[candiegirl]

"Recently this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31...newly grad student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a
Doctor...) was flown into a nearby hospital, (She lives in Penn. ) because she passed out.
They found a blot clot in her neck, and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. by the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain, the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage.
Since last Wednesday night, she was battling.. they induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow, They operated 3 times..
Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do.. they found multiple clots in the left side of her brain.. the swelling wouldn't stop, and she was on life support..
She died at 4:30 yesterday. She leaves behind a husband, and a
2
yr old Brandon and a 4yr old Justin.. The CAUSE of DEATH - they found was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 X's a year...
They said it interrupts life's menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA approved... shouldn't be - So to the women in my address book - I ask you to boycott this product & deal with you rag once a month - so you can live the rest of the months that your life has in store for you.
*Please send this to every woman you know - you may save someone's life...
Remember, you have a CYCLE for a reason!

[shayne24]

Just stumbled across this. That is a really sad story, but one also needs to understand reasons why it would be a good thing for some women to not have a period. I'm not saying all women should go out and get the pill to stop them, definitely not! In my opinion I don't think it should be an option just because they don't want to have a period. I just recently started continuous BC so I don't have them, but it's for medical purposes. I have bipolar disorder and my main mood leveler loses effectiveness with the change in hormones (I get SUPER depressed instead of PMS-y and I'm totally messed up for the week before and week of my period). I know there are risks, as there is with almost anything, but I would rather be a "normal, functioning" individual all month long instead of feeling like I need to hide away for two weeks every month. I just hope and pray that there will come a day when I can quit all my meds and be "normal" again. In the meantime I'm going to keep taking my BC. Honestly when I didn't have this option I often wished during those times that I could just die. So here I am... yes there is a VERY slight chance that I could have complications and die from it, but if this were, wouldn't you rather be happy until that happened (if indeed it were to happen)?

[kira]

I'd rather risk death by blood clots than my periods every month. I spend the first 3 days laying perfectly still on the couch taking more than the recommended amount of pain killers which is doing nothing while I soak through a heavy tampon and heavy diaper like pad every 30mins for the first half of those 3 days. I spend the rest of the week laying there not caring and often not eating because I'm so weak from blood loss and the constant muscle contractions. I also gain a pound a week for every week that I am not taking birth control pills irregardless of what I eat or exercise due to a hormone disorder.

[WildChild]

I started clotting from the pill after being on them for 10 years. You need to be aware and contact your doctor with any concerns.

[ItsASecret]

The blood clots are by far the biggest concern when prescribing birth control. No doctor will just willy nilly prescribe one unless they have asked if you or someone else in the family, no matter how far down the line, has had a history of blood clots or clotting issues. Taking birth control does not automatically mean you are doomed to get a clot, no one can without a doubt predict how your body is going to react. If you smoke you have a greater risk of complications, if you have a family history of certain health conditions you will have greater risk of complications. Nothing is predictable, if your family has a history of aneurisms it does not mean taking birth control will give you one and so forth. Talk with your doctor they know what they are doing, if a patient does not believe a word the doctor says then leave the office and do not go back. This case has nothing to do with the periods themselves, there are countless millions of women who have very irregular periods and do not die of a blood clot. This case has to do with the risk factor behind it all, maybe there was a family history of blood clotting, aneurisms, stroke and so on. Taking the pill does not mean you are absolutely going to have a complication, if you do it is unfortunate, but it is not a set in stone result from taking them.

[jessie1234]

i was on a pill that allowed me to have periods.... minovral.... the same thing almost happened to me... i feel this is a risk with all pills and not just that one... sad story though

[chaya]

I have considered taking pills to delay my period in the past but my GYN advised against it and wouldn't prescribe them for me.

I sympathize with Kira, I sometimes have a heavy period like she describes. There were a few times that I absolutely had to go to school in that condition. Luckily for me, my cycle seems to have stabilized.