Is there a disregard for the effects of contraception on women's mental health?

[PinkFluffyJumper]

I've just been wondering about this recently as I'm planning on giving up on hormonal contraception following some awful, awful mood swings and depression.

I've read about women whose experiences of this (as a result of hormonal contraceptives) have been disregarded by some HCP.

Given that this seems to be quite common/widespread, why aren't the effects of these drugs on mental health more widely spoken about?

Ah, well, you see, like a lot of adult women, I'm not at college.

vix, I've had a much milder, but similar, experience with cerazette. Horrible.

Sorry to hear what happened with you, that sounds really scary.

mot - god, I wish I knew!

It really pisses me off, in retrospect. Irresponsible message at best.

These replies are all really interesting and I would be really interested in getting involved with a MN campaign.

To those saying, just stop taking the pill, it isn't that simple. I used the Depo Provera injection and so I have to wait for that to leave my body for the side effects to ease. It doesn't just disappear the day after you're supposed to get the top-up, IYSWIM.

SinisterSal, the rite of passage thing is exactly how I would describe my experience. I think that it's something that so many teenage girls do in order to 'prove' how serious their relationship is and how they are becoming adults - which of course they are. But there doesn't seem to be adequate support from lots of GPs when it all goes tits up.

If I had £1 for every time I was told to 'wait and see if everything will settle down in six months', I wouldn't be a millionaire but I'd be significantly richer!

I'll always wonder if I lost part of my twenties to the pill, in a slow-burn kind of way. The full-blown depressive episodes I'm not sure about because mostly there were external triggers (though obviously the pill could have made me more susceptible). But that abiding sense of anxious fog I used to have the whole time, and being constantly tired and weak and unable to plan things. Almost ME like symptoms, but not as extreme.

It started to lift almost as soon as I came off the pill at the beginning of this year, after 15 years. Lots of people find they are happier in their 30s than their 20s, but I feel physically better and fitter and more in touch with the world as well, like my body's just woken up. I get a glimmer, these days, of what it would have felt like to be fit and strong and fearless like this - but ten years younger, with even more physical and mental capacity and a whole bunch of things in life still to play for.

That can't be right.

We use condoms now and it was weird at first I suppose but now I love them. The best part IMO is no 'mess' if you know what I mean. No idea why people don't see them as long term. It's a shame. The failure rate is actually very similar to the pill if used correctly and I think you are more likely to notice a split condom and take the MAP then a pill failure which you have no idea about until you are pregnant. We use Pasante condoms, they are half the price of Durex and free from family planning. Maybe the issue is GP's should prescribe condoms too? Can they? Then it might not be always just default to the pill.

We also use condoms now and haven't had any problems unlike microgynon which I took religiously in my early twenties and fell pregnant on

I'd also be interested if mn had a campaign on this issue.

Lots of men, and indeed quite a few women, dislike using condoms. Which is not a reason not to use them, but it's a factor in one's decision making.

Feeding all the different factors affecting contraception choice into a mental model is really complicated, even for highly educated and intelligent people. It would be nice if the medical profession recognised this, and if more research was done on the various side effects and their likelihood.

I don't think MN will do a campaign about this issue, though, it's too complex. Very understandably they like having a straightforward key message.

Ah, well, you see, like a lot of adult women, I'm not at college.

The point I was making is that condoms are easy to get hold of, not that you had to be at college to get them. Surely you understood that? So why make that comment?

You need to normalise condoms again I suppose. There is an idea they get in the way or spoil things which is not helpful. Showing them more in the media would help as would there use in porn (as much as I dislike porn). If condoms were the norm and hormonal methods were there for people who couldn't /didn't want to use them, that would really help I think.

Hmm, I agree, Mooncup, and I think that perhaps that's one of the reasons Vagenda weren't interested.

It's such a complex topic because everybody's experiences are different and so there are bound to be too many off-shoots to make it a straightforward, more 'streamlined' campaign.

Other than a couple of attempts at the pill (after the one linked to depression in my twenties, I was persuaded to give it another go in my thirties on the basis that pills had improved - they hadn't for me, I just got depressed again), I've used condoms or the diaphragm. The latter is good, but if my sister's experience and that of other women I know is anything to go by, I'd file it under "family size reduction methods" rather than "contraception". You seem to end up with an accidental pregnancy somewhere along the line if used for a long time (it's official failure rate when used correctly was 95% back when I was using it in the late 80s).

As far as I'm aware, getting free condoms where I live involves an appointment at the gruesome sexual health clinic, which is unpleasant and a major hassle if you work full time.

"There is an idea they [condoms] get in the way or spoil things which is not helpful." - but there is some truth to this idea, surely, at least from my experience. Condoms aren't great, but other forms of contraception aren't great either. It's a balancing act.

Perhaps we should all avoid PIV or become political lesbians.

I think normalising condoms is a good idea - judging by LRD's comments, who seems to think they are far harder to access for adult women than they are.

I am sure you can get free condoms from the GP surgery - ask your nurse.

They are not perfect - I wish DH would get the snip - but they are a least worse choice if you don't want to use hormones.

ithaka - but they're not that easy to get for free. That's the point I was making, which you surely understood?

Plus the point, which several of us have been making, that many women don't know to ask for condoms, and it mightn't be the right choice.

I think condoms are great, and there's much less need to worry about them than other forms of contraception.

But the issue isn't, 'condoms versus the pill', it is, why don't women have better access to decent advice and education on the effects of contraception on mental health? Why do so many of us have experience of being prescribed something that was bad for us, with our concerns dismissed? Why do so many doctors believe (and even get taught) that these 'side effects' are either unavoidable, or something women should really expect? Why are there not better options?

ithaka, forgive me, but a minute ago you didn't even know what one of the common contraceptives was. I don't really think you know what you're talking about with access to condoms. And you're not listening when people tell you, are you?

I think you are determined to argue with me LRD, when I thought this was a discussion. I won't forgive you, as you haven't actually apologised for anything. I don't think there is any need to be so combative when people are discussing their contraceptive choices - and I certainly don't feel that you have really listened to me, just tried to pick my posts apart and point score.

You even called me a 'young woman' in one post - patronising, much? I am probably older than you.

Eh?

I don't need to apologize.

I disagree with you, and I think you're being a bit sly with your arguments, claiming one thing then pretending you claimed something else.

I'm sorry if it comes across as combative, but you come across as pretty rude yourself, belittling women who you don't deem to be as intelligent as you.

LRD, Mooncup and ithaka, I can second the 'gruesome sexual health' clinic. Absolutely grim experience - was a hormonal, anxious mess and, as the clinic only did drop-ins, I had to wait for two and a half hours to be seen, even though the waiting room was far from full and we could all see the staff doing nothing behind the desk. When I was eventually seen, I had to endure being patronised and talked down to, all in order to get 10 free condoms (which were banana flavoured, if that makes any difference).

Never again. I would much rather pay in a supermarket than set foot in that clinic, so making out that free condoms are so easy for every woman to come by is simply untrue, in my experience.

Not sure I fancy banana condoms!

But good point - I know loads of teenagers who would simply end up leaving in that situation. Of course we could berate them, imply they're a bit stupid and irresponsible - but what would that solve?

They smelt gross and DP loathes banana anyway, so the whole thing was pointless!

I must have been about 17 or 18 at the time and felt that I couldn't leave, even after being kept waiting so long because A, there was nowhere else that I knew of that provided the same service in my town and B, as you say, I felt that that would have been irresponsible.

So the whole contraception business is a pretty difficult thing for teenagers to negotiate, even if you do decide to go down the non-hormonal route.

LRD, I accept your apology for being combative - it is not appropriate when someone has opened up about their contraceptive choices, but I can forgive and move on.

I have never belittled women I didn't deem to be as intelligent as me - my very point was I did not understand why women, who I tend to assume are intelligent, make contraceptive choices that could damage their health.

Unpleasant clinics have now been suggested as a possible reason. Is that the only reason?

I can quite imagine, chaos. The sexual health clinic I visited (in an attempt to get a diaphragm, which they then lost before I could pick it up) seemed designed both aesthetically and organisationally to make us clients feel consumed with shame and regret at our wanton sex lives.

Generally I think that any argument condemning large sections of society for being stupid is misconceived. As a modern society we should be able to set up systems that work for people of all levels of intelligence and education.

I'm not sure some Doctors even know the pill has side effects. My GP for example, when I had a very scary experience whilst on the pill where one side of my face went numb and I couldn't speak, never suggested it might be the pill. Even though she prescribed it for me. Even though circulation problems are an acknowledged side effect. It's like the pill is seen as just normal - not even like a drug. It's just what you take, it can't be the problem. I wonder if you had side effects on any other drug would they listen too or just dismiss? The cavalier attitude to hormonal contraception is very scary.

I haven't touched hormones since that episode and thankfully haven't had another event. After I had DD I went to family planning, told nurse about numb face experience. She nodded, wrote it down and suggested .... the pill!. They don't seem to know the contraindications themselves.

That is gracious of you, and I'm grateful to you for recognizing you were being inappropriate too.

Your posts were most certainly belittling women, IMO. I and other actually had to point out to you the implications of your claims that 'everyone' could read a packet.

These things matter really quite a lot.

If you re-read the thread, you will see many suggestions other than unpleasant clinics have been made, so obviously they are not the only reason.