Are all school nurses now encouraging teenage girls to have the contraceptive implant?

[idohopenot]

Apparently the dc's school nurse is really keen on them having it, and claims the government wants all school nurses to push it strongly, to bring down the nation's high teen pregnancy rate.

Is this the case in your dc's schools?

I had only heard of it in Southampton, and thought it was a trial, not a new national policy.

what doesn't happen from the sex ed i've seen at three different secondary schools is a detailed study of stds as in knowing what they are, what they look like, what they do to you, which ones are never recovered from, which ones can show no signs or symptoms on the person you're having sex with but can they are still contagious etc etc.

instead of disease being a vague idea they need to learn what each disease is, how prevalent it is - eg. 1 in 4 people aged 14-25 are carriers of disease X. you know?

give them the bloody facts graphically and in detail. it's surprising but this does not happen.

Yes, I agree. I think the dc just give up on the idea of trying to avoid STDs.

More info certainly needed.

yep idohopenot - and there could be a history of hormonally triggered mental illness in the family that they know nothing about. bipolar for example can be triggered into emerging for the first time by a big hormonal event. if your child was having hideous headaches or bleeding non stop (which happens to some) and developing anaemia etc etc. you'd no nothing about what was really going on with them.

I wondered whether the health services have relaxed on HIV because all the drugs mean you carry on living for a good long while?

It's still not great, though, is it?

JESUS CHRIST Swallowedafly

I did not know that

it may sound draconian but i think close up pictures of herpes lesions and descriptions of it from people who have it and the facts of just how many 'normal' looking people (including their genitals) carry it would have been more encouraging of condom use for me than vague you can catch an std, here's a list of stds etc. it seemed alien and something a different kind of people had and dealt with.

show them close up images and symptom descriptions of all the different diseases and give them the stats of how many carry what because they're actually quite terrifying when you look at them - some of them are epidemic, especially amongst young people. and not only are they easier to catch for women many seem to have more devastating effects upon women than men.

Yes, because there are often fertility issues for women. Not to mention more shame (often).

Still interrogating poor dd aged 15.....

They saw close up pics of stds. Male and female genitals. Also had some stats re age groups and incidence of stds though she can't remember any of it and they weren't given any documents.

Also the nurse did an activity with them where the class had to wander about shakinghands after a boy and a girl had been slipped a bit of paper saying they had a STD. Afterwards they were told that everyone who had shaken hands with that boy / girl or anyone who had been in contact would have that STD. ( hope that makes sense!!)

Oh. My point is that even in this back of beyond part of the world, the messages can be decently delivered. So your school nurse has no excuse.

One of the good things about the pill is that you decide it is not for you then you can stop taking it. However, the implant or coil you need a medical professional to remove it. Grown women are often "poo, pooed" by HCPs and often told to "give it time" or a down right refusal that any problem has anything to do with a contraceptive. How the hell is a 14yr old going to stand her ground with a patronising doctor?

sadly this doesn't surprise me, as I can't take the combined pill for health reasons, nurses/medics have tried to interest me in long-acting contraceptives (usually depo or mirena IIRC rather than implant) several times, in my 20s and 30s, despite several years successful progestogen-only pill use . So I imagine the pressure must be much worse for young girls who may be perceived as unlikely to be reliable in remembering to take a daily pill/ensure condom use.

IF this is for real, it is a very strong argument for me sending dd to a (state-funded) catholic school.

My dd isn't in catholic school. Or private or whatever. Just a bog standard comprehensive with a decent nurse.

itsnotunusual that sounds much more like it.

I don't get why it's an argument for a catholic school. Rhythm methoed protects against sod all.

But I did wonder whether Catholic parents would want to/be allowed to (!) opt out. Presumably not; if it's up to the girl.

But it won't stop std's which brings about a greater bill to the NHS in the long term.

Also implants are well known to reduce sexual desire in women. I deplore this measure for it means that those on implants, usually young women, are denied the pleasure they so rightly deserve.

JESUS CHRIST again.

Am gathering much ammo.

Thank you...

"the bloody obvious answer is to drag the boys in and give them free condoms and scare the hell out of them with pictures of diseases"

This is EXACTLY what they did at DS's school last month during a day-long workshop on sexuality at his all-boys (comp) school for the whole of year 11. They also had it explained to them just how badly porn screws up men's perception and experience of sex, and were given a long talk from a guy from the Terence Higgins Trust about what it's like to like with HIV. DS (15) came home rather thoughtful and wanted to talk further about some of the issues that were raised. (YAY! )

So there are SOME schools out there taking a sensible approach to sex-ed for boys.

Re the bill to the NHS - it does feel like some kind of myopic target setting.

Like as a nation we must have fewer pregnant teenagers.

Regardless of how many STDs and HIV cases we have.

How does that make sense? The nation isn't desperate to reduce the birth rate altogether, is it?

Thank you for your accounts of more sensible sex ed.

I was beginning to despair of the world.

"Also implants are well known to reduce sexual desire in women. I deplore this measure for it means that those on implants, usually young women, are denied the pleasure they so rightly deserve."

EXCELLENT point.

lapsed that sounds brilliant.

nothing to do with the nhs imo and all to do with benefits and the perceptions of the culture of single mums and their toxic influence on civilised society. fine let the girls shag and catch diseases as children but for gods sake don't let them breed

Lasped: I'm cutting and pasting your post. Excellent! And what I would advocate as well.

yes - round of applause to lapseds son's school.

basically these girls are likely to put on weight, have low libido, have skin problems, have heavy irregular periods or constant spotting or no period at all but be told these are 'minor' issues and harmless (yeah really minor bleeding all the time or unpredictably) not to mention that bleeding between cycles and after sex is a warning sign/symptom of stds but these girls will be being told to ignore it, they may experience mood changes, etc etc etc and they won't have a clue what is to do with the implant because a) they're too young to even know themselves that well yet and their bodies were in the midst of changing anyway and b) hcps who they're told to trust will all tell them it is unconnected.

it's too much. especially without a guardian being informed.

There are STI that are not protected against with condoms. HPV is one. I would advocate my dd getting the vaccine, but I would also encourage her to be careful with the number of partners she is having. Having had trouble with the pill myself I am totally against any implants in school-age kids.

Ah, and pleasure is not all that people should be taking into consideration.