Women Questions- I need insight.

123457»

Replies

  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    lexbubbles wrote: »
    That's fine. I don't know why it says 'SC' and not just 'UK' given that SC is also a state abbreviation, but whatever.

    That's because everyone in the whole wide world is supposed to identify with their region rather than country :) I think the US is the only place where people don't mention the country but a state, but who cares.

    Our history is weird and unique
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    lexbubbles wrote: »
    That's fine. I don't know why it says 'SC' and not just 'UK' given that SC is also a state abbreviation, but whatever.

    That's because everyone in the whole wide world is supposed to identify with their region rather than country :) I think the US is the only place where people don't mention the country but a state, but who cares.

    Our history is weird and unique

    we're special snowflakes damnnnnit
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    lexbubbles wrote: »
    That's fine. I don't know why it says 'SC' and not just 'UK' given that SC is also a state abbreviation, but whatever.

    That's because everyone in the whole wide world is supposed to identify with their region rather than country :) I think the US is the only place where people don't mention the country but a state, but who cares.

    Our history is weird and unique

    Only Americans think this :smile:
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    I think historians would agree with me, American or not. What other country is made up of mostly immigrants (after having decimated the natives), created a new form of representative democracy and has the oldest written constitution in the world (that many other countries try to emulate with varying success), has an embarrassingly violent history of racial abuse that doesn't seem to be getting any better, is technically secular and has freedom of religion (on the books) yet is religiously fundamentalist and oppressive in some areas of state and local government, is the only country in the industrialized world without universal health care or maternity leave, and, with regards to state vs. national identification, has a long history of federal government distrust and contempt, to the point of refusing a national identity card because "socialism!" yet continues to elect idiots to run it, has the strongest military and economy in the world, and doesn't know that football is played with a round, black and white ball. Weird and unique.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Every country's history is weird and unique in comparison with any other is the point I was trying to make
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    oh...sorry, I didn't mean to go nuts. It's true that every country is weird and unique in its own way, but I can't think of another country that is as dissimilar to others. The U.S. really is "special," and I'm not saying that as a good or bad thing...just an observation.
  • GingerbreadCandy
    GingerbreadCandy Posts: 403 Member
    kristydi wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I would like to recommend a book to every woman...I read this years ago and had a number of light dawning moments ...my daughter will get a copy when she is old enough..but they should teach this stuff in school...it should be common knowledge that this is how our bodies work ...this is normal

    amazon.co.uk/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Definitive/dp/0060881909/ref=asap_B000AP9EKM?ie=UTF8

    Oh just realised there's a teen one ...right I'm buying that for my 10 year old

    amazon.co.uk/Cycle-Savvy-Smart-Teens-Mysteries/dp/0060829648/ref=asap_B000AP9EKM?ie=UTF8

    Loved Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It can intimidating though. Hope the teen one is good though. I'd love something like that for my girls when the time comes.
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    AglaeaC wrote: »
    Oh boy.... I can't believe I'm asking this on here. But here goes!
    My periods finished on Saturday. I wasn't due to start my contraceptive pill again till Monday. At 3am on Monday morning we had sex. I literally ran out of the bedroom straight away and took my pill!! Now I'm going to be stressing all month :s

    There are morning-after pills which have to be taken within something like 24 hours, the sooner the better. If you are on the pill rather than have an IUD, it might be a good idea to have one at home just in case. Hope you receive the news you wish for rather than the ones, which aren't as welcome. I'm not sure how quickly the hormones start "working" to be honest.

    It is a bit controversial still, but some gynos in Europe at least have okayed being on the pill constantly. The only reason why women stop taking it for some days a month is because the people (men) who developed the thing thought it unnatural for women not to have menses. So it has become what we perceive to be normal, but the idea has been challenged as pointless, and like I said some women now take the hormones all the time.

    The Mirena IUD could be a good alternative, as the hormone levels are much lower and with local action only, as opposed to the ones in the pill (have to travel through the whole body via the blood stream). There's no remembering anything either and someone I know became pregnant because of antibiotic treatment whilst on the pill. Just some neutral reflections, hope it was okay.

    Anyway, perhaps you can see your gynecologist to discuss the situation if you are stressing about it?

    Wait, I am extremely confused. Most pills I know are taken for 21 days, then a 7 week break, and then you start again. They prevent ovulation so as long as you are taking it every day and in the right rhythm, you are always protected. It does not depend on when you actually take the pill.

    Where did you get the 7 weeks from? Did you mean to say 1 week or 7 days? Either you take pills 21 days in a row, then have a week's break for the period, or you take 21 hormone pills followed by 7 placebo pills, during which you also get the period.

    The problem is of course that no protection is 100% sure, hence christinev's question, and even when the pill is taken every day, irregular use can also have undesired effects (pregnancy). I'm not sure what you are confused about?

    Sorry, I meant 7 days, yes.

    I was confused as to why you were talking about taking the pill every day and why chrinistev felt she may be uncovered, since to my knowledge (and of every gynaecologist I have seen) you are also covered during the 7 days break and I assumed she was taking it regularly.

    However, I also know that there are plenty different types of pills with different posology methods, so I was wondering if in the States or australia you were using a different method than the one I was accustomed to.

    And yes, of course no contraception method is 100% effective. My sister was on one of the strongest pills for a month and was still fertile because genetics.

    Thanks for the additional edit, I was wondering what you were confused about :)

    I don't have detailed information regarding what an individual woman's hormone levels look like after the 7-day break, which is why I said that she might want to talk to her gyno, considering she had sex at the end of the 7 days and on top of that says she is stressed about the situation. In theory she should be fine, but there are always those odd exceptions at the most inconvenient of times. Such as the antibiotic treatment caused pregnancy.

    This part was a side track, but perhaps of interest to someone:
    There is no medical reason why a woman has to stop taking the pill for seven days, but the period is a synthetic bleeding because a woman is supposed to bleed to be a woman (sarkasm). The concept has been challenged by some doctors, who now prescribe 28/28 days of hormones, without any synthetic period induced as part of the cycle.

    Haha yeah. Sidetracks like these are always helpful. :smiley:

    Actually, in France the gynos will straight out tell you that even in the 21 days pill, if you feel like not bleeding you can just take another tablet right after the first one is done. I did it this summer while I was on a two-week sailboat trip. Works wonderfully.


    This is common knowledge in the UK...it's generally on the pill information sheet ...do they not tell you this when they prescribe it?

    A lot of what was said in this thread is also common knowledge. In fact they don't even tell you what I said most of the time because you are expected to have seen it at least five times in school before you take the pill for the first time. (Sex ed starts at age 10 in France, sometimes even younger, and you are repeated the basics every year from then on.)

    However, since there seemed to be some confusion in this thread and because I regularly come across women and girls that seem confused about how the pill works, I do prefer to reiterate some of these at risk of sounding redundant.


    I have found that what is "common knowledge" varies widely both in breadth and accuracy. Because there is such variety in how sex ed is taught in the US and how contentious the issue can become, especially in communities with strong religious convictions, there are a lot of teens and young adult women out there who lack a basic understanding of how their cycle works beyond, "I bleed every month and that means I'm not pregnant." It's not that they're stupid. It's that information on preventing pregnancy is stigmatized because somehow, giving teens information means encouraging them to go out and have a lot of sex.

    I had "abstinence only" sex ed in high school and it was a school joke. Seriously, there was a poster that said, "Pet your dog, not your date." There was zero actual information and a lot of vague scare tactics and "the girl controls the intensity of the physical relationship here's how to say no to your boyfriend"

    Thank God for my parents who made sure I had the information I needed.

    Sorry, I'll climb off my soap box now.

    Lol… whereas in France we had condom dispensers in high school and you could ask the school nurse and get some for free. :smiley:

    Regardless, even here I often come across several misconceptions… such as "if you miss your pill during your cycle you need to wait a week and then you can have safe sex again."

    Uuuuh… no, no and no. As soon as you forget to take the pill for longer than 24 hours, you are at risk (as slight as it may be) of ovulating and thus being fertile again. So what you are having is not safe sex.
    Francl27 wrote: »
    My GYN 20 years ago gave me some kind of pill that basically stopped your period (after I had horrible mood swings and blood loss and high cholesterol and whatnot with the lowest dose pill). Except I pretty much bled non stop for a month after that, and I just gave up birth control then. I admit I'm a bit jealous of women who can take them without any side effects!

    I guess I'm 'lucky' the two men I've been with since have fertility issues. Although with my luck I'll hit that 2% chance to conceive naturally at some point...

    Oh, I had all sorts of issues with birth control as well. I had to go through six different pills before I found one that worked for me… One of them actually permanently changed my breast size, lol. My sister also went through four.

    It is always a bit of a wager, unfortunately. Since it's hormone-based, everyone needs to find the one that works for them, and that can require time and patience. (Eventually discovering you cannot find one at all.)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Here's my take on America, and it's meant in a light hearted way guys xx These are the things that confuse me:

    You write your dates backward! You say 7/28/1972. We say 28/7/1972.

    You use the letter Z instead of the letter S. Socialize instead of socialise.

    you still use pounds ounces. We stopped using them in the 1960's before I was born. Welcome to the metric system guys ;) my lbs to kgs app is very worn out :p

    you guys get to choose to vote?? We have to, it's compulsory. If we don't we get a huge fine.

    That is all.... for now

    Merry Christmas from Australia guys. Love ya's xx
  • FisherGT
    FisherGT Posts: 55 Member
    1. I havnt had a period in 5 years( my system is super messed up from disordered eating)
    2. Ovulation is 2 weeks after the last bloody night
    3. not to my knowledge but i used to lose weight because i was sleeping all the time ad not eating.