Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Stop It

Time for some much needed brutal honesty. You know what I find obnoxious? People who complain about things, over and over again, that are completely within their power to fix. That shit drives me crazy. Sure, complain a few times, that's healthy and expected; after that fix the issue so that it quits happening! Don't turn into one of those people who just love to bitch and moan. Oh, poor picked on you.

If you have a family member/co-worker/friend who you know is a bad person, because let's face it it's not a fucking secret, you need to quit letting them do that. Complaining about it to third parties without addressing the underlying issue with the person in question isn't going to do much except make you seem like you simply like the attention of seeming hurt.

I say seeming hurt because, really, how hurt can you be if you subject yourself to it constantly? I'm not talking about children who've been beaten from an early age and have no means of escape here. I'm not talking battered women who fear for their lives either. Or people who may be stuck due to religious reasons, or cultural reasons beyond their control due to it being such a core belief to them. That shit is different. That's on a whole different level. I'm talking about trivial bull crap.

You know they are a bad person! Why let their opinion effect your mood in the first place? That's asinine. They're a dick. You know they are a dick. You begin your conversations with this knowledge so that everyone you talk to frequently also knows they are a dick. You talk about it so much that soon their names will be listed as synonyms for dick in the damned dictionary.

If it's because you're inherently insecure and don't know what to talk about if not that, the answer is anything else. If you don't have "complaining about ____" to fall back on, you fear you'll have nothing interesting to say. That you can't uphold your end of a conversation. Well get over it. Complaining about the same thing every few days isn't upholding conversation at all. It's boring. I'd rather endure a lecture on the life cycle of grass. Twice. Trust me, you could easily come up with something else to talk about that is leaps and bounds more interesting than whatever your mom/dog/boss/bff said to you again.

And you know what? If your social circle isn't otherwise interested in what you have to say, you're hanging with the wrong crowd. Find some people who actually share similar interests to you. You'll be a lot happier.

Let me reiterate, I'm not saying no one ever has any reason to complain about someone's shitty behavior. I'm saying why keep these shitty people in your life? If it's your family, move out. If it's your co-workers, look for another job. If it's your friends, find new ones. Life is not as hard as you're making it out to be. The biggest excuse I hear, especially in dealing with family is lack of funds to move out. If you have a job and are living rent free off your parents... where the hell is your money going? Quit spending it on stupid shit and save up. Or get a room mate.

Don't let bad people make you feel bad about yourself. It's dumb. Furthermore, seeking sympathy for it over and over again is kind of manipulative, as people who care about you will continuously be there to feed your need for attention when all you have to do is walk the goddamnfuck away. I shouldn't have to tell you that. You know.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Progesterone Only Birth Control Pills

I learned an interesting and startling fact when I went to the GYN to have an IUD placed. When she inquired about past birth control methods I mentioned that originally I was on the weekly patch, up until my insurance no longer covered it and they put me on pills. Not regular pills though, the progesterone only pill (aka mini pill, POP). She seemed a little confused by the swap and asked why they would put me on the mini pill over regular ones. To that I had no answer; it was simply what they had chosen, without my consent, and were pretty unwilling to work with me about.

She then asked since I was only getting the IUD due to breastfeeding, why I didn't want to go back to the mini pill -- since I was already familiar with its usage and placing an IUD is considerably invasive. This answer did not surprise her nearly as much as it had surprised every other doctor I'd talked to about it: because after four years of zealot-like religious use I got pregnant on the mini pill. Her reply was instead, "Oh, yeah... that is not uncommon." Wait. What? It isn't uncommon for women who use their mini pills by-the-book everyday to get pregnant regardless?

She explained to me that despite the instructions your health care provider gives you for the mini pill being practically identical to those given to you for the regular pill, how you should actually take them is quite different. Both brochures will instruct you to take your pill at the same time every day. What the mini pill instructions do not warn you about is that there is essentially a two hour long window after you have taken your pill that you may still conceive! So, if one day you take your pill then get frisky right afterwards, you run a considerable risk of getting pregnant despite your strict pill use.

No where within the pill's included patient literature is this mentioned. My primary care physician, who prescribed them, never explained this to me either. According to my stand-in GYN this is normal, most physicians don't seem to know about this very key difference and therefor don't warn anyone about it. If you do some research, the information is there, but why would you? You think you've been given all the relevant information. According to my GYN, while the mini pill claims an effectiveness similar to the regular pill, it actually has a similar fail rate to condoms.

That's a pretty huge difference. She says it isn't brought up much because most people have very vanilla at-night-only sex and take their pill in the morning. So the average person's risk is pretty minimal. However, if you lead a more adventurous sex life, or you know, don't plan your sex around the sun's position in the sky your risk is higher.

So, my friends, from me to you: remember to close that window before getting it on after your progesterone only pills!