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Birth Control Pills And Surgery?



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I would not be looking into starting any new medications soon before surgery, but that's just my 2 cents. You never know how a specific medication is going to affect your body, and some people tolerate different types of birth controls differently. I thought about this same thing before surgery, because I used to be on birth control, but I have worked in the medical field and I've actually met a few young women who have had blood clots related to being on the pill. It was enough to make me certain that before surgery is not the time to take it. Especially since immediately after surgery you'll be laying around more.

It would be a bummer to have your period on/directly after surgery, but I guess that's just part of life.

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Yeah, I would wait until a month post-op to start birth control if you aren't already on it...

Your surgoen should be recommending you get on some kind of birth control after surgery to decrease the chances of getting pregno...

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Best advice I can give you is to check with your surgeon: they all have different rules and guidelines so what info you get here may be way different than what your doc says. Mine wanted to make sure I was on birth control before he did the surgery (I'm on mirena).

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Just to follow up, I did talk with my surgeon and he said that while he isn't crazy about women staying on the pill for surgery, he doesn't require them to stop. I think I am going to talk to my PCP when I see her in a few weeks and see what she thinks about the situation, elevated risks, etc. Accidentally getting pregnant is not and will not be an issue for me so if I do go on bcp, it would be for the convenience only. So, I am going to talk to her about exactly how much that would elevate my risk for a clot/thrombosis and whether the trade-off is worth it.

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Just to follow up' date=' I did talk with my surgeon and he said that while he isn't crazy about women staying on the pill for surgery, he doesn't require them to stop. I think I am going to talk to my PCP when I see her in a few weeks and see what she thinks about the situation, elevated risks, etc. Accidentally getting pregnant is not and will not be an issue for me so if I do go on bcp, it would be for the convenience only. So, I am going to talk to her about exactly how much that would elevate my risk for a clot/thrombosis and whether the trade-off is worth it.[/quote']

That's a good idea. Keep us posted!

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Just an FYI about the pill...it takes most ladies 4-6 months on the pill until you menses will regulate. At the practice I work at, I've heard some girls complain that after 4 months on, they are still bleeding, and some are even heavier than before the pill. I've heard some say they had a 2 week period at a time for a few months before they stopped having periods too. Everyone is different, but be prepared that going on the pill for the convenience of not bleeding during your surgery time might not work the way you are hoping it will ;)

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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