Pill Pain
By: Julie Keenan
If you are a girl between the ages of 10 and 100, you have most likely heard about the Pill. You may even be taking the Pill or trying to decide which one to begin taking. The two main reasons most girls start taking the Pill is for menstrual regulation and/or birth control. These are definitely legitimate reasons and in a world where puberty is taking place earlier and earlier (along with first sexual encounters), it’s probably a good idea to take the Pill as soon as you’re medically allowed. Since all types of the Pill are between 92 and 99.7% effective in preventing pregnancies, most girls tend to look at how it will be effective in regulating (or getting rid of) that terrible inconvenience known as their period. I know that’s what I was thinking about when I decided to switch to Loestrin 24.
Whenever you buy birth control or go onto the different brand’s websites, you will see an insert or pdf that mentions all the side effects of birth control. One of these side effects is blood clots. Although I consider side effect warnings important, I wasn’t too worried about it because I had been on the Pill for three years before switching to Loestrin. I had been on Alesse and then Tri-cyclen Lo, so I didn’t really think changing to a pill that promised a cycle of 3 days or less would be a big deal. I was wrong.
I switched to Loestrin around the beginning of November 2007. Everything seemed to be working out okay and I had gone through one full month on it without any problems. Since the holidays were nearing and my vacation had begun, I was putting up the small Christmas tree that I have in my room. While decorating it, I wrapped the lights pretty quickly around before properly adjusting them. Later that night when I went to bed, my right side was bothering me a little bit but not so much that I couldn’t sleep. I woke up the next morning and my side hurt more. I thought I might have pulled a muscle from decorating my tree and I took some painkillers.
The next day, the pain was unbearable. I went to my family doctor to see what was wrong. She couldn’t find anything but immediately after I left the office, I had an attack. The cold air made it almost impossible to breathe. I could barely climb into the seat of my parents’ Suburban. I thought I was going to die. My dad took me to the emergency room. After hours of waiting in pain and being given several tests, I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I had what they call an “infiltrate”, which basically just means a cluster of mucus, in my right lung. I was sent home with an inhaler and antibiotics. It was a pretty tough Christmas season, but I was almost back to normal by the time school started up again.
It took some time to get back to 100%, but I managed pretty well—and I was thankful that it happened over vacation so I didn’t have to miss any class time. Flash forward to February, I’m smack dab in the middle of second semester. It was the end of study week and I had just driven my friend Elise home after a movie night at my place. I went to bed and my left side was hurting me a bit. I woke up the next morning and I had the same symptoms I had back in December. I went to the emergency room again and was given more tests. I was sent home with some pain killers and asked to come back for results the next morning.
When I arrived at the hospital the following day, the news I received literally brought tears to my eyes. I had a pulmonary embolism (or blood clot in my lung). Apparently I also had one in my right lung; I was just misdiagnosed in December. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe. The doctor told me that pulmonary embolisms are very dangerous and can be fatal. The doctor also told me to relax because immediate treatment would be enough to make me better. I was set up in a bed and asked about whether I had recently given birth, gone on a plane, if I was a smoker, or if I was currently taking birth control. I’ve never been pregnant, I hadn’t been on a plane in over two years, and I would rather light my hair on fire than light a cigarette, so the doctors concluded definitively that the Loestrin 24 had caused my blood clots. I was shocked to say the least.
I stopped taking the Pill right away and was placed on blood thinners. I spent the better part of a month and a half at home recovering. I missed a lot of class time which was difficult to make up. I’m still taking the blood thinners and I have to get blood-work done once a month. It used to be once a week, but they lengthen the time once you’ve stabilized more. I can stop taking the blood thinners at any time, but if I ever want to go on birth control again, they are mandatory.
Just so you know, I am not writing this article for your sympathy. I’m writing it to warn you. Yes, there may be hundreds of thousands of girls on Loestrin 24 that will never have to think about blood clots. But because of its higher dosage of estrogen (which is what helps shorten your cycle), it increases your risk of having a blood clot in your legs, pelvis, or lungs. So when weighing the pros and cons of which birth control to begin taking (or switch to), make sure to consider the possibility that you may be faced with a life-threatening illness the way I was. A few extra days in your cycle doesn’t seem so bad when you look at it that way, does it?
Discuss
bring on the sinfest!
By: Julie Keenan
Web comics are abundant on the interweb these days, so it can be difficult to tell which ones are pure awesomeness and which are completely crap. Obviously I have not read every web comic out there, so I am basing my comparison on the ones I have read. My two favorite comics are Sinfest and Questionable Content (see my other article).
What is Sinfest, you say? It is “The Webcomic To End All Webcomics” according to the website,www.sinfest.net and I must agree. It’s about the lives of Slick and Monique and their group of friends which consist of a bookworm, a pig, The Devil, God, Jesus, a devil fanatic, and a god fanatic. There are also the cat and dog characters which have their own separate storyline. Sometimes minor/temporary characters show up for a few strips throughout the series. They have some pretty hilarious adventures and discuss every topic imaginable. The comic was started on January 17, 2000 so it’s been around awhile. As with most comics, you can see how the drawing and writing style has evolved and improved.
I find that it is almost impossible to pick a favorite strip, as they are all very witty and funny in their own ways. I do have favorite characters, though (which are also hard to choose because they all rock)! My favorite characters are Slick, Monique, God, and the dog and I will tell you why.
Slick is one of my favorite characters because he is just so cute! He tries so hard to be cool, suave, hot, etc. but in the end he is just this adorable little goofball. He sells his soul to the devil and spends most of his time trying to get it back or chasing Monique. He can be really philosophical and then completely shallow. The author of this web comic does an awesome job keeping the balance between Slick’s charms and idiosyncrasies.
Monique is, in my opinion, the everywoman. She’s young, hot, stylish, sexy, and confident. She has several different layers to her personality and is not as one-dimensional as she may seem. Sure, she’s supposed to be eye-candy for Slick and the other boys in the comic, but she also has an intellectual side to her too. She knows exactly what she’s doing and could basically rule the Sinfest world if she wanted to, but instead she just has fun and plays around. As a girl, I can definitely relate to a lot of the things Monique’s character says and does (as well as laugh at the outrageous things I could never do).
The character of God is portrayed in such an interesting way that it’s almost impossible to see it as blasphemous. I find it hard to tell whether the author practices a religion (though if I had to venture a guess, I’d say no). However, there seems to be a level of religious knowledge there that can only be acquired through being taught at church. God is portrayed as this insecure deity who is trying to get on the good side of the people of Sinfest by mocking the devil and putting on puppet shows. He provides clarity (or confusion) when one of the characters presents him with a problem. I think this portrayal of God shows the variability of people’s beliefs and faith throughout their life.
The dog character is unbelievably sweet! He is the epitome of innocence and light, always trying to please his master or the cat. The author obviously has or had a dog because the representation is identical to that of a real dog. Frankly if you are having a down or bad day, I would suggest reading any of the dog/cat comics because the dog’s behavior will surely cheer you up at least a little bit. If you don’t have a dog, you will most likely want one after reading a few dog/cat strips. Well, dog people will anyway.
So, if you’re bored and looking for a good web comic to pass the time, I would seriously suggest checking out Sinfest. It has something for everyone because it touches on pop culture, politics, religion, intellectualism, and, of course, those wonderful things we call sins!