Well! Last night on the news I saw a story that made me feel pretty good about myself. I know my body and I know when my body is unhappy.

Several months ago, my doctor put me on the Ortho-Evra patch. Within days, as the medication began to be absorbed transdermally, I started feeling very ill! To the point where I couldn't eat because I would feel nauseous. It made me tired and listless, it made me have severe moodswings and I was suffering from lots of headaches. I knew something was wrong. I had been told though, that the medication needs to be worn for 3 months before my body can learn to adjust. Heh, 3 months of nausea, headaches and feeling crappy...nah, not for me. I stopped the patch. Not to mention, I had frequent other problems which I won't put on this journal. A little
too private for a public forum.

In any case, I've been birth control free for several months now. Last night on the news, there was a story issuing a warning about the patch. It apparently contains higher levels of hormones than regular BC pills and is causing women to have a greater chance of having blood clots, particularly in the age group of 25 and under. A dozen women in their late teen's to early 20's died in 2004 from the patch.

Yeesh! I'm glad that Berek and I made the conscious decision to stop the patch. Who knows what could've happened. I'm actually glad I'm not on any birth control. Those things disrupt your body's natural way of doing things and that can't be good over a certain amount of time. Not to mention what that could be doing in other ways too. A lot of women use birth control. A lot of women pee...hormones can be passed through urine...what does that do to our environment? Hmmm? Food for thought I suppose.