Should I Stop Taking the Pill at 35?
Q. When I went on the pill, my doctor said I should go off it when I turned 35. Do I really need to stop?
A. No, as long as you're healthy, you don't smoke,, and you have no family history of cardiovascular disease. "Your risk for having a blood clot rises from one in 10,000 to two in 10,000, but that's still very low," says FITNESS advisory board member Sarah L. Berga, MD, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. "The guideline is really a warning bell. Now is the time you may want to discuss other birth control options with your doctor if you're done having kids or your lifestyle has changed." The real cutoff point for taking the pill is age 50, when the risk for a clot jumps to one in 1,000.
Originally published in FITNESS magazine, November/December 2009.
I'm 48 and have been taking the pill since I was 20. I only went off it one time to have my son, then went back on. I asked my doctor if I should now go off the pill and she said since I am healthy and have no problems with taking the pill, I can stay on it and it will help relieve some of the menopausal symptoms I may soon have.
1/18/2010 07:33:52 AM Report AbuseI am 47 & wish that I had never taken the pill because it levels out your sex drive. I have much more interest off the pill !!! Also, I got off the pill at 37& then right back on due to crazy periods. Eventually, I got an endometrial ablation, which was AWESOME (for ladies who are not having more children, of course).
1/16/2010 09:48:19 PM Report AbuseMy comment on you guys being crazy and sex being good was for the married broads saying abstinence is good, lol. This way no one else takes offense. You have to have the right pill for your body though. I take Levora, its one hormone all the time and its great, low dose tri types of birth control pills gave me bad bleeding also.
1/16/2010 06:25:47 PM Report AbuseI think you guys are crazy if you take the pill right, then you can have sex anytime. I would not marry someone, I did not want to have sex with, because I refused to use any methods of birth control. Sex is healthy.
1/16/2010 06:22:20 PM Report Abusenatural family planning = plan to have a family!
1/15/2010 09:16:08 PM Report Abuse