Easy MM win

hoffse · October 2015

Just a reminder - if you have a prescription that is not covered by your insurance, be sure to ask your doctor's office if they have samples! Sometimes they do. My BC is not covered by insurance, and it's a pretty expensive kind. It's the only one I've found that doesn't make me crazy though, so worth it.

Anyway, my Dr.'s office always has samples, and they're very happy to put some in a bag for me to pick up whenever I need it. They just called me about a new pick up, and they are giving me enough for the rest of the year. It's saved us over $1200 this year!

dragonstarjk · October 2015

Awesome! My dermatologist always has a basket of free samples of things like lotion, shampoo, laundry soap, etc. for those with sensitive skin. I have crazy-sensitive skin and have to be very picky about the products I use, so I always snag several samples when I am there.

JOYFUL2US · October 2015

That's Amazing!

short+sassy · October 2015

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

I think this is not suppose to happen with the Sunshine act...maybe that only applies to doctors.

short+sassy · October 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

I think this is not suppose to happen with the Sunshine act...maybe that only applies to doctors.

I'm not familiar with the Sunshine Act, but it was a fairly long time ago when she told me about this. Now that I think about it, over 15 years ago, lol. Man, it's hell growing old! Without "doing the math", I'd swear her talking about that job happened a few years ago. But it actually happened when I was in college or just graduated and still lived in So. CA.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

short+sassy said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

I think this is not suppose to happen with the Sunshine act...maybe that only applies to doctors.

I'm not familiar with the Sunshine Act, but it was a fairly long time ago when she told me about this. Now that I think about it, over 15 years ago, lol. Man, it's hell growing old! Without "doing the math", I'd swear her talking about that job happened a few years ago. But it actually happened when I was in college or just graduated and still lived in So. CA.

yea, this kind of thing (lunches etc.) isn't allowed to happen anymore

That said, always a great idea to ask for samples. H and I did decide to switch to the HDHP my job offers, I made sure the IUD I want was covered under preventative care before I made decisions on how much to contribute to the HSA. @hoffse my body is also picky about BC, I get optical migranes on anything with hormones, so a copper IUD is my best option.

hoffse · October 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

I think this is not suppose to happen with the Sunshine act...maybe that only applies to doctors.

I'm not familiar with the Sunshine Act, but it was a fairly long time ago when she told me about this. Now that I think about it, over 15 years ago, lol. Man, it's hell growing old! Without "doing the math", I'd swear her talking about that job happened a few years ago. But it actually happened when I was in college or just graduated and still lived in So. CA.

yea, this kind of thing (lunches etc.) isn't allowed to happen anymore That said, always a great idea to ask for samples. H and I did decide to switch to the HDHP my job offers, I made sure the IUD I want was covered under preventative care before I made decisions on how much to contribute to the HSA. @hoffse my body is also picky about BC, I get optical migranes on anything with hormones, so a copper IUD is my best option.

I'm probably going to go to an IUD eventually, because I get migraines too. They aren't as bad with this prescription, but they still suck.

We're probably going start TTC within the next year though, so I'm going to hold off until after that.

julieanne912 · October 2015

I should have thought to do that when I was without insurance between jobs this year. My BCP was $130/month without insurance

vlagrl29 · October 2015

yes when I use to be on lo estrin 4 years ago my OB gave me a year of samples otherwise it would have cost us $80/month. I'm not on bc pills cause i don't like what it does to my hormones - zero sex drive and very dry/painful intercourse.

lbonga1 · October 2015

vlagrl29 said:

yes when I use to be on lo estrin 4 years ago my OB gave me a year of samples otherwise it would have cost us $80/month.

When I moved to a new area and was looking for a new OB, one that I saw wrote me a prescription for lo estrin, but after I found out it wasn't covered by my insurance and was going to be $80/month, I asked him for a different prescription that would be covered. Amazingly he refused to prescribe me anything else. I quickly found a new doctor.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

hoffse said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

Hehe...that's because those pharm. reps are hard core sales people and inundate offices with samples. I had a friend who worked in a dr.'s office and she said, although they are very friendly and outgoing people, they are also very aggressive. They visit all the time, constantly want to take the doctors out to lunch and often the support staff also. When she first started working, she was digging all the free lunches, but then she started packing on the pounds (her words, not mine) and had to cut it way back.

I think this is not suppose to happen with the Sunshine act...maybe that only applies to doctors.

I'm not familiar with the Sunshine Act, but it was a fairly long time ago when she told me about this. Now that I think about it, over 15 years ago, lol. Man, it's hell growing old! Without "doing the math", I'd swear her talking about that job happened a few years ago. But it actually happened when I was in college or just graduated and still lived in So. CA.

yea, this kind of thing (lunches etc.) isn't allowed to happen anymore That said, always a great idea to ask for samples. H and I did decide to switch to the HDHP my job offers, I made sure the IUD I want was covered under preventative care before I made decisions on how much to contribute to the HSA. @hoffse my body is also picky about BC, I get optical migranes on anything with hormones, so a copper IUD is my best option.

I'm probably going to go to an IUD eventually, because I get migraines too. They aren't as bad with this prescription, but they still suck.

We're probably going start TTC within the next year though, so I'm going to hold off until after that.

Yea, my PCP actually took me off anything that contained estrogen, and advised against taking anything that contained estrogen in the future, after I had several migranes that lasted a couple days and gave me partial vision loss because of how strong the flashing aura was, she was concerned that I was at high risk for a stroke. The "mini-pill", progesterone only, didn't agree with me either, H and I actually decided last summer we were going to NTNP for the remainder of 2014 because the hormones just weren't working for me.

Now that our plans are not to try for a second until this baby is 3-4 years old IUD is a very logical option.

vlagrl29 · October 2015

lbonga1 said:

vlagrl29 said:

yes when I use to be on lo estrin 4 years ago my OB gave me a year of samples otherwise it would have cost us $80/month.

When I moved to a new area and was looking for a new OB, one that I saw wrote me a prescription for lo estrin, but after I found out it wasn't covered by my insurance and was going to be $80/month, I asked him for a different prescription that would be covered. Amazingly he refused to prescribe me anything else. I quickly found a new doctor.

ugh! That is so wrong. My doctor did end up prescribing me something much more affordable but IDK BCpills just don't go well with my hormones - even the low dose kind.

julieanne912 · October 2015

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

vlagrl29 · October 2015

julieanne912 said:

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

after having a loss of sex drive all the way thru pregnancy I was eager to get it back so it was too big of a negative for me. We have just stuck with the pull and pray and it was worked for us - if there was an oops no big deal.

brij2006 · October 2015

vlagrl29 said:

julieanne912 said:

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

after having a loss of sex drive all the way thru pregnancy I was eager to get it back so it was too big of a negative for me. We have just stuck with the pull and pray and it was worked for us - if there was an oops no big deal.

That's how I am as well. BCP make me a crazy lunatic with zero sex drive, and so did pregnancy. We tried Natural Family Planning for a short stint before TTC, but my cycles are all out of whack so it didn't work. Now we use nothing and our odds still aren't in our favor. But at least I have some sort of drive and am not constantly on edge.
If/when we have baby #2, I will probably get the copper IUD if we don't decide to have a 3rd. I don't think I can handle a hormonal BC again.

vlagrl29 · October 2015

brij2006 said:

vlagrl29 said:

julieanne912 said:

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

after having a loss of sex drive all the way thru pregnancy I was eager to get it back so it was too big of a negative for me. We have just stuck with the pull and pray and it was worked for us - if there was an oops no big deal.

That's how I am as well. BCP make me a crazy lunatic with zero sex drive, and so did pregnancy. We tried Natural Family Planning for a short stint before TTC, but my cycles are all out of whack so it didn't work. Now we use nothing and our odds still aren't in our favor. But at least I have some sort of drive and am not constantly on edge.
If/when we have baby #2, I will probably get the copper IUD if we don't decide to have a 3rd. I don't think I can handle a hormonal BC again.

I was a wacko when pregnant too. When on BC I didn't even feel like cuddling with DH and my body wouldn't even produce its natural lubricant so when we did have sex it felt like sandpaper if we didn't get out the KY. I guess that's one way to avoid getting pregnant again. lol. Literally within the month of stopping the pills I felt back to myself and DH noticed a change too.

brij2006 · October 2015

vlagrl29 said:

brij2006 said:

vlagrl29 said:

julieanne912 said:

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

after having a loss of sex drive all the way thru pregnancy I was eager to get it back so it was too big of a negative for me. We have just stuck with the pull and pray and it was worked for us - if there was an oops no big deal.

That's how I am as well. BCP make me a crazy lunatic with zero sex drive, and so did pregnancy. We tried Natural Family Planning for a short stint before TTC, but my cycles are all out of whack so it didn't work. Now we use nothing and our odds still aren't in our favor. But at least I have some sort of drive and am not constantly on edge.
If/when we have baby #2, I will probably get the copper IUD if we don't decide to have a 3rd. I don't think I can handle a hormonal BC again.

I was a wacko when pregnant too. When on BC I didn't even feel like cuddling with DH and my body wouldn't even produce its natural lubricant so when we did have sex it felt like sandpaper if we didn't get out the KY. I guess that's one way to avoid getting pregnant again. lol. Literally within the month of stopping the pills I felt back to myself and DH noticed a change too.

Yeah, my H has said he never wants me on BCP again. I didn't want touched, sex was off the table, natural lubricant was a funny word, and I was moody as all getout.
I really am not sure what we will do after baby #2. We aren't 100% sure if we want to stop at 2 kids, so neither of us want to do something permanent for quite a while. But the IUD isn't covered by my insurance (religious reasons) and my H isn't too keen on it because of the process it can do to make sure you aren't pregnant. But getting back on anything with hormones is out of the question.

julieanne912 · October 2015

Well now you all have me freaked out about getting pregnant. Maybe I'll be the same as I was when on BCP, because that was great. Like I said, right now while I'm not on it, I'm moody as hell. Sex drive is back though, which I guess helps with the getting pregnant part of the process haha!

Xstatic3333 · October 2015

vlagrl29 said:
yes when I use to be on lo estrin 4 years ago my OB gave me a year of samples otherwise it would have cost us $80/month. I'm not on bc pills cause i don't like what it does to my hormones - zero sex drive and very dry/painful intercourse.

I share this same problem that a few of you have mentioned; for me, it got much worse as I got older and I definitely feel it was affecting my marriage in a bad way. I'm done with hormones for good. For now we're using NFP; not for religious reasons, but I seem to be consistent enough that it works and if it didn't we'd be ok with that. I guess I'll do the non-hormonal IUD once we're done with kids. Many of my friends' husbands have had vasectomies, but H doesn't want to and that's certainly understandable.

I know the science supports BCPs as perfectly safe and not a problem for future fertility, but sometimes I get nervous about how much our generation is messing with hormones. Again, just paranoia talking, not science.

hoffse · October 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

yes when I use to be on lo estrin 4 years ago my OB gave me a year of samples otherwise it would have cost us $80/month. I'm not on bc pills cause i don't like what it does to my hormones - zero sex drive and very dry/painful intercourse.
I share this same problem that a few of you have mentioned; for me, it got much worse as I got older and I definitely feel it was affecting my marriage in a bad way. I'm done with hormones for good. For now we're using NFP; not for religious reasons, but I seem to be consistent enough that it works and if it didn't we'd be ok with that. I guess I'll do the non-hormonal IUD once we're done with kids. Many of my friends' husbands have had vasectomies, but H doesn't want to and that's certainly understandable. I know the science supports BCPs as perfectly safe and not a problem for future fertility, but sometimes I get nervous about how much our generation is messing with hormones. Again, just paranoia talking, not science.

Same here. The lack of sex drive isn't as bad on my current BC, but it's still nowhere near what it used to be. I literally have less than a year left for hormonal BC and then we'll be TTC. I'm going to look really seriously into the non-hormonal IUD after that, even if it's not covered by our insurance. Some things in life are worth paying for.

blondie42107 · October 2015

I had the Mirena IUD and loved it for 9 months until it started coming out on it's own. My OBGYN advised me not to get another one. So then I did a year of bcp (getting lots of samples because of crappie insurance coverage but needed a super low dose so I wouldn't go crazy). Now I'm off hormones and loving it!! I have one friend on the copper IUD who likes it and another who had it and hated it - horrible cramping and heavier periods.

smetter04 · October 2015

I'm in the same boat as most of you...about a year and a half ago I started bcp to help control acne. Well, the pills didn't help so I went back on the nuvaring because I tried it when we got married and it seemed to help the acne problem. My acne is now worse than ever before and I don't feel like myself, unhappy, low drive, don't want to cuddle with H...today is the day to take this one out and I don't think I'm going to put another one in next week. We're going to TTC later next year so we'll just have to deal until then.

brij2006 · October 2015

For those who have issues with hormonal BCP. There's Natural Family Planning, if you have somewhat consistent cycles. We used a mix of that and the diaphragm for non-hormonal BC.

cbee817 · October 2015

DH got a vasectomy about 9 months after DD#2 was born. We knew we wanted 2 kids and I wasn't going back on BCP after I stopped when we were trying for DD#1. He actually brought it up and was totally fine with having the procedure. It's nice not to have to worry about any of that!

PurpleBookmark · October 2015

I can't use hormonal BC due to a clotting issue and I had an IUD after my second child which fell out. The minipill gave me constant bleeding, my PCP was afraid I would become anemic. At that point we switched to NFP and ended up expecting our third

I love her so much and am so happy it worked out that way though! I was all set to do Essure as I am definitely done but now it's in the news all the time for bad side effects and a new study that shows people end up needing follow up surgeries more often than the traditional getting your tubes tied (which I'm not a good candidate for because of the clotting!) DH is not crazy about the idea of a vasectomy but we're running out of options so I think that will have to be the plan.

vlagrl29 · October 2015

brij2006 said:

vlagrl29 said:

brij2006 said:

vlagrl29 said:

julieanne912 said:

I will say, lo estrin (now minastrin) is what I was on and it was a godsend for me for all the extras it provided (on top of keeping me baby free, helped w/ nasty hormonal mood swings twice a month, 6 day long heavy periods, etc etc). I'm off it now to prepare to try to get pregnant and I'm miserable without it. It was completely covered by my last insurance too. My new job's insurance would have required a $40 copay. But boy was it a sticker shock when I didn't have insurance.

The loss of sex drive side effect is for real though. That was the only negative for me, but the positives outweighed it.

after having a loss of sex drive all the way thru pregnancy I was eager to get it back so it was too big of a negative for me. We have just stuck with the pull and pray and it was worked for us - if there was an oops no big deal.

That's how I am as well. BCP make me a crazy lunatic with zero sex drive, and so did pregnancy. We tried Natural Family Planning for a short stint before TTC, but my cycles are all out of whack so it didn't work. Now we use nothing and our odds still aren't in our favor. But at least I have some sort of drive and am not constantly on edge.
If/when we have baby #2, I will probably get the copper IUD if we don't decide to have a 3rd. I don't think I can handle a hormonal BC again.

I was a wacko when pregnant too. When on BC I didn't even feel like cuddling with DH and my body wouldn't even produce its natural lubricant so when we did have sex it felt like sandpaper if we didn't get out the KY. I guess that's one way to avoid getting pregnant again. lol. Literally within the month of stopping the pills I felt back to myself and DH noticed a change too.

Yeah, my H has said he never wants me on BCP again. I didn't want touched, sex was off the table, natural lubricant was a funny word, and I was moody as all getout.
I really am not sure what we will do after baby #2. We aren't 100% sure if we want to stop at 2 kids, so neither of us want to do something permanent for quite a while. But the IUD isn't covered by my insurance (religious reasons) and my H isn't too keen on it because of the process it can do to make sure you aren't pregnant. But getting back on anything with hormones is out of the question.

we for sure want 2 kids but I've currently decided for him not to get V just in case we want another - ya never know. So we will just continue to pull and pray until he does get a V.

lbonga1 · October 2015

@PurpleBookmark do you remember what brand of mini pill you were using? I just switched my prescription from CVS to Target Pharmacy, and the kind that Target gave me started making me bleed constantly when I got to the second pack. It's been three weeks now, so I've been debating calling my OB/GYN. Weird thing is I didn't have a problem with the one from CVS even though it was the same prescription, just a different generic brand.

PurpleBookmark · October 2015

lbonga1 said:
@PurpleBookmark do you remember what brand of mini pill you were using? I just switched my prescription from CVS to Target Pharmacy, and the kind that Target gave me started making me bleed constantly when I got to the second pack. It's been three weeks now, so I've been debating calling my OB/GYN. Weird thing is I didn't have a problem with the one from CVS even though it was the same prescription, just a different generic brand.

I don't remember, sorry! I actually tried two different brands and had the same reaction with both. It got to the point where I'd only have 3-4 days non-bleeding before starting the next week-long "period". It was nuts.

I'd call or see if Target can get you the same generic as CVS. It seems like a lot of people have these issues with the mini pill.

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