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Abnormal Q&A with me niece

[00:00:00] Let's go. Hi everybody. Hello. So we are here and we are gonna be doing a quick, I don't know how many minutes quick actually, but a q and a by our friend, college student, and my niece Hi, who's a senior in college. So we're gonna talk lots of questions that her friends have asked her. Um, they're actually, they're very common questions that I get asked a lot, minus one, um, funny interviewer in question. 

We'll discuss that later. Um, but they're mostly kind of birth control questions. I think that's the bulk of them. Yeah. So stay tuned. Let's talk. Okay. One. Okay. First question. So a lot of times, you know what I, me and my friends people, there's always misconceptions about what happens if you skip one pill. 

Do you need to take the sugar pills at the end? What do you need to take them at the same time every day? And people have all these different. . Well, this is gonna happen as you do this, and this is gonna happen to do that fight. So what do we do? Set a straight, so the pill really should be taking at 24 hour intervals, so the same time [00:01:00] every day. 

I tell patients it doesn't matter what time you take it, it doesn't matter if you take it with or without food, but the same time every day, if you miss a pill, then your brain basically thinks, oh, she must be in the placebo week, and it'll start to release your lining and you'll start to maybe spot or bleed. 

For a couple days sometimes. So let's say what happens. You wake up tomorrow morning, you forgot your pill, six hours later, you remember that you forgot your pill. So you take the pill. But now your brain has already started to release your lining, so all of a sudden you might have some spotting or bleeding, right? 

So if that happens, stay the course. Keep taking it, keep taking it. Keep taking it. Anytime you miss a pill, even if it's just one, even if the package insert doesn't say this, use backup forth control. Just use condoms if you weren't using the me already, because it's just as the best way to help prevent pregnancy. 

Cuz you don't wanna be pregnant, it seems like. No, not you. One. One every my age group. Um, but as a follow up is a bad. You know when, if you are spotting a spotting bag, like is there something you should do if you are spotting? So that's a great question cuz [00:02:00] people often say, well if I'm spotting or bleeding on the pill, does that mean the pill's not working? 

And the answer is no. The pill is still working. You're spotting or bleeding because your body is adjusting to the pill or it's adjusting to time changes or stress. Or if you keep persistently spotting. I actually had two phone calls today about it. If you keep spotting, then one thing that you need to do is if it's persists, you need to tell your. 

Because you should get things like your thyroid hormone checked. If you're persistently spotting, you should make sure there's not a tampon stuck in there, cuz that can be it. You should make sure you don't have any infections like yeast, bacteria, STDs, STIs, and you should potentially go get an ultrasound to make sure the uterine lining is nice and thin. 

Mm-hmm. . Okay. I guess another one would be, you know, what's the difference between birth control and I U D? Are they the same? Is one better? You mean the pill versus i u d? Totally different mechanisms. Both good. Neither is better. It depends on the person. So the birth control pill or the ring that you put in your vagina, both are systemic hormones [00:03:00] that stop ovulation, and that's how you don't get a period as much. 

It's lighter. It's shorter, and that's what stops you from getting pregnant. It's great, especially if you have heavy periods, irregular periods, mood change. headaches before your period, that all will get better with the pill. Acne, hair growth, that can get better with the pill. Mm-hmm. , the I U D on the other hand just sits inside your uterine lining, so it's only preventing pregnancy by sitting inside the uterine lining. 

But there's two kinds of i u d, there's copper that just sits there and prevents it. And then there's the hormone i u d that will thin out the lining and make your period shorter and lighter. So again, they're both great for totally different reasons. The important thing is young women especially need to remind themselves if they're using an I U D, they have to use. 

Because if you get anything like chlamydia with i u d, no way. No. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. But why do people think, you know, why do people think birth control might make you gain weight or make you fat? Well, people think all kinds of things, but the truth is, , um, the birth control pill can make you [00:04:00] hungrier. 

The data shows a third of the patients will lose weight. Mm-hmm. , a third of the patients will stay the same weight. Yes. And a third will gain, which actually means two thirds will lose or stay the same. And of course, the people who are the most vocal are the ones who gain weight legitimately. I will tell you that patients. 

who tend to have issues with weight to begin with, might feel hungrier from the hormones, but it's not as if it suddenly makes you gain 30 pounds out of the blue. It can make you hungrier, and if that's the case, then you might do better with an I U D. Mm-hmm. , and then related to STDs and that kind of stuff. 

How often do you think. people in their twenties or in college should get tested. Oh, wow. As a matter of fact, I actually say this all the time. People who are sexually active, especially if they're not in a monogamous relationship or if they're not sure, regardless of age, they could be 40 or 50, ideally every six to 12 months, not more than 12. 

You probably don't need it more than every six months, but even if you're in a steady relationship, it's a good idea to get tested every six to 12 months, and you have to get tested. You know, in my office, I write a little cheat sheet for my patients, and I say, you have to get [00:05:00] tested for hiv, hepatitis, syphilis, and herpes, which are blood tests, and then gonorrhea and chlamydia, either from a vaginal culture or from a urine culture. 

Okay. And you should write those down people and keep them. We should, we should write that in the post, because you need to be the one to go tell your boyfriends what they should get tested for. They do not know, or they think they got tested. Their doctor says they got tested. So they really need to get tested so that they know they need to be told so that they know what to get tested. 

Mm-hmm. . Okay. And then if, if you're on birth control for a long period of time, does it. Um, a girl's ability to get pregnant later in life? No. I mean, no meaning if you started the pill because you had really irregular periods to begin with. Mm-hmm. , like I had patients who say, oh, when I was 16 they put me on the pill cause I never got my period. 

Then all of a sudden she's 29 or 30, she goes off the pill. Her period's gonna go back to being irregular like it used to be. So in her case, she might have trouble getting pregnant, but it has nothing to do with the pill. It was just whatever happened prior to the pill caused it again. But they've done tons of studies and it really does [00:06:00] not affect fertility at all. 

Or what about taking the Yes. Yes. So do you guys, everyone know what plan B is? Emergency contraception? There's different ways to take it, but one brand is called Plan B, and it's a high dose of perge. And it can really decrease the chance of the embryo. If the sperm egg get together, it decreases the embryo's ability to implant. 

Plus it stops the egg, the sperms ability to get together. So the best time to take it is within 72 hours of a condom breaking or not having protection at all. I tell patients, if you're using condoms, just buy the plan B right away before you've even had a condom break. So you don't have to freak out in the middle of the night and wonder, do I go get it or not? 

Just buy it so you have it. If you're over 17, you don't need a prescription, and it does not affect your ability to get pregnant later. It's not dangerous. But what I tell patients is if you come to my office and tell me, oh, I've used Plan Beach three times in the last. I'm not worried about danger. It might throw off your period, but that's not worrisome or dangerous. 

I'm worried that you're not actually really using birth control the right way. Mm-hmm. meaning you should not need plan B three times anywhere you should [00:07:00] need it on the occasion. Mm-hmm. , maybe once every couple years that a common break. Mm-hmm. . So it's a sign to me that the person needs. More discussion in education about what they should be doing and then a little bit change the subject. 

And one of the last questions are baby wipes or vagina wipes bad for you. So I think that all of these vaginal products like special wash and special, so, and special wipes are really just marketing. So not if you not need it, but I actually would say it could be harmful. I mean, there's no studies about this. 

You really don't need to do anything more in your vagina other than just clean it with something mild. The best thing is dove. So dove is moisturizing. It's mild, it's cheap. You get the bars of Dove, you don't need to waste plastic, you don't need to put landfill. Wash, had it dry, you should be wearing all cotton underwear. 

People. And now everyone of the young people don't like that, but it's true all cotton cuz then it helps everything breathe. You don't need pantyliners. They can trap more bacteria and moisture. You don't need special wipes. And if you keep wiping you're just gonna irritate down there even more. Mm-hmm . So I would keep it really.[00:08:00]  

Okay. Okay. Lessons more? I think that's a lot of questions. Okay. Answered. All right. If you have any more questions, just ask. Okay. One more question that we forgot to address. Janna, what was it? It was talking about an arm i u d versus a vaginal i u d arm. I u d. You might be thinking, why would we be talking about an arm i u d I didn't know that existed. 

And guess what, it doesn't exist because the i u d is an intrauterine device. So the i u D is a little T-shaped apparatus that's either made of copper or a plastic that has progesterone in it. If you have the plastic type, it goes into your uterus, it stops pregnancy. The arm thing they're talking about is. 

Lenon. It used to be called Implanon or Norplant, and it's a little plastic rod that has progesterone and it gets injected into your arm by the doctor and it can stand for three years and stops your period. And it's actually incredibly effective obviously, cuz you don't need to rely on yourself taking it, but it can definitely cause you to be hungrier cuz it's high dose of progesterone interest. 

Interesting. [00:09:00] Okay. Bye. Any other questions you have, just give us a shout out. Write about it. Bye.