Woman On Birth Control? The Dangers Of 2 Birth Control Products Still On The Market
If you are a woman and trying to avoid pregnancy, then you may take a daily birth control pill or have an implanted device that is meant to prevent pregnancy. Before you began taking your birth control pill or received your device, you likely trusted that the medication or device had been thoroughly tested to make sure it was safe to use. However, more and more medications and health care devices are being rushed to the market without being properly tested for their long-term dangers, and that includes birth control products. Read on to learn about two birth control products many women take or use that have recently been shown to have harmful side effects and what to do if you have suffered harm due to them.
1. Drospirenone-Containing Birth Control Pills Can Cause Blood Clots and Heart Attacks
There are at least nine name-brand birth control pills being taken by women daily that have recently been shown to increase a woman's chances of developing many serious health problems. They all have one thing in common, and that is that they contain a medication called drospirenone. This is a form of synthetic progesterone that has been present in many types of birth control pills for over a decade. (If your birth control pill contains progesterone and not drospirenone, then don't worry, because even though they are chemically similar, progesterone has not been linked to these dangers.)
As of 2017, health problems women have experienced believed to be caused by drosperinone-containing birth control pills include heart attack, venous thromboembolism, gall bladder disease, and deep vein thrombosis. A study found that women taking drosperinone-containing birth control pills are an estimated 65 percent more likely to develop venous thromboembolism, which is a condition that causes blood clots that can travel to a person's heart or brain and cause heart attack or stroke, than women not taking the medication.
What does this mean for you? If you take a birth control pill, then check closely to see if it contains drospirenone. If it does and you have not developed any of these health problems yet, then speak to your doctor about whether or not they believe it is still the best birth control option for you. If you took this medication in the past and have developed any of the health problems it has been linked to, then speak to a personal injury attorney for help pursuing reimbursement from the medication manufacturer for your medical bills and pain and suffering due to the health problem the medication may have caused.
2. Implanon Birth Control Implant Can Migrate To Another Area of Your Body
If, instead of taking a birth control pill every day, you decided to obtain a birth control implant called Implanon, then you may have avoided the danger of drosperinone, because the implant contains progestin and etonogestrel that it slowly released into your body during the three-year time period it was in place. However, along with the typical side effects of the implant, a new danger has been discovered -- many women have reported that it has migrated from the original insertion site, and in many, it "went missing" in their bodies due to its small size.
About the size of a toothpick, other women have reported that they became pregnant during the three years the implant was in place, even though the contraceptive device was supposed to be active during the time of their pregnancies.
What does this mean for you? If you have one of these birth control implants and it is working well for you, then you may want to speak to your doctor about whether they suspect it will migrate to an area of your body where it may "go missing" and eventually not be able to be removed. If yours has migrated from its original implant site and become "lost" in your body or you became pregnant while it was supposed to be active, then speak to a personal injury attorney from a firm like Hurth Sisk & Blakemore LLP to see if they can help you receive compensation for your medical bills relating to the problems that occurred due to the device.
If you are a woman and use a birth control pill or device, then take note of these new potential side effects of two popular birth control methods that have been discovered. If you take any other form of birth control, then keep an eye on the news to make sure it is just as safe and effective as the pill or product manufacturer claims.
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