Thread: what is the safest brand of birth control?

Originally Posted by laurenbeast

i'm wondering because i'm going to go to the doctor to get on the pill, and i want to know what brand is the safest. i heard that a lot of types have really terrifying side-effects and can cause all sorts of diseases. my friend had to get off of a brand called Yaz cause it was killing people. i think it's ridiculous that they allow such horrible medications onto the market, but alas... i do feel like i need to be on it.
any suggestions?

Yaz isn't killing people. Just with any type of hormone therapy (to include "the pill") it's messing with your natural balance. What Yaz is doing (for some odd reason) is simply driving people insane. During this period of "lapsed sanity" some may try to off themselves. Fine. It just proves Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. And coming from a (male) nurse, you know that's a bad joke!

To answer the last part of your post here, it's not that they're "allowing" this kind of stuff on the market. It's that there are loopholes in place to let all sorts of jacked up medications on to the market without FDA approval (which is rather vigorous) because the American public wants "cheaper" medicines.

There is no such thing as "the best" birth control without a complete hysterectomy. Talk to your gynecologist and find out what should be best for you. There's a reason why they call it "practicing" medicine.

OG

If you want the pill, and you want the safest you can get, find a low-dose one. I'm on Tricyclen-lo, and I'm pretty happy with it. I had some side-effects at first (particularly moodiness) but after a few months (and realizing why I was acting the way I was) I got over it.

In theory, low-dose birth control has fewer side effects and is safer, since you are getting less hormones. And no, it is not less effective. Discuss this possibility with your doctor.

Low dose pills may not be less effective but they are just as likely to have problems as high dose pills in some ways. I can't take low dose pills. I have constant break through bleeding. I also can't take pills that different levels of hormones each week because I bleed through the end of the inactive pills and right on through the first week of lowest dose pills. Aside from the inconvenience I started getting anemia from blood loss. They also made me have worse acne while yasmin did not. I loved yasmin. I lost weight, my acne went away, my health improved, and I have very few complaints. I took it from the start of highschool until about 2years ago without a single real problem aside from birth control pills make me throw up the first few days I start taking a new brand. That year off bcp sucked. Now I'm quite happy to be on lybrel. I did have the upset stomach and a few days of bad acne that can happen when starting a new pill again but now everything is going smoothly and my health is improving again. Sorry but I don't understand everyone's fear with bcp. I take a whole heck of a lot worse meds. Any one who has taken an antidepressent, anti anxiety, or any other med that impacts brain chemistry including things like seizure medication and sleep aids can tell you there are far riskier things prescribed just as commonly as bcp. Bcp is about the tamest, safest thing I've had to take in the past 15 years of my 24year lifespan. I have more problems and side effects with antibiotics than hormonal birth control.