BC Pill is used for OTHER reasons too

[HockeyMom]

As I posted on another thread, the non-profit agency, run by a Nun, put their female "consumers" on the Pill. The main reason was to regulate, or stop, their periods. The Pill helped alleviate their PMS, cramps, and heavy bleeding, which resulted in extreme behavior problems for these mentally challenged women. However, this was paid for through Medicade, not private insurance, since these women were covered through that.

So, if a doctor for an employee of a Catholic organizations says a woman, or young female dependent, needs to take the BC pill for these medical reasons, Catholic insurance won't pay for it? Let them suffer? Heavy and prolonged periods can cause other problems, including severe anemia. I myself was put on the Pill as a pre-teen for these very reasons.

[justiceischeap]

1. I was put on the pill at age 30 because

I was going into early menopause. My doctors put my on the pill because it was too soon for me to start menopause. I wasn't happy with the decision, I'd have welcomed it but the doctor said there were osteoporosis concerns, etc.

[LiberalEsto]

2. I was put on the Pill at 16 for pain and irregular cycles

it helped the cycles,; the pain, not so much.

[trumad]

3. Yep---it helps my daughter big time with her cramps.

[CTyankee]

5. my 16 year old granddaughter takes them for acne and for cramps.

She can get them thru her pediatrician and/or her dermatologist.

[TBF]

4. Agree on the additional medical issues.

And you'd think folks who don't like abortions would do whatever they could to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I just don't understand this mindset.

[phleshdef]

6. No joke, my wife can't function half the month without staying on them.

She is one of those women that suffers from having an erratic, unpredictable cycle that could last a few days or on and off for a few weeks. It can be very debilitating... unless of course she stays on birth control, in which case everything is normal as it should be. This needs to be brought up a whole lot more.

[Seeking Serenity]

7. I was put on BC at age 15,

when I wasn't even CLOSE to being sexually active, because of ovarian cysts. While the pill didn't stop the cysts from popping up, it did help manage my cycle and keep the cysts more manageable.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. Count me in as one who had to use BCs for heavy and long periods

resulting in anemia so severe I ended up having blood transfusions and, in Feb. 2010, a hysterectomy at age 37, thus precluding me from ever having biological children.

Not all my pills were paid by insurance. Even with co-pays, they were still $20-30 a month for years.

[laundry_queen]

9. Exactly. I'm on it for other reasons.

I have irregular and severe periods - so severe it met the criteria for hemorrhaging. I also have PCOS and hormone-triggered migraines (and migraine auras). I'm on a low-dose continuous birth control pill to control those things - and it has been an absolute god-send for me. Where I used to be unable to leave the house during a period, now I only have a period every 6 months and it is very minor. Where I used to get migraines at least once a week - and several times a day right around my period - now I have nothing except *sometimes* when I go off for that one week every 6 months, or if I'm on other medication that interferes with the BC pill (found THAT out last fall while I was on heavy duty antibiotics for bronchitis). I would be unable to function without the BC pill. It's more than 'birth control' and I'm sure there would be a huge uproar if it was to be restricted in any way. I know very few people who haven't been on it at some point.

[myrna minx]

10. Thank you. Many of us have found profound relief as a result of the pill - and not necessarily

for contraception.

[kestrel91316]

11. I used the BCP for decades as birth control primarily, but if I hadn't

I still would have had to use it to control incapacitating cramps.

[negativenihil]

12. I knew a girl back in High School

...who had to start taking the pill a lot sooner than anyone else due to her having a completely unreasonable period. Like we're talking over the top and unreasonable levels of... well you know.

The pill allowed her to have a far more regular monthly visitor.

[HockeyMom]

13. It started for me at only 10

Besides all the physical suffering I had, it was very tramatic emotionally and socially. I wasn't even in HS and none of my friends had even gotten their periods yet. I didn't know what to say to them. I missed so much school, and the severe anemia drained and made me tired all the time, etc. It was horrible in so many ways.

I remember the doctor telling my parents that I would have to be hospitalized if something wasn't done very, very soon. I was 12 when I was put on the Pill. I took it for about 3 years and came off it. My periods as a teenager weren't as bad; still not great, but not so extreme. I suppose from being on the Pill, and also my body physically maturing, helped.

[Scout]

14. s wonderful side effect for me, was that my endometrial tissue was reduced...

when i had my exam prior to tubal ligation, doc found some endometrial tissue near my right ovary (explaining the pain i had been experiencing there) ... it was removed during the tubal, and he told me being on the pill for years was a good thing, as it prevented the endometriosis from being worse.

i was using it for the contraceptive effect, but had a good side effect. in addition to having almost no periods for those years, yay! and of course no pregnancies.

[Greybnk48]

15. Both of my girls had to take the pill for medical reasons

and it really helped them both.