Contra-Contraception

[vrai_rennx]

One thing to say: Just because some people decide to have sex in ways that don't lead to children (old people, gay people, sex w/ birth control and contraceptives), doesn't mean that there aren't going to be people out there trying to procreate. Sex for pleasure alone is not going to stop the circle of life.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

"My body finally decided it was fed up" ?? Yay, I just love how that clears everything up.

Of course it does. Birth control pills can have negative side effects in some users. Apparently she was one.

The pills almost killed my wife.

[9th Engineer]

No, that's your assumption of what she meant. Plus, the side effects involved are so varied that the assumption gives us no good information anyway. The girl has the communication skills of a adolescent.

EDIT: Aimed in responce to post #47

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

No, that's your assumption of what she meant.

No, it's what she said. Here's the part you quoted:

My body finally decided that it was fed up...

And here's the rest of the sentence:

...and the cycle of side-effects began again as they have every time I've taken hormonal contraception since I was a teenager. The Depo shot culminated in a trip to the ER due to heavy bleeding and fainting.

Apparently it was serious enough for the doctor to alter the prescription:

So my doctor switched me to the yet another low-dose birth control pill

But that wasn't enough:

which began fucking me up several months ago.

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

The girl has the communication skills of a adolescent.

Perhaps, but you may want to bone up on your reading skills before impugning her writing.

Why so mean spirited about this 9th?

[9th Engineer]

Well, she put me off fairly early on with phrases like the one I quoted. While it may not seem like that big off a deal it hinged on a gut reaction I picked up from my parents. Both my parents work(ed) in emergency medicine, so they had to learn to 'read through' patients to get as much information as they could. The ER does bad things to people, the doctors see people at their worst when they are under huge stresses, and as a result patients tend to lie, tell half-truths, and be extremely vauge. I've grown up hearing all the stories of this and now when I hear one I'm very skeptical of everything else you say. "My body decided it was fed up", is one of these, it gives no infomation but the patient will of course expect the doctor to know what in hell they're talking about. I'm not a doctor (I pray I'll never have to do clinical practice) so I'm not claiming this based on first person experience, but I grew up around it. I did say I have sympathy for the woman after re-reading it once or twice, but I stand by my statement that she forces the reader to fill in a lot of gaps. Depo (short for Depo-Provera, manufactured by Pfizer), for example, is certainly NOT something I would expect someone with a history of problems stemming from hormonal birthcontrol to switch to. Her acute attack makes sense because Depo is a higher hormonal 'hit', only with progesterone instead of estrogen.
Plus there are serious problems with it, I'm copying this list off Wikipedia for convenience:

severe headaches, constant bleeding (metrorrhagia), weight gain, panic attacks, muscle pain, heart palpitations, pain during sex, acne, irregular menstrual bleeding, abdominal cramps, dizziness, weakness or fatigue, leg cramps, nausea, vaginal discharge or irritation, breast swelling and tenderness, bloating, swelling of the hands or feet, backache, depression,insomnia, pelvic pain, no hair growth or excessive hair loss, rash, hot flashes,joint pain, convulsions, jaundice, urinary tract infections, allergic reactions, fainting, paralysis, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolus

So basically it was the combination of a long-time trigger and the presence of serious holes in her logic and story. Plus, look at the title of her blog "Den of the Biting Beaver : Gnawing away at sexism and misogyny, one patriarchal asshole at a time!", not great for the credibility.

EDIT: spacing

[9th Engineer]

Ya, definately over-read this issue

[wolf]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

And once again you confuse the heck out of me by that statement...

He's awed by your expression of compassion.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

"My body decided it was fed up", is one of these, it gives no infomation but the patient will of course expect the doctor to know what in hell they're talking about.

That's why it was only the first half of the sentence. The second half and the following sentence gave you the more explicit description of the problem.

Plus there are serious problems with it, I'm copying this list off Wikipedia for convenience:

severe headaches, constant bleeding (metrorrhagia), weight gain, panic attacks, muscle pain, heart palpitations, pain during sex, acne, irregular menstrual bleeding, abdominal cramps, dizziness, weakness or fatigue, leg cramps, nausea, vaginal discharge or irritation, breast swelling and tenderness, bloating, swelling of the hands or feet, backache, depression,insomnia, pelvic pain, no hair growth or excessive hair loss, rash, hot flashes,joint pain, convulsions, jaundice, urinary tract infections, allergic reactions, fainting, paralysis, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolus

Bleeding and fainting. As she said.

So her story holds up. She can't use the pill, so she relied on condoms. Condoms are well over 90% effective, but she got burned, so she needed emergency contraception.

[Elspode]

I'd still like to know why it would be any of anyone else's business why this woman wanted or needed emergency contraception. Even if she'd chosen to have unprotected sex and conceived, it is *still legal* in this country for her to unpregnify herself...for a little while longer, anyway. Therefore, it is within her rights to utilize any legally available method to end her condition.

I think we'd all be better off if we worried as much about the erosion of our civil rights as we do about zygotes. A woman owns her body last time I checked.

And, before anyone asks, I would not personally be party to an abortion if I had a say in the matter. I am against it for me (not that I'm likely to have any further need for this position in my lifetime), but I am vehemently for women to continue to be allowed to make their own choices in the matter of reproduction. If God (tm) doesn't like it, I'm pretty sure he'll let the unfortunate ex-mother know, right? Isn't that how it works?

[mrnoodle]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

Condom only? Why isn't she on the pill as well? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with this chick getting her hormones bumped but someone should take her aside and tell her how it's done. All this whining about sex losing its meaning when done recreationally is crap, it never had any to begin with. A lot of fuss over nothing more than two people in rutting season

I think I've quite possibly found someone more cynical and jaded than me.

Sir, I bow.

dood, you're too young to be that. Wish younger ppl would stop feeling like they gotta do something just to show their independence. You got independence. Your parents want you to go out and have a good time and not make horrible mistakes that will paint unerasable roadways into your future.

K kidding. You're right, imo.

[xoxoxoBruce]

C'mon, noodle. She had already put her body (with doctors help) through several types of toxic hell, trying to prevent this situation from happening in the first place.

But when indeed it did happen, they look down their noses and tsk, tsk, you silly girl, pay the piper for your rutting.

Be practical then....if this woman is so stupid, do you really want her procreating?

[morethanpretty]

Any medication can fuck up your body in unpredictable ways...thats why they have so many disclaimers. Although the benefits of many medications are undeniable, including contraception in my opinion. It isn't just good for the "young, wild and horny" its also good for people like my cousin who just had her second child and who's life will be in serious jepordy if she has another. Its also good for the couple who simply can't afford another child. I gave a stray cat I had kept for only 2 weeks to the SPCA, I was a wreck for weeks and almost a year later I still worry about little Robby. Think about how much harder it would be to give away a part of you.
I believe in adoption, before abortion, but I also believe in choice.

[9th Engineer]

In the end I do end up comming down on her side in all this, I just let that get lost behind my beefs with other stuff about her. At the core, I hate the idea of abortion and contraception used so that people can light up their pleasure centers with reckless abandon, but I honestly hate to see it denied to those who use it properly just as much. My trouble is, the university crowd falls squarly within catagory #1 and that's where I live, so my bias gets pretty big. My cynicism comes from watching what looks like everyone around me act like complete idiots and then hearing them complaining about how life is so hard on them. Being a bioengineer tends not to help things, you tend to analyse things from the standpoint you know best, and to me sex is a VERY long list of chemical equations, equilibrium constants, and biochemical cycles. Whatev, it does help to clear the fog on alot of stuff, science is a hell of a lot more honest than people are about this stuff.