The pill causes blood clots and is bad for women.

[Fuzz]

This was brought up by a 'nurse' yesterday on Limbaugh's show. She said 1 in 3 blood clots in women she sees is caused by the pill. Rush was excited about that call and emphasized the point. I thought that kind of attack was stupid, but apparently the freepers are running with it. I should have known.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2850986/posts

[trumad]

1. What--no mention of Viagra side effects?

[Raven]

2. Did they talk about the side effects of Viagra?

I bet they didn't.

[annabanana]

3. pregnancy is bad for women..

Those damn big heads and other complications made "death in childbirth" a very common (if not the most common) phrase in obituaries where a long life wasn't lived.

[lpbk2713]

4. In another finding ... Oxycontin is bad for sleazy scumbags.

[spanone]

5. talk to a doctor, not a nurse.

[Gman]

6. Last night I watched about 45 minutes of old Laughin-In clips

And that argument is that old. There were even a few "the pill" jokes.

[cthulu2016]

7. The pill has dangers

Which has nothing to do with anything... none of their moral arguments against contraception would be reduced if there were no medical downside to the pill so it's irrelevant.

But the pill does cause a surprising number of strokes among some surprisingly young women, and smoking while taking oral contraceptives is very, very dangerous.

But since they probly think brain bleeds and strokes are the deserved costs of whoredom...

I thank them for their "concern."

[Quantess]

33. Yes, there are health risks. But that's beside the point!

I felt depressed and I got migraine headaches with visual disturbances. Because of the visual-disturbance-migraines I was advised to switch to a different form of contraception, non-hormonal.

I felt better wen I stopped taking the pill.

But that's neither here nor there. Does anyone think these reactionary fuckwits care about a woman's health, ever?

[get the red out]

8. They're out with it now

No more hiding their attack on birth control.

At least all the liberals who couldn't see this behind the so-called "right to life" movement will see now.

[shraby]

9. Pregnancy causes blood clots and all sorts of other life

threatening complications too. Guess they forgot that aspect of it.

[kestrel91316]

10. Funny. I took the Pill for nearly 30 years and suffered NO

adverse effects that I can think of. I have nothing but good things to say about it - it helped with my headaches (PMS migraines), acne, and debilitating cramps, along with being 100% effective as birth control.

[Raine]

32. Same with me. I took it for 20-25 years

I didn't have a single problem. I loved it too, so easy and so dependable.

[tanyev]

11. Cialis: "seek emergency medical attention if your erection lasts longer than four hours"

[Frustratedlady]

13. Love it! That's one MAJOR blood clot! eom

[Renew Deal]

12. Freepers are clinically insane. That doesn't make them qualified to practice medicine.

[DearAbby]

14. Yeah, I heard the same thing

Almost word for word. From a Rush wannabe.

I responded:

"ALL MEDICATIONS has side effects and risks, and as a reasonably intelligent adult, I weigh the benefits and risks. Without the help of government, I make a choice."

That response seemed to just fly over his head.

[Fuzz]

17. Send them a link to a prescription drug commercial with the long list of

side effects taking up half the commercial.

[The Genealogist]

15. "She said 1 in 3 blood clots in women she sees is caused by the pill."

Anecdotal. What does the SCIENCE say about the risks of blood clots due to The Pill?

I guess they are switching to "science" now in their attacks on "the whores." Unfortunately, RWers are notoriously bad when it comes to science (pseudoscience like "intelligent design&quot .

[Gormy Cuss]

24. Yep. An anonymous anecdote and a carefully spun one at that.

The nurse states that one in three blood clots in women caused by the pill.
First question: How many women with blood clots has this nurse seen?

Second question: What is the rate of blood clots in women taking oral contraceptives? See below for one estimate:

Those findings appear in two studies published ..in the British Medical Journal. Exactly why drospirenone is linked with a greater likelihood of blood clots is unclear, and the researchers said overall risk remains low. In one of the studies, women taking the newer pill had a 2.3 times greater risk of a blood clot—which translates to 30.8 cases per 100,000 women, compared to 12.5 cases per 100,000 among those taking levonorgestrel.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2011/04/22/health-buzz-newer-birth-control-pills-increase-risk-of-blood-clots

[EC]

16. As I remember

if you had any of the conditions that put you at risk, you didn't get a perscription for the pill. I smoked and had to quit before the doctor would write the script. Women that are at risk for clots are already at risk without the pill usually.

And I'm sure there are risks (like heart attacks) just as serious or more so with Viagra.

[TreasonousBastard]

18. Just for shits and giggles, I found this...

http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Consumers/leaflets/oralcontraceptives.asp

Blood clots only happen very occasionally in women using oral contraceptives, and deaths from blood clots are even more rare. The risk of having a blood clot depends on a number of factors. It increases with age and it also depends on what kind of oral contraceptive is being taken.

Most oral contraceptives contain both oestrogen and a progestogen. These are called combined oral contraceptives - see table. Depending on the type of progestogen in the pill, they are known as either second or third generation contraceptive pills. There are also pills containing cyproterone, which are used to treat conditions caused by an excess of the hormone androgen, e.g. pronounced acne. These cyproterone-containing pills provide contraception as well. Another type of oral contraceptive is the progestogen-only pill, also known as the 'Mini-pill'.

Women can have blood clots when they are not using oral contraceptives. For every 100,000 women aged 15-44 who are not taking the pill, approximately 5-10 will develop a blood clot in one year.

Taking a combined oral contraceptive increases this very small risk of developing a clot by 3-4 times if you are on a second generation pill, 6-8 times if you are taking a third generation pill, and possibly over 8 times for those on pills containing cyproterone. Women using progestogen-only pills are at little or no increased risk of blood clots.

How often are blood clots fatal?

Of those women who get a blood clot, about 3% will die. As combined oral contraceptives are used by many women in New Zealand, two deaths a year from blood clots would be expected in this country.

During 1990 - 2001, 20 women in New Zealand using combined oral contraceptives are known to have died of a blood clot in the lungs. Of those who died, 15 were using third generation pills and 2 were using pills containing cyproterone. There is a risk of death with second generation pills but it is lower.


Now, show me ANYTHING with zero risk.

[Fuzz]

19. Side effects of Tylenol, over the counter medication.

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); dark urine or pale stools; unusual fatigue; yellowing of the skin or eyes.

Tylenol Allergy Multi-Symptom

Constipation; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; excitability; headache; loss of appetite; nausea; nervousness or anxiety; trouble sleeping; upset stomach; vomiting; weakness.

Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Tylenol Allergy Multi-Symptom:

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); dark urine; difficulty urinating or inability to urinate; fast or irregular heartbeat; hallucinations; mood or mental changes; pale stools; seizures; severe drowsiness; severe or persistent dizziness, nervousness, lightheadedness, or headache; severe or persistent trouble sleeping; stomach pain; tremor; vision changes; yellowing of skin or eyes.

[kestrel91316]

20. The average American, who isn't very bright I might add, thinks that the list of side effects

for any drug is a list of things that WILL happen when they take it and not a list of things that may or may not happen (and usually won't).

[treestar]

21. Resorting to that shows they are out of arguments

They don't want women to have that freedom, and their arguments for why are not working, so resort to scare tactics.

Remember in the 80s, when AIDS was so useful to them in that regard.

[mainer]

22. Birth control pills may actually increase lifespan

Taking "the pill" won't increase a woman's risk of death -- in fact, oral contraceptive users may live longer, researchers say.

In a population-based study of women in the U.K., death from any cause was 12 percent lower among birth control pill users than among those who never took the drugs, Dr. Philip Hannaford of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and colleagues reported online in BMJ.

"This is very reassuring and enables us to say with confidence to women that if they choose to use the pill as their contraceptive, they are highly unlikely to do long-term damage to themselves," Hannaford said in an e-mail to MedPage Today.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/birth-control-pills-reduce-cancer-death/story?id=10084482#.T0kcsY4h1tA

[mainer]

23. And let's not forget the maternal mortality rate for pregnancy

24/100,000 in the US

risk of fatal pulmonary embolus on BCPs: 1/ 100,000

So taking BCPs prevents the far greater risks of pregnancy.

Safest of all: avoid all sex. Especialy with republican men.

[warrior1]

25. is a nurse

allowed to talk about her patients on a radio show?

[vankuria]

26. Whatever the case

the decision to take oral contraceptives or any medications is between a patient and Dr. This is private and confidential and doesn't include Mr. Frothy, gov't, talk radio, fox news or anyone else. How in the world did we ever get to such a ridiculous place that we're even havng this discussion?

[Nikia]

29. I agree

If a woman is at increased risk for blood clots for whatever reason, a doctor might recommend that she not take them or go with the type that does not increase the chances the of blood clots. The fact that some women might be at risk is not a reason to prohibit millions of women from taking them.

[retread]

27. Because 1. a woman is taking birth control pills and 2. she has a blood clot does NOT

mean 2 is caused by 1. By that logic, all these women were patients of a particular nurse, therefore, the nurse was the reason for the clots!

[Cleita]

28. News flash! Most drugs have possible undesirable side effects.

Doctors often weigh if the benefit of using the drug outweighs the possible side effects. If the freepers think this is bad, then it will lead to the premise that possibly all drugs are bad. I think that is a lot like shooting yourself in the foot.

[Quantess]

30. Yes, for some women they increase the risk of stroke.

I'm one of them. I was warned to consider discontinuing them, so I did.

[lanlady]

31. and the side effects of Oxycontin?

Did Rush enlighten us on that score too?

[CrawlingChaos]

34. Birth control pills lower reproductive cancer risk

Long term use significantly lowers the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. I don't suppose the wingnuts ever mention that inconvenient fact.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. it's hardly the only form of birth control

And like so very many other drugs there are benefits that far outweight the risk for most and that taking certain things while taking the pill can in some cases be very high risk and very dangerous. There is also many benefits for health reasons that have nothing to do with any desire to use it as birth control.

I was not one of those people that could not tolerate the pill and later had to take other medication that I still have to take that is dangerously contradictive. But that's me. Plenty of other women have had very much great success in taking the pill for birth control or other health reasons, and that's a great thing. Just because for ME it was a problem for two reasons is immaterial for other women.

The pill is hardly the only birth control method there is, but it does seem to be the most convenient. I've always been envious of those women that could take it with no problems, but that hardly meant that I would ever have felt that they shouldn't be able to just because I couldn't... that would be selfish and ridiculous.

The more methods of birth control there are and the more reliable they are the better. People need to have reliable choices concerning birth control that work best for them, and that doesn't mean just women. Men also have an interest in birth control though it's obvious why their interest is likely not going to be nearly as strong as the average women since there are consequences to an unwanted pregnancy for both women and men. It isn't JUST women that have an interest in controling their own reproduction and having a desire to have sex fairly confidently that an unwanted pregnancy isn't going to occur as well as the choices to use methods that don't hinder the enjoyment of sex.

Birth control is a PEOPLE issue, and I don't see it being logical that trying to make birth control strictly a problem for women when it isn't. There's no question that men don't want to have to go back to having to be more diligent about birth control for themselves. Laws are more even handed these days on parenting responsibility and there's ways of identifying for certain these days who the biological father is then there used to be. Women these days aren't likely going to be so closed-mouth about an unwanted pregnancy these days either seeing as we've come a long way from the days of women being too ashamed about it to point the finger at the biological father or the fact that they had sex at all. Men can no longer go back to the days where they could just legally walk away from a pregnancy they helped to create nor can they depend on science not knowing who the biological father is, nor depend on women being so ashamed of an unwanted pregnancy that they'd keep their mouth shut, so they sure as hell aren't going to want to have less choices in birth control for their own sakes whether it's because of a desire to control their own reproduction or the desire to have more enjoyable sex or any sex at all since it was the pill in particular that made a hell of a lot more women a hell of a lot more interested in agreeing to sex in the first place.

[Jamastiene]

36. Just about every TV commercial for most of the major drugs available today

have a list of side effects that includes everything from strokes to death. They need to stop pretending a rare possible side effect is the reason they are so obsessed with controlling women's bodies like they are. Those damn crotch sniffers make me sick. Most people train their dogs not to stick their noses in a guest's crotch when the guest visits. Dogs can be trained not to do that. The Republicans, on the other hand, are untrainable, apparently.