the body stop working the way it is supposed to? The BCPill stops a working functioning part of the body…how in the world can anyone think that that is safe?

The BCPill has been declared a carcinogen. It is also prescribed as “med reasons” but only hides the symptoms, it does NOT fix the problem. The “period” a girl gets while on BCPill is fake. It just makes things look like they are working, but they are not.

I’ve had personal experience with charting NFP (I’m single) to find the roots of the issues, and then an NFP-Only doc helped fix the actual problems (with natural progesterone, and metformin).

You can help by going to www.omsoul.com and finding NFP only docs that can help the problem.

And yes, it IS the business of the OP. If your family/friend was about to drink poision, your job would be to stop them so they don’t hurt themselves (analogy for not only physical poison, but spiritual as well).

 

[Smber2c]

If you are married and sexually active but are on BC for medical reasons (ie after have 3 C-sections my ovaries are completly strangled by scar tissue and come ovulation I am in pain, like a knife in me, for 2 weeks as the scar tissue traps the cyst that is growing.) The BC would stop ovulation and prevent the extreme pain. Would that be sinful?? Before anyone jumps to conculsions I declined the GP’s advice but just curious??

There are many others with more knowledge than I on this issue, but your question’s sat for a while so I’ll respond since that usually brings out others to cross the T’s and dot the i’s.

Anyway, to me this the morality seems rather simple on this:
Married & sexually active…then no BC would be acceptable.
The presence of pain is not able to justify either the chance of an unintended abortion taking place, nor can pain justify the lack of openness to life.

If the pain were so bad that it must be abated and the pill is the only option, then the couple would seemingly be called to abstain from having sex.

As I said the morality of it all seems straight forward, but of course holding to those morals is much more difficult for a couple. Definantly a dying to self and embracing of ones cross.

 

[KarenNC]

The “period” a girl gets while on BCPill is fake.

What do you mean by “fake?”

 

[agapewolf]

What do you mean by “fake?”

This is the way an NFP only doc explained it to me. A normal period shows a healthy reproductive system…sheds the lining of the uterus.

A BC.Pill weakens the lining of the uterus. Both situations are a shedding of the lining…but one is the healthy cycle of ovulation, and the other is simply from the weakening. How can it be shedding if there isn’t ovulation? (of course, if it actually does stop ovulation). The bottom line is the period that a woman gets while on the pill makes her think that everything is healthy and as it should be, when actually, its the opposite.

Please don’t argue with me …I don’t have the medical expertise to talk intelligently on it…I’m simply repeating what docs have told me. You can find loads of info at www.omsoul.com

 

[Sakoman]

Hi Primitive,

I think you need to mind your own business. I am especially shocked by what you wrote:

“My mother was trying to talk low enough I think for me not to hear…”

At the instant you realized you mother was trying to keep her conversation private, you should have refocused your attention to something else (prayer, holy thoughts, etc). Instead, you proceeded to eavesdrop, and potentially draw inaccurate and inappropriate conclusions. You sister’s medical health is not your concern, and confronting anyone with this can cause damage to your relationships. You will come off as being “Holier than thou” and judgemental at the least.

Eavesdropping may not be a mortal sin, but it can be sinful. Done for the wrong reasons, it can direct your attention from the will of God and involve you into self serving thoughts and actions.
Aside from all of this, like many of the other posts have said, there can be legitimate reasons (in the eyes of the Church) for taking “the pill”.

I hope I don’t come off sounding too harsh, but I think this needed to be said.

God Bless.

 

[900MHZ]

I might be coming from a different family and cultural background, but the physical and spiritual welfare of my relatives is my concern. Probably this is the reason why I am not surprised by the OP. I think that the OP should make clear that the deep family affection is at the base of such inquiry and the inquiry should be done with a lot of diplomacy. If I were a family member and I would hear how the situation was presented in the OP I would probably be upset and defensive because it could sound critical (accusing doctor and family members of ignorance).

I thought taking the BC for the reasons the OP explained above (medical purposes), was okay in this case? As opposed to use it for preventing from having children.

 

[Aslieas]

My questions are:
-Could a doctor have done something this stupid and un-ethical isn’t this blatent malpractice?
-What does birth control have to do with helping a 20 year old with low levels of nutrients and taking meds for anxiety?
-What can I do about this or who do I approach and how without insulting my parents who do attend mass each Sunday but are Msort of “blah” in my opinion (not to judge them but that is what I witness)?

Thanks and God bless…

Well, no, that would not be malpractice, if the doctor was prescribing the pills under sound medical knowledge and with the conviction that it’s the best thing he can do for your sister.

For your second question: Birth control pills can have beneficial effects on a woman’s body that don’t really have anything to do with their function as contraceptives. The hormones used in the pill affect mood, and can help regulate mood because they are given as a constant dose. The pill also will regulate a woman’s period, and usually will lighten it and make it shorter. When the period doesn’t last so long, it relieves a lot of stress many women have over getting their period. (This is more of an observation than personal experience, since getting my period has never bothered me much.) So the pill can relieve anxiety for some women. there could be merit in the doctor’s prescription, though I doubt the birth control part had anything to do with nutrition. That’s probably what the other meds are for.

I recommend you neutrally confront your mother about the conversation you overheard, and confirm that you heard correctly. If your sister really did get a prescription of “the pill” for her medical condition, ask if maybe another doctor - of a second opinion - might have a superior prescription to treat your sister’s condition. After this, (the neutral, problem-solving part of the conversation ) express your concern over the choice of a birth control pill to treat your sister, because of the moral implications.

You could use this as an opener for a discussion of beliefs, and learn in detail what your parents’ stances on such issues are. If you wanted to.

Just make sure you do this one thing before you approach your parents: blow off some of that steam! Your discussion will get nowhere if you start out heated and ready for an argument.

 

[Jimbo2]

It also needs to be said that, practically, there’s no way out of this trap.

BC pills are such a good “quick fix” for so many cycle-related problems - and are protected from on high politically - that the vast majority of doctors do hand them out to any woman who complains of anything having to do with her cycle.

The side effects are ignored. They are many and serious. No one cares, because women are so glad to be freed from various ailments and doctors are glad to be freed from the complaints of their female patients.

Yes, the pill is abortifacient, that’s very well established and the only people still denying it are protestant women who take it.

“NFP” doctors using alternate treatments have a hard time trying to match the customer satisfaction rate of doctors prescribing the pill. It’s much more difficult and costly to do it the right way. My wife and I have spent $thousands on bloodwork for her with the NFP doc and PopePaulVI center to try to figure out her problems. Our insurance would, of course, pay for the pill, but not the tests. So far, no solutions.

My wife was given the pill starting at age 14 for painful periods. She was on them for several years. That is, most likely, the cause of her continuing problems and our infertility.

The fact is that the pill is almost never a good idea, but it’s the only treatment that seems “reasonable” in the current climate and it keep women quiet. It has suppressed basic research into reproductive problems because, again, it shuts women up and their docs don’t have to worry about finding the actual cause of the problem

This is one area where being truly Catholic is very, very difficult. But, it’s up to you whether you want to be truly Catholic or not. Sometimes, being truly Catholic is a very “unreasonable” thing according to the world. Sometimes, it means putting up with pain that most people think has been cured perfectly by modern technology. Sometimes, it means having your doctor treat you like you are an idiot.

And, yes, the bleeding women get while on the pill is “fake”. It was actually neccessary, in the earlier days, to formulate the pill so that some bleeding occurred or else women felt strange and un-natural. Now that BC is more accepted, you actually see advertisements for BC products that halt the cycle entirely, and this is now advertised as a convenience feature.