OTC LO vs mircette.
Oct. 7th, 2003 06:13 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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[cross posted in
birthcontrol]
i stopped into planned parenthood and i told the nurse at the front desk that i need to switch pills. i told her that i'm having panic attacks every day, and that i understand that it might take a few months for me to get used to the OTC LO, but i'm not about to try to ride this out. she asked if i'm expereincing any other side effects, and i told her that i now have difficulty wearing contact lenses. she tried to tell me that this is not a side effect of the pills, [even though i read about this side effect on the OTC LO product information sheet.] she told me that my eyes are probably changing shape, and i should go get an eye exam. [?!] she handed me two months worth of mircette without even discussing my options. i asked a few questions, and she gladly answered them, but the fact that she handed me new meds without even coverring all of my options? that was bothersome, to say the least. i then told her that i have three days worth of OTC LO placebos left, and that i began my period early this morning. i asked her when i should start the mircette, and she told me to wait until sunday. which means i'm going to be unprotected for about a week and a half. she asked why i started the OTC on the thirteenth of october, [which was a saturday.] i told her i chose the 24-hours-after-you-get-your-period start method as opposed to the sunday start method, so that i would be protected immediately. she told me that planned parenthood reccommends that their patients use the sunday start method. why is that?
i wish that i had health insurance so i could go to a "normal" gynecologist. someone who would meet with me on a one-on-one basis and ask me questions and give me answers and discuss all of my options with me. but i'm poor, so i have to deal with this shit.
suggestions? explanations? [mainly what i'm looking for here is: a.) is this totally unproffessional, or am i being ridiculous? and b.) what can you tell me about mircette?]
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i stopped into planned parenthood and i told the nurse at the front desk that i need to switch pills. i told her that i'm having panic attacks every day, and that i understand that it might take a few months for me to get used to the OTC LO, but i'm not about to try to ride this out. she asked if i'm expereincing any other side effects, and i told her that i now have difficulty wearing contact lenses. she tried to tell me that this is not a side effect of the pills, [even though i read about this side effect on the OTC LO product information sheet.] she told me that my eyes are probably changing shape, and i should go get an eye exam. [?!] she handed me two months worth of mircette without even discussing my options. i asked a few questions, and she gladly answered them, but the fact that she handed me new meds without even coverring all of my options? that was bothersome, to say the least. i then told her that i have three days worth of OTC LO placebos left, and that i began my period early this morning. i asked her when i should start the mircette, and she told me to wait until sunday. which means i'm going to be unprotected for about a week and a half. she asked why i started the OTC on the thirteenth of october, [which was a saturday.] i told her i chose the 24-hours-after-you-get-your-period start method as opposed to the sunday start method, so that i would be protected immediately. she told me that planned parenthood reccommends that their patients use the sunday start method. why is that?
i wish that i had health insurance so i could go to a "normal" gynecologist. someone who would meet with me on a one-on-one basis and ask me questions and give me answers and discuss all of my options with me. but i'm poor, so i have to deal with this shit.
suggestions? explanations? [mainly what i'm looking for here is: a.) is this totally unproffessional, or am i being ridiculous? and b.) what can you tell me about mircette?]
no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 04:37 pm (UTC)once i had my mom make an appointment for me (i was busy and didnt have time to do it on my own) and she just scheduled me for a refill when i wanted a pap too. so when i got there, i asked if they had time for it or and said if they were busy, i could just resched, no problem..but they squeezed me in. the *bad* part is that the chick who did the pap smear was rough as hell with me. that was the first and only time i've bled from a pap smear. also, she left the speculum in while she did something else off to the side and when it started to move and possibly slip out (which has happened to me before and HURT LIKE FUCK), i told her and she was just like "oh, it'll be fine." THEN i told her i wanted to switch from otc because it killed my sex drive and the lexapro i'm on already does that to me too. so she handed me modicon. no other questions. not to mention, the endless number of times i've gone in with an infection only to be given the same exact treatment (a round of flagyl and terazol) i got last time even though i specifically told them that it didnt work the last time.
i guess i cant do much about it but it just fucking SUCKS that because we dont have money, we dont get proper treatment. :(
i hope you have better luck in the future
no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 04:37 pm (UTC)its not planned parenthood, its the woman who helped you.
and you can always use condoms while youre not taking a pill.
-=t
Not much help...
Date: 2003-10-07 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 06:52 pm (UTC)One thing to know about Mircette is that 5 of the 7 placebo pills have a little bit of estrogen in them so you don't have an estrogen drop shock when you hit your placebos.
I'm with everyone else - go ahead and start taking Mircette when you run out of your current placebos. There's no reason not to - my guess would be that Planned Parenthood advises Sunday starts for convenience.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-08 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-08 08:46 am (UTC)