Monday, August 14, 2006

Half Life

Exchange from instant message conversation during which Anonymous Friend discusses a recent OB/GYN appointment where the doctor forced samples of Yaz on her.

AF: The doctor all but dumped the birth control in my purse. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was thinking, "I am not letting this smart young woman out of this exam room without protecting her from unwanted pregnancy."

E: Did he stress upon you about taking it at the same time? Birth control pills have a short half-life, meaning if you are supposed to have it at 8:00 AM, but take it at 4:00 PM, you could be UNPROTECTED for hours.

AF: Then wouldn't it be better to pick a time of day when it will be most effective against pregnancy? Like happy hour?

E: That does seem logical.

Anonymous Friend has also provided a transcript of the pre-sample-giving conversation.
Doc: Are you taking any form of birth control?

AF: No. I've avoided it because I've never wanted to worry about side effects or weird hormone stuff

Doc: The side effects of pregnancy are a lot worse than any possible side effects of the birth control pills.

2 comments:

Kelly Green said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kelly Green said...

Slightly off topic, but worth a mention: Vermont passed legislation that allows the sale of Plan B to teens without a prescription. Pharmacists who receive special training will be allowed to sell the drug to minors who fill out a health-screening questionnaire. As far as I know, Vermont is the only state so far to enact such a sane law.