The following interview is between my older sister Jessica and I. She is 22 years old and a recent college graduate. Jessica has been using oral contraception since she was a sophomore in High School, she began at the age of 16 and therefore has been using this form of birth control for about seven years now. I chose to interview Jess because she recently had extreme pain in her lower abdomen and went to her gynecologist to discover that she has two ovarian cysts. Jessica’s doctors explained to her that they grew because she did not take her oral contraceptive on a regular basis as directed. Jessica never knew that this was a possibility. This made me question whose fault that was…

Question 1: What did you know when you first started birth control?

Answer 1:“I knew it was going to help my cramps, stop me from getting pregnant, make my period regular and make me gain weight as well as that it may cause mood swings.”

Q2: What kind of birth control were you on?

A2: “I was on Microgestin and then they said they had run out of Microgestin and started giving me Larin. They told me it was the same medication, just a different name… I guess that was true, I don’t know.”

Q3: For how long were you on this oral contraceptive for?

A3: “I was on Microgestin throughout high school and then got switched to Larin late in my college career.”

Q4: What happened that made you stop using oral contraception?

A4: “I got cysts on my ovaries, one on each ovary. I stopped using my oral contraceptive because of the cysts. They grew because I was not taking my pill every day. They told me if I switched from the pill to an intrauterine device (specifically a NuvaRing) that the cysts would go away on their own.”

Q5: What were some benefits?

A5: “You don’t have to remember to take the pill every day, just to take out the NuvaRing during the week of your period and then replace it when you finish – and yes I do it on my own, I don’t have to go to my gynecologist every month.”

Q6: Is there anything you wish you had known prior to starting your oral contraceptive?

A6: “I wish that they told me why it was important to take my pill at the same time every day. Being a 16-year-old hearing something as simple as ‘taking your birth control at the same time every day is simply important’ went in one ear and out the other because they didn’t tell me why”

Q7: What kind of birth control are you using now and how do you like it?

A7: “I am currently using a birth control called NuvaRing. It is nice that I don’t have to remember to take a pill everyday but at the same time it doesn’t always stay in and having sexual relations makes me nervous when it is in. I would rather be on the pill honestly, but the possible side effects don’t make it worth it.”

After reading this interview, who do you think the blame falls on? Is it Jessica’s fault for not taking her medication as prescribed from such a young age? Or is it her doctors’ fault for not explaining the importance and the possible consequences well enough? In my opinion, there is no blame to be placed here. You and your doctor should have a good relationship where questions can be asked and answered properly. And where information can be shared to its fullest extent.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.