Calming the paranoia

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-06-2004
Calming the paranoia
2
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 4:42pm
I posted about a week ago discussing the paranoia with starting to use your BC pills as sole protection against pregnancy...Since then I have read MULTIPLE posts about people experiencing the same thing. I know in my post a couple people mentioned that they too would love to know how others got over this initial worry of the pills not working....any one care to share their personal experience? I'm sure all of us paranoid ladies would love your advice and reassurance. Thanks everyone!
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 8:14pm
Hi ivgirl22,

Do you have any reason to be concerned, forgetting to take your pills or take them on time? If you do then you might want to consider a very low maintenance method such as Ortho Evra, the patch, or NuvaRing, the ring. I can’t address your question directly because while I was on OTC for 3 years the fact that there is/was a 1 or 2% possibility of an unintended pregnancy on oral contraceptives never bothered me. Now I’m using a cervical cap as my primary method and while statistically it is less effective than hormonal contraceptives, I feel so much better off hormones that the risk is worth it to me. I’ve been using a cap for more than 2 years and have never had a scare. One thing some women have done is to chart their fertile signs while on BCPs to assure themselves that they aren’t fertile and ovulating. A very good book on the menstrual cycle and how to chart your fertile signs is Toni Weschler’s book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. You can check it out from your local library and it’s available in bookstores. I hope this helps.

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 11-05-2004 - 6:38am
I think I only had that initial worry in the first month or two that I was on the pill (eight years ago in February). I really don't know how I stopped worrying about it, I just did. Maybe it's because it's a method that's been in use successfully by millions of women around the world for about -forty- years. Our moms used birth control (well, some of them, not mine)! We know that most of the time if the pill is taken according to the prescribing directions it is a very effective form of birth control and no form of birth control is 100% effective.

I also have this theory that if God wants me to get pregnant, there isn't going to be a darned thing I can do to stop it. ;) But I do the best I can. And for me, hormonal contraception has been 100% effective--I've been using only the pill or the ring for almost eight years with not even a worry about pregnancy.

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control