After a ton of deliberation and more urging from my gastro, I stopped taking the pill and switched to the hormonal IUD, which doesn’t contain estrogen. I still very much support birth control in any form, including the pill. If I could still be on it, I would be. I just wish I knew more about the medicine I had been taking for 15 years. I wish there were more research on it for cases like me, so women could get a definitive diagnosis instead of a best guess. We can’t make informed decisions about our health care if our doctors are feeling around in the dark as they try to help us.
Luckily, my gastro did as much investigating as he could until he found a logical and satisfactory explanation. I was shocked he made the connection. So was my gynecologist, when I told her (and after examining my case, she agreed with his assessment). Other people won’t be as lucky to have a team of health care professionals who spend the time searching for a solution — especially if there’s very little data to back it up. This is purely speculation, but I would guess that if Viagra caused reduced blood flow to the colon, there probably would be a lot more research on that.
It’s simple to advise people to be their own health advocates, but doing that requires a certain level of privilege: You have to have medical professionals who believe you when you say something is wrong. You have to be able to confer with doctors who are willing to think outside of common explanations. You have to have health care coverage to see specialists in the first place.
It’s only been a month since I went off birth control, and thankfully I haven’t had any bleeding or stomach problems since my original incident (nor have I had the other side effects that I was worried about ― please send good vibes to my skin). I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or if it’s because we targeted the issue. I’m hoping my diagnosis is correct, and that changing my contraceptive is the solution to my problem.
Women’s health care ― all the way down to the research level ― is still nowhere close to what it should be. This is especially true when it comes to birth control, but it’s the case in too many other areas as well. We have to speak up for our health, and we have to be willing to ask hard questions ― sometimes over and over again ― and push back as often as necessary until we feel heard. I was fortunate it didn’t cost me my life. One day, someone else might not be so lucky.
Lindsay Holmes is the senior wellness and travel editor at HuffPost, where she oversees health and travel content for HuffPost Life. She was selected for a National Press Foundation mental health fellowship in 2016 and has moderated multiple panels on mental health. She’s passionate about how the media can responsibly cover mental illness, and has consulted on professional guidelines for reporting on suicide. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and is now based in New York.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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