More Fun with Birth Control

I don't mean to be harping on about The Pill, but there is a public service aspect to this post. So you may recall that last week I went to the gynecologist and she thought it might help my terrible migranes if I used the pill to skip over periods. Of course, you can do this with any oral contraception if you play around with it, but she suggested Seasonale, the highly marketable drug designed specifically for this usage. So I was talking about this with Medusa, who happens to be an ER doc and she said, "You shouldn't be on an estrogen pill if you have migranes. It increases your rate of stroke. And it would really suck to be a young person who has a stroke." Although I think we can all agree that it would indeed suck to have a stroke at any age, I was kind of skeptical. I'd never heard of this before. The gynecologist either didn't know or didn't consider it a threat. And since I already have an appointment to see my neurologist this week, I decided I'd start the pill as planned since four days of estrogen probably wouldn't kill me. Right? Right?? Then Medusa said that she has a friend who is a neurologist I think she said, and she prescribed the pill to a patient with migranes, the woman had a stroke and now this doctor said she won't prescribe it in such cases.

On Sunday I opened up the hot pink tote bag that my free sample of Seasonale came in. There was a full three months supply provided, so basically after that initial outlay they now have something at stake for me to become a regular user. Also inside the bag was more promotional items including a Videocassette (!?!). Of course, I didn't get to play the video because who the hell owns a VCR these days but I imagine that if I popped it in, I would probably be treated to women in short skirts dancing around to benign pop music singing about how great it is to be a girl. Finally I came to the small print. Now, here's the standing birth control warning:

Like other birth control pills, SEASONALE® has serious risks, which can be
life threatening, including blood clots, stroke, and heart attack and are
increased if you smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of
serious side effects, especially if you are over 35. Women who use the Pill
should not smoke. Some women should not use the Pill, including women who have
blood clots, certain cancers, a history of heart attack or stroke, as well as
those who are or may be pregnant.

See, nothing about migrane. But then I kept reading, and in the second iteration of this warning I saw the line that risk of stroke is increased in women with migrane. (You can't find this information any where on the website although they do list the following at risk groups: Smokers, people with high blood pressure, clotting disorders, the obese, people with cancer, heart problems, jaundice and liver tumors.) Then, if you read further in the third iteration of this warning they repeat that women who suffer from migranes are at increased risk of stroke, espeically if your migranes are accompanied by aura, like mine are.

So, what the hell is going on? I've been on several different kinds of birth control pills over the years and I always tell my doctors that I suffer from migranes, but no one has ever mentioned an increased risk in stroke to me. Either the risk is negligent or prescribing doctors don't know about this risk? I will get to the bottom of this soon. In the mean time, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you may want to call your doc and challenge them on this point. If there's anything I learned from television's Homicide (thank you, Det. Pembleton) and Sports Night (thank you, guy who used to play Benson), it is that a stroke is no laughing matter.