Like every human on the planet except my dear, sweet grandmother, I have a Facebook. Also, like every human on Facebook, I get ads tailored to my interests as deemed by the algorithm that caused Facebook all that trouble back in winter. Everything you need to know about that privacy breach and its effects can be found here; thanks to fellow Odyssey creator, Christina Drobney.
Recently, I've been receiving an ad for a no-doctors-involved, simple solution to birth control. I started looking into it out of sheer curiosity and was honestly disturbed by what I found. There are several companies that operate by having customers fill out a questionnaire or doing a short video conference with a company representative. TO RECEIVE HORMONAL PILLS.
Birth control gets brushed under the rug as a no-big-deal kind of prescription because it's so common and also because no one really wants to talk about women's health. Birth control works by releasing a dose of hormones into your body that will disrupt your typical menses and therefore prevent pregnancy. But it's not all that cut and dry. Everyone has different amounts of the hormone in their body as well as a combination of about a million other hormones that need to be considered to leave a patient with an effective birth control product that won't make them sluggish, anxious, put them at risk for clots, make them put on weight or any other number of side-effects. Birth control can also be used for a number of other things besides preventing pregnancy. Keeping uncomfortable periods and cramps at bay, aiding in the treatment of endometriosis, migraine treatment; the list goes on. Just because it's effective in other avenues still doesn't mean you should take the mail-order route. Individual humans deserve individual treatment, tailored by a healthcare professional.
Every single human is different and so should birth control plans. While I understand the necessity for available and cheap contraceptive options, hormonal alterations aren't something we should play with. The companies that offer it, such as The Pill Club, PillPack, and Nurx, all offer great perks such as automatic refills and quick delivery services. They also work with most insurances and offer free shipping, meaning as little as no cost to the consumer.
I know firsthand the struggles of paying for medical bills. But this isn't something we should be cutting corners on to save a dime. The side effects of taking a birth control that isn't right for you could lead to things as minor as unresolved cramps or as major as infertility. Please consult your doctor before taking any kind of prescription grade medicine, but especially birth control.
