To be utterly outraged by this a month later?

[MaryBoBary]

Sorry if this has already been discussed - I did do a quick search but couldn’t find anything relevant.

I think it was around the end of January that it was announced that NICE guidelines were changing to inform women that the contraceptive pill can be taken every day, and the advised weekly break in week 4 was not actually necessary. The break was only advised in a failed attempt for the pill to be approved by the Pope for catholic’s to use.

I am still absolutely fuming and utterly disgusted that the advice I have been given for the last 12 years I have been on the pill was not based on medical fact or reason, but religion. Is it unreasonable to expect that medical advice is not influenced by religion?

I can not understand why there has not been an uproar about this. I think it is utterly outrageous and is there any other medical advice that isn’t based on scientific facts? Maybe it is just me feeling so angry about this, but I really hope not.

I used to take my pill back to back as as an 18yr old who wanted a period? Not me. I was too busy clubbing and shaving my boyfriend to let a period get in the way.
So I took it back to back for almost three years. Started gaining weight and felt a bit off. Decided maybe I needed a break and should have a period. Had a break and a period. Went back on the pill. All normal. Still gaining weight still feeling a bit sick. I was pregnant!! Thought it must have been early, went for a dating scan and was 26 weeks!

Never missed a pill, never late, wasn’t ill as in no vomiting or diarrhoea. Just felt a bit queasy but that was tied in with when I would have fallen pregnant.

The consultant at the hospital said that the body can sometimes override the pill if taken for a long period of time back to back and your body will start ‘working’ again and I likely fell pregnant on my first cycle of my body overriding the pill.

Not sure how true that can be despite being a midwife for a long time (trained after my ds was born) but it did make sense at the time as it really felt like there could have been no other reason.

I'm having to dig deep into my memory bank here, but I am sure in the olden days we were led to believe it could be harmful to skip periods when on the Pill. As someone whose periods were genuinely a curse, I'm hopping mad if all the discomfort, embarrassment and disruption they caused me was for no good reason.

I was too busy clubbing and shaving my boyfriend to let a period get in the way.

Lol.

A nurse told me ages ago it was fine. Gutted when it was advised that I come off it due to my age and being a smoker. Loved being in the pill.

i hated having periods and was forced to put up with them - until i turned 18.
Then i did my own research on all different types of contraception and chose to go on the Depo injection.
My Dr wasn't happy because apparently that was meant for "family planning" and not for "just cos you don't like periods"
So i got myself a new GP, spun her a tale about being sexually active and needing longterm contraception and got my Depo.
I was on it for around 10 years with no bad side effects, the best side side effect was feeling extremely horny for 2 weeks soon after taking it
I only stopped using it once it started affecting my weight.

Then i switched to the Mirena coil and haven't looked back since.

The freedom of not having periods is awesome!

@Barrenfieldoffucks yes I don’t remember being given a reason why, just being told not to. I assumed (and apologies in advance for this) that all the old blood etc may start to “go bad” and potentially cause an infection. I was 17 when I started the pill and didn’t think to query the doctor, just follow their instructions.

I’m glad that a number of you were told by doctors that you didn’t need to have the break, but clearly I’m not a minority by not being told. And I’m glad I’m not the only one to be angry about this now I’ve found out. It’s just the principle of it that irks me.

Lol bloody spellcheck!!! I probably did shave him as well but obviously meant shagging

I've always taken 2 packs back to back, but any longer and I get breakthrough bleeding anyway. I wasn't told this, just realised after I missed a pill in the last week and the instructions said to carry on with another pack.

1 Dr did try and tell me not to do it, but I ignored her and continued to do it.

I assumed (and apologies in advance for this) that all the old blood etc may start to “go bad” and potentially cause an infection

There's no old blood. The pill stops you ovulating. It also affects the womb lining. Your doctor should have told you how the pill works. I do remember learning about it at school and it's in the current biology syllabus so teens are still learning about it. Did you not get taught how the pill works at school ?

This is a blog post on the topic by a gynaecologist.

www.gynaegeek.com/the-blog/2019/1/28/guaranteed-to-bleed-for-the-pope

Nope no doctor ever told me it was ok. That’s pretty shocking.

If men had periods, they would take something that got rid of them completely until they needed to get pregnant
Oh wait. We had that! But were told we still had to have periods too
I
Mean
WTAF

I’m 47 and stopped taking the pill about 15 years ago but I was never ever told this

I did not know this and am annoyed about it now! My doctors have also berated me in the past for needing my next lot of pills early due to me not having as many breaks as I should have.

I've never heard anything about the idea of the break being an attempt to appease the pope, and tbh can't image how on earth it would. It's still contraception even if you bleed once a month.

Actually, at first the Church (or part of it) seemed to be OK with the idea of contraception if it didn't interfere with the reproductive cells (i.e. as in the Ogino method). My father remembers being told by the Jesuits in the 50s-60s that the pill was a good option. This was at a time when some factions of the Church (mainly the Jesuits) were exploring things like the social doctrine of the Church, liberation theology, etc.

Then, of course, the Church hardliners got the upper hand. And things have gone so well ever since.

Just told my lovely mum (65yo) about this as she's from a catholic background where they were told you had to take a break once a month and were amazed when I was told differently about 20 years ago.

She just told me that her mum also said you couldn't wash your hair during a period! Goodness knows what the reason for that could have been?!

I had no idea!! 35 and on the pill since I was 12...
Thanks OP for the thread, I’m off to tell all my friends haha

The Guardian had a different take on the issue which makes more sense. Hopes of appeasing the Pope were a side issue.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/23/medical-advice-pill-pope-bleeds-women

For those asking if doctors did not explain how the Pill worked, you would be amazed at how young women seeking contraception were treated in the sixties and seventies. You faced an interrogation about whether you had a steady boyfriend. They were not too bothered about explaining the physiological consequences of taking the Pill. You were not encouraged to ask questions, even if you had known what to ask. Things are very much better now, and rightly so.

I was told off at my last smear test as I was running the packs together and hadn't had a period in over a year!
Apparently this is Very Dangerous and silly.
I was just glad to not have a period, horrible things that they are.

I used to run mine back to back in the mid 1980's I only did it when I was going on holiday/somewhere special or if my period would coinside with something important like my wedding. The Doctor said it was fine.

@OscarIsaacsEyes yes I was taught how it worked when you take it following the instructions I have stated. I was not told what would happen if you didn’t have a break, just that I shouldn’t do that. So I presumed this might be a reason, I didn’t think too scientifically about it as I just trusted that my doctor knew best. That’s kind of my point - I was unaware and misinformed.

Oh @UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter I had visions of some amazingly feminist, punk rock teenager into some weird shaving shit with her boyfriend! I was in awe!

I have letters dated 1996 from a gynaecologist and cardiologist advising my GP to prescribe me (then 12) the pill, to be taken consecutively with no break due to the periods being so heavy that the blood loss was thought to be causing dangerously low blood pressure and I was regularly fainting at school. I came off the pill for a few years later and when I was put back on it for the same reason in the early 2000s my new GP said “just take it without a break, most women, like my wife, like to have a bleed to reassure them they aren’t pregnant but it’s not actually a real period and not of any benefit to you.”

I’m also a practising Catholic and hadn’t heard of this news until last month either. I’ve known for most of my life that you can take the pill without a break.

I have taken the pill for 11 years and was told from the start by my doctor that I did not have to have the break if I didn't want, just that some women preferred to have it, it was just down to personal preference. I decided to have my pill free week and I am glad I did as that is how I discovered the pill had not work for me on one occasion and I was pregnant. I am not sure how long it would have taken if I had not.

I had no idea about this!
I’m 35 and been on the pill for the best part of 18 years!!! 😡

another thing, I’ve seen more than one pp say they are “too old and fat” for the pill now... what does this mean? How old? How overweight? And is it both factors that mean you can’t take the pill?