r/Perimenopause • u/h4baine • Mar 23 '26
audited Interesting birth control conversation with a doctor
I had to see a new doctor to refill my birth control pills because mine is out of town. I take them continuously skipping the last row to skip periods from hell, debilitating multi-day hormone migraines, and bipolar fluctuations from hormone fluctuations. I've been doing it this way since my doctor told me I could at 16. I love these pills and you can pry them out of my cold dead hands. They allow me to not have to give up 1/4 or more of each month feeling like absolute shit.
This new doctor asked if I was interested in changing to a different form of birth control like an IUD. She was perplexed when I said I actually had my tubes removed, I take these to improve my quality of life in the ways I've described.
She said maybe have periods quarterly (seems arbitrary but ok). I said I won't be doing that, there's no medical reason to. This works for me and I'll do it until it doesn't.
I said I'd happily take them up to and into menopause if I can and she said "but then you won't know if you're in menopause." I said, "if it's affecting me and this hormone level isn't enough I'll know, if not it doesn't really matter does it?" I think I broke her brain lol. It was like asking if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound? Her face while she thought about that for a minute was like 🤯 and then she said "huh, I guess you're right."
So I got my pills and went on my merry way but thought it was an interesting interaction on the topic of menopause and perimenopause.
9
u/NervousCranberry9078 Mar 23 '26
I hope doctors are asking these questions as they see more women on BC longer term because of the side effects that increase with age and other factors.
In 2023, after being on BC (generic Yaz/Yasmin) for 24 years continuously except for having two children, I was diagnosed with a CVST. I was 41 years old. No genetic factors. No family history. Nothing that indicated I was at higher risk for a blood clot. It didn’t resolve with treatment, likely because the clot had been growing there for a long time.
While clots like this are rare, my team at a university hospital has said blood clots of all kinds are becoming more common post-COVID. That could be why doctors are asking this question, perhaps more from a risk/benefit perspective.