Also in the “Oh by the way” department: Insurance companies should cover birth control because it can help women not get pregnant. Sure, it has other very important uses, and it should be covered for those as well. But lets not lose sight of the main point.
Sandra Fluke’s information about the pill and ovarian cysts is wrong and why it matters « Dr. Jen Gunter
Marlene Dotterer 
This is really news to me as I happen to have PCOS and am currently on the pill as part of the treatment. I had massive cysts (multiples upon multiples) and 9 months after starting on the pill, I had cleared one ovary completely. Could it have been the metformin (the only other medicine) I was on? Doubt it. But I do know one thing. Women of colour suffer from this disease far more than anyone else, and few doctors seem to understand it or know current treatments unless they deal with those patients every day. It’s a terrible disease that affects my ability to possibly have kids, and I know that taking those pills made my life infinitely better. I sure hope your country doesn’t take the backward step of letting insurance companies get out of coverage. After all–women who need those pills pay taxes and premiums too.
Hi Rhonda, This is something I know nothing about, so Dr. Jen’s post was just information I was passing along. I do know that doctors are not always up on the latest research, so I was willing to take her word for it. Thanks for passing along the other side of the equation.
I’m concerned about politicians who try to practice medicine by passing laws telling doctors what they can or can’t do. I’m sure birth control pills help a lot of conditions and we need them for those reasons. But I don’t want to let the argument be just about that, or we’ll end up with convoluted laws saying you have to prove you need the pills for a disease, but you can’t get them to prevent contraception. We need to keep insisting that they can’t deny us that.
Between you and me, I can’t stand these religious craptoid men who want to force everyone to follow their rules. It’s one of the few things that make me want to react violently and just slap them all with a brick.
Okay. Deep breath.
I’m glad to hear the pills have helped you. I haven’t been back to see any comments on Jen’s post – maybe cases like yours were brought up. It will be interesting to see.
Hope you’re still writing! Take care! Marlene
I have to say that I agree women should have access to those pills if they want them, for whatever reason. Your country was founded on a document that says religion has to stay out of government. I think a lot of people have forgotten that. You can’t deny all women birth control pills because some of them (and some men) think they’re an abomination because of their religious beliefs. Science that helps people and harms no one should be available to those who need and want it regardless of what my priest, pastor or neighbour thinks.
Upon thinking about it, I believe the good doctor can technically make this claim because the pills used to treat my condition are not really birth control. They have the same ingredients, but in such low amounts, they cannot prevent pregnancy. This is why it’s referred to as hormone therapy. Ironically, the hormones are just enough to allow a woman’s body to do what PCOS often prevents her from doing–ovulating. They’re being used to allow for pregnancy, not prevent it. But given the current climate, I figure that if they ban paying for birth control (and birth control itself) they can claim hormone therapy is the same thing because it’s born of the same science and ingredients. Frankly, there’s no way around it. For whatever reason, women should have the choice of access to this medicine, and as women pay premiums and taxes, having insurance cover it is entirely correct.