Birth Control and Weddings

[mic0]

A calendar doesn't calculate when your next period will be, though.

[Tally M.]

Depends on how regular you are.

[Marduk]

It can do as much as an app can do. As long as you are smart.

[mic0]

As long as you are smart.

Oh.

I've never kept close count of my periods, but being on birth control means I can just look at my pack and see how many days are left by the number of pills. It works for me.

[Marduk]

Heh, that wasn't meant to be a slam.

It is funny how many girls have never even thought about this prior to a wedding night.

[Tally M.]

It is funny how many girls have never even thought about this prior to a wedding night.

There's not really reason to prior to that.

[Marduk]

Sure there is. The fact that it takes time for your body to adjust to it. (Also it would be a good idea in general to know how your body will react to it.)

[Tally M.]

I guess I meant, it's not really thought about prior to thinking about it in preparation for a wedding.

[Marduk]

And with how long Mormons are usually engaged for, that's not enough time.

I'd be curious how many girls take it for non-sex reasons.

[Tally M.]

A fairly large amount

[Marduk]

That's interesting.

I should clarify, though: I'd be curious to know how many mormon girls take it, before marriage, for non-sex reasons.

My gut reaction is to think that since they are afraid of talking about sex, or anything related, that they wouldn't discuss it, hence the number would be much lower than average.

[Tally M.]

I don't know if there's been any studies done, but I came across this interesting article.

[mic0]

I know one of my cousins takes it because she has bad periods. Probably the proportion of LDS non-married youngish women who take it for non-sex reasons is lower than the national average, but there must be some overlap since they will still have the same types of medical problems that birth control can help with.

[UffishThought]

Yeah, I know a fairly high percentage of lds women that take it because of non-sex reasons, and the doctor suggested it to many of them. And the ones who are on birth control usually aren't that shy about it. Everytime my period is particularly bad, I swear someone or other tells me maybe I should get on birth control, because it helped them. Maybe it's just that I'm in my late 20s, but no one's very quiet about it anymore.

[Dead Cat]

I started taking birth control pills since my periods were really irregular and I think one of my cousins took them before she was married (no idea if she still does now) for similar reasons. Marduk, I think that your gut reaction is probably somewhat correct, though not as much as you think. I just think that most women don't like visiting a gynecologist in general and thus many would rather deal with their lady issues on their own.
Also, Uffish, this is me adding my voice to your friends: try birth control.

[thatonemom]

I had some roommates who took the pill for other reasons and they were pretty open about it. Some took it in high school because they were on accutane (but usually stopped once they were done with the accutane). Some others had issues with periods that the pill helped with. I never asked them if they requested to be put on it or if their moms/someone else recommended it.

It can have some crappy side effects though (like weight gain), and I don't know too many girls wanting to sign up for that. Plus you don't know how you'll react to it until you've started taking it. Some people have no problems, but man, I hate the pill with a fiery passion. Maybe I never stuck with it long enough to get past the annoying side effects stage, but I think there are more convenient forms of contraception (if that's all you're using it for).

[bobtheenchantedone]

When my Utah County doctor prescribed birth control for me to help with bad periods, he assured me many times that it was just for the period reasons and even tried to call it something other than birth control a couple of times. I thought he was being weird, but when my siblings heard that I was on the pill they were all shocked and then I had to explain to them that it was useful for more than birth control.

I tend toward terrible first days where all I can do was lie in bed, in too much pain to even cry. However, I've found that what helps even more than birth control (which I haven't taken in years) is regular exercise. And by exercise I mean as little as 5 minutes a day. Something to try if you don't already have a regular exercise routine and want to avoid the pill.

[Dragon Lady]

Going back to the original point of this thread, I had really regular periods while single. Very, very regular. I did not go on the Pill when I got married, but wasn't concerned too much because my period was very, very regular and was scheduled to come and go before my wedding date.

And then it was over a week late. (I think because of pre-wedding stress.) And started on my wedding night. (Though I didn't realize it until the next morning. Let's just say I was grateful to be at a hotel where we could just leave. haha.)

Luckily, I had a friend give me advice before I got married that it's ok to have sex during your period and if the boy is super grossed out about it, he can always use a condom as a buffer. And to lay towels down on your bed. When my period kept being late and I was worried about it, I brought the topic up with Yellow, we discussed what we would do just in case, and that was the end of that.

Hint: have open communication with your future (or current, as the case may be) spouse, even about awkward topics. So much easier and can make awkward moments far easier to deal with.

And as for the later topic, I had many roommates who were on the Pill for non-sex reasons. All were single. (Obviously.)