birth control question!

[vargeee.livejournal.com]

Hi I'm 21 & I've been on Loestrin 24 fe, for a quite a while now. I take it everyday at 9am.
Imagine my surprise, while in the car on the way down to the shore with my family on Saturday, my 9am birth control alarm goes off, and my b.c is no where to be found!
I realized I left it at home, and was slightly upset because I never miss a pill. I had to skip on Saturday, and took both b.c. pills when as soon as I got home on Sunday afternoon.
I woke up today, took my b.c. and went to el bano, when I found blood on my panties! I'm assuming this is from the lack of hormones on Saturday, and Sunday morning, I'm also assuming that it will clear up soon, as I'm back on track taking my b.c.
My main question is, I will be seeing my boyfriend on Thursday the 12th (2 weeks from now) We plan on having unprotected sex. We've both been tested and are STD-free, and we usually rely on my birth control, and the withdrawal method. It's always worked for us in the past, with no scares.
So should I be protected in two weeks?
Thanks so much and best wishes!!

Anonymous Post: Spermicide question

[poppleshatesyou.livejournal.com]

Greetings, fellow Superstars! As you probably know, from time to time the VP Team makes posts on behalf of people who wish to remain anonymous or who do not have LJ accounts. This is one such post. Thanks in advance for your helpful comments. :)

P.S. For more info on anonymous posts, see our instructions on how to make them!

--Popples
for the VP Team
contact_vp

---

Any spermicides that don't heat?

Are there any spermicides that don't heat up when you use them? I recently used the "Encare Insert" and when I use it they heat up. Which feels a bit odd and distracting. I think it heats up because it is distributing the spermicide from it's solid capsule soild form?

I was thinking maybe a "spermicide foam/jelly/cream" would not heat up since it does not have to break apart since it is already a liquid-y form versus a solid capsule spermicide (which needs to break up into liquid form?) I was also wondering if spermicide films heat up too?

Thanks for the help! I know I could just buy a bunch of different varieties but I was hoping you vp'ers could share some knowledge to help me save some money :)

Changing HBC

[stothyra.livejournal.com]

I'm 22, sexually active, and my periods have been getting progressively worse the last few months, and I need to go see my doctor soon anyway, so I'm going to get on a different birth control pill. I've been on Nortrel 777 since April of last year, and now the cramps are far worse and the bleeding is relatively heavier. The diarrhea is back too! I'm planning to get on another combined pill, but I have no clue which one. So, questions!

1) When I start the new pill, do I just finish my last pack of Nortrel, go through the withdrawal bleed, and then start the new pack? 

2) How long should I be on the new pill before worrying about the withdrawal bleeds changing to a new normal?

3) When it comes to side effects, how long do you wait until you consider having to switch again?

MMMMonday! Lunapads, One4Her, and a giveaway for you!

[mangofandango.livejournal.com]

Happy MMMMonday! Every week on Monday, we bring you special, maintainer-curated content intended to enrich your VP experience. You can always find MMMMonday posts by checking the tags "mmmmonday" or "featured-posts", and when our sidebar is working properly, it will be there too! We hope you enjoy today's post.

This week, we've got a whole lot going on in our MMMMonday post! Read on to find out about a cool new program from Lunapads, a favorite of many VPers...and to find out about a giveaway and discount code just for us!

You may be aware of Lunapads' Pads4Girls initiative, an effort to support people in Africa who are in need of menstrual supplies. There's a new aspect to this program called One4Her, which we think VPers will be interested to learn about. Check out the press release below, and be sure to follow the link at the end to a Lunapads blog entry that provides more information!

Vancouver entrepreneur Madeleine Shaw started making Lunapads - colourful, washable cloth menstrual pads - in response to her own health and environmental concerns in 1993, and went on to globally launch the line with business partner Suzanne Siemens. Today, the company sells its products to people in 40 countries and estimates that 1 million disposable pads and tampons are diverted from landfills every month as a result.

Shortly after joining forces in 2000, the pair were alerted to the fact that what most North American consumers take for granted - easy access to pads and tampons - was far from true for girls and women in the developing world. “Because girls don’t have any products, they stay home from school when they have their periods,” Shaw explains. The impact is devastating, resulting in earlier school dropout, marriage and pregnancy. Deeply affected by this knowledge, Shaw and Siemens starting sending donations of Lunapads to girls in need, dubbing the initiative “Pads4Girls”.

In 2008 Pads4Girls went to a new level, when an email arrived from development workers Paul Grinvalds and Sophia Klumpp requesting permission to copy the Lunapads design and business model to create “AFRIpads” in Uganda. “We simply said Yes because it felt like the right thing to do: provide the means for immediate access to cloth pads for the girls,” explains Siemens.

In January 2012 Shaw and Siemens traveled to Uganda to meet the AFRIpads team and founders in person. What they discovered was a business that employs 50 women who are using their employment income to purchase land, homes and livestock, and invest in their children’s education. AFRIpads is projected to distribute 100,000 pad kits comprised of products modeled after the ones Shaw first devised almost 20 years earlier - and more growth is on the horizon. The two companies have collaborated to create One4Her, a “Buy one, Give one” arrangement whereby designated Lunapads purchases trigger the donation of an AFRIpad to a girl in need.

“The trip to Uganda was an all-time business highlight for us, and really showed us the power of business as a vehicle for social change,” says Siemens. “If you can change the future for girls, you change the future for entire communities."

The One4Her project has been launched and there's lots of information about it at the Lunapads blog. Basically, for every consumer purchase of eligible Lunapads merchandise, Lunapads will fund a Ugandan-made AFRIpad that will be given to someone who needs one. (There are some restrictions as to which items apply, more info is available in the blog post). This is a financially and environmentally efficient system, as well as one that provides local employment for women.

In celebration of the launch of this program, and because the folks at Lunapads are fans of VP (!!) they'd like to share this coupon code with VP members:

For 15% off orders over $35, enter the code VAGPAGLUV at checkout. How awesome is that?

In other super cool news, they'd also like to offer VPers the chance to win a $50 Lunapads Gift Certificate! For a chance to win, "like" VaginaPagina or Lunapads on Facebook, follow either of us on Twitter (usernames lunapads and vaginapagina). While we'd both love your likes and follows, if you don't do either FB or Twitter, you can just comment here for a chance to win too. :) Pick any combination of 3 for up to 3 entries, but please make a separate comment to this post for each entry, for ease of counting. Because describing these things can be confusing, here's an example:


Entry one: like VP on Facebook and comment here to let us know you've done so
Entry two: like Lunapads on Facebook and comment here to let us know
Entry three: follow Lunapads on Twitter and comment here to let us know

OR

Entry one: comment here for a chance to enter
Entry two: like VP on Facebook and comment here to let us know
Entry three: like Lunapads on Facebook and comment here to let us know

The links to our Facebook pages are here:
Lunapads: http://www.facebook.com/Lunapads
VaginaPagina: https://www.facebook.com/pages/VaginaPagina/204416306254595

And Twitter feeds:
Lunapads: http://twitter.com/Lunapads
VaginaPagina: http://twitter.com/vaginapagina

Here are a couple of examples of the super shiny things you can get from Lunapads!


Pads and Liners


The Diva Cup

If you have any questions about any of this, please let us know. :)

PS: You have until next Monday, July 9, to enter. At some point on that day, I will draw a name and contact the winner! Good luck!

EDIT: WE HAVE A WINNER! [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], congratulations! Thanks to all of you for entering!

HPV nightmare

[minorkeyy.livejournal.com]

Hi, it's my first post here and I'd like to thank in advance whoever will be able to help me understand what is happening.
About a month and a half ago, I noticed what I thought was a little bump full of blood (it was dark purple) on my labia minora, near my clitoris. It was very itchy and I got really scared. I took a shower the next day and it deflated with a little bit of blood coming out. It was still very itchy and it looked like an exposed little vein or something. I went to a gp the same day and she said it as nothing to worry about. Two weeks later it hadn't disappeared and I noticed that small skin coloured growths were coming out of my vagina. My labias were also hard and swollen. It looked like my lips were separated in small itchy bumps. I returned to the doctor and she told me I had HPV. This is really surprising since I've had only one sex partner, my boyfriend of four years. He could only have contracted it from a girl who he slept with once and with whom he used a condom. So I kind of won at the STD lottery jackpot. Also, I had a pap test about six months ago which came out normal. So I'm worried it could be something else.

Now, the doctor used cryotherapy to treat my genital warts although it looked more like swollen nodules than actual warts. Then it looked like it had worked a little bit and my lips were back to normal. However one of my labia majora has darkened in color and seems to hang a lot more. My boyfriend noticed this too. After three treatments, the warts I have near the entry of my vagina are still there. Also, yesterday, another bloody nodule appeared on the other side of my vulva and popped when I took a bath. And now my small lips are swollen and hard. It's the same thing as before. I don't understand how it could come back that fast...

Anyways, I'm really scared and I feel like it will never go away...if it really is HPV.
So do you think it's just HPV?

Strange question, HBC and gall bladder

[whiterabit.livejournal.com]

So I had been on HBC for 7 years until May. From March to May 1st I had mind numbing pain under my ribs, at first thinking and realizing I had strep that had settled in my liver. But after the strep was treated the pain continued. I felt no break from the pain and it was continuous. It was there when I went to sleep and there when I woke up and it was in NO way responsive to food, fasting or any other stomach related treatments. I went to doctor after doctor and everyone just told me my gallbladder was failing but couldn't tell me why. The GI doctor seemed to care very little how much pain I was in, and just wanted to remove my gall bladder without identifying the problem. I should mention I am healthy, active, and only 25 years old, my cholesterol is extremely low (102) and therefore my gallbladder was suddenly failing for NO reason. The GI doctor was pushing removal and I was taking some time to think about it. Late one night I googled hbc and gall bladder and stumbled upon manyyyyy people who had this happen to them related to Yaz, and Lo estrin 28 which I was on at the time.

So I went off the pills and viola within a month the pain was gone. My question is what if I want to go back on HBC will the same thing happen? Has anyone ever experienced any think like this? I guess I just need some advice. I feel weird not being on HBC which gave me so much peace of mind.

Should I get a copper IUD?

[hey-kayla-jay.livejournal.com]

I need a new method of birth control. I was relying on the pull-out method along with tracking my cycle, but I've had one too many paranoid mishaps and have had enough. 

I did a little research and I'm thinking the ParaGard IUD would be best for me. I need something I don't need to keep track of like the pill or the ring, since I'm way too much of a space cadet to use either of those perfectly, and I don't want all the symptoms and side effects that come with hormonal methods (I don't need weight gain and acne and I'm already moody enough at certain times of the month, thank you very much).

Is there anyone here with a copper IUD that would wanna tell me about their experience with it? Do you like it? Why did you choose it? What kind of side-effects, if any, did you have with it? 

(Slightly unrelated) I have Insurance, I'm on my dad's policy. However, I just started a new job and my insurance from there should kick in in a couple months. Should I just wait till my work insurance starts covering me to get an IUD? 

HPV and a Virgin with NO sexual contact?! How so?

[caroleenanc.livejournal.com]

I'm 27 years old and I'm a virgin. As in NO sexual contact of any kind, whether it be oral sex or petting.

In late February my papsmear came back abnormal and, unbeknownst to me, I was tested for hpv and it came back positive (LSIL) . The last pap I had was in 2005 and back then it was fine. These tests were done at my general practitioner's office and she told me I needed to see an OBGYN for a colposcopy. My colposcopy said the same thing, hpv. My gyno did not do a repeat pap, only the colposcopy.

So tell me, HOW does this happen? I'm getting angry all over again because my questions have not been answered. I was told to come back in September. I know this is transmitted sexually but um....I've NEVER been active. I've been solo for 27 years, so how is this true?!

My gynecologist seems like he doesn't believe me. I'm trying to think back to anything differently I've done and the only thing is that I purchased a sex toy, my first one, from an adult store last fall. I also remember, years ago, sitting on a toilet (I was in a rush) that had menstrual blood down the sides of it and  didn't see it until AFTER I sat down. *head desk* :/ I immediately got up and noticed that it was under the rim too.

My mom had an incident with syphilis in the 70s, but I was born in '84. I don't remember any abuse as a child. I'm also a type 2 diabetic so my immune is not THE strongest.

I need some answers here.