Post-surgery Birth control

I am only 3 1/2 weeks out from surgery and after 6 weeks, I will be able to resume birth control. Prior to surgery, I took The Pill and never had a problem with it at all. I am concerned now that I have surgery with its effectiveness and I am curious as to what other post-surgery females are using for birth control. I do not use my family doctor for my annual pap smears, I have always used Planned Parenthood. I don't think they are as familiar with this procedure so I am putting this out to the females to give me some insight. I will also discuss this with IA City when I return for my one month post-op visit on December 2nd. I am just curious as to what my options are, I know when I mentioned this pre-surgery, it seemed that I would be able to resume The Pill but I am very concerned about the chance of pregnance with that. I would not want that to happen. Thanks. Tamara

Hi Tamara, Have you considered trying the Depo-Provera birth control shot? I've been on it for a long time, and I really like it, because I don't get my periods anymore with it. You just get a shot every 3 months, and its just as effective as the Pill. Shelley Rath

Depending on who you talk to there is a lot of conterversy about how much of the pill we absorb after the surgery! I personally don't trust the pill after getting pregnant with twins while on it My tubes have long been tide, so I wasn't on the pill for birth controil anymore, but to control heavy periods......After my RNY my periods were horrible, probably because I wasn't absorbing the pill like I had been before.....I go to a GYNO and he didn't think the absorption rate was good enough for sole use as birth control. Here is an example.....after a 3-4 heavy bleed, yes I SAID MONTHS......lol!!! I was getting super anemic and needed the bleeding to stop.......There is a thing they do to stop bleeding ( I can't remeber the technical name) but it is were you take like 6 BC pills one day, 5 the next, 4 the next, 3, 2, 1......and that should alwasy stop the bleeding......well it surely didn't for me, that is another reason my gyno thinks it isn't absorbed......That should have stopped anyone from bleeding!!! I noticed the shot was mentioned.....I used the shot in highschool and loved it....no period, no problems.....I tryed it again after RNY again to control bleeding and bled for like 6months straight and it really slowed down my weightloss, I at this point would NOT reccomend the shot for you! There is a patch, nuvarings, lots of other options....but I would use ******s just to be safe, or go to the planned parenthood, they are pretty smart folks there and if they don't know for sure, have them research it a little and help you make your decision!!! I finally got my problems taken care of, I had a total hysterectomy on Oct 7th at 26 years old!!!! Good luck and take care jesi

See, Jesi, this is where I was at too. I believe that the pill isn't as effective after surgery, I want to make darn sure I don't end up pregnant. My feeling on the depo shot it the same, I think it causes weight gain. I have read a lot about it and the outcome after surgery always seems to be weight gain, which I would like to avoid. I have enough weight, don't need any more at all. So I am at a crossroads, I don't know enough about the patch to know if that would be as effective as a normal person taking the pill or not. But I will bring this point out when I return to IA City along with talking to Planned Parenthood. Thanks for responding! T

Tamara, Wow, what a good question. We use condoms - personal choice because I have migraines and it has been recommended to me NOT to take the pill. So, haven't had to worry. I would continue to research and ask everyone you can. Good luck. I'm sure that we'd all be interested in what you find out. God bless, Andrea

Tamara - I chose to use the Mirena IUD. I love it. I never have to worry about. I only spot 2 days out of the month and eventually will not have a period at all. I worried alot about absorption and getting pregnant. My doctor actually recommended the IUD. It lasts for 5 years.