December 29th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Opinion
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In this week’s episode of Teen Mom 2, Kailyn heads to her gynecologist for birth control and leaves with a Mirena IUD in her uterus.
The entire encounter, obviously edited, ran more like a commercial for Mirena than a contraceptive counseling session. Other contraceptives were mentioned generically only -”a patch”, “a ring”, “the pill” – but when it came to the IUD, all we hear is the word Mirena – six times, to be exact, during the entire 2 and a half minute encounter with the doc.
DOC: If you don’t like the birth control pill, you do have other options. You know that there’s a birth control patch.
KAILYN: (suspiciously) Yeah
DOC: There’s a once a month vaginal ring. The ring itself is not uncomfortable. (Hands her the ring) They’re one size fits all – Right Isaac? (Baby plays with Nuvaring) They’re cool, right?
KAILYN: I just feel like me putting something in myself is all that much more room for error.
DOC: There’s also the Mirena.
KAILYN: Whaaaat is Mirena? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
December 13th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in News
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After cautiously clearing Yaz for continued use Thursday, an FDA Advisory Panel Friday addressed post-marketing data showing similarly increased blood clot risks among users of the contraceptive patch. The committee, after having been clearly quite extensively briefed, heard testimony from Ortho Evra’s manufacturer and experts in epidemiology, gynecology and hematology. They also heard moving testimony about a young woman who died from a massive pulmonary embolism while using the Nuvaring, whose parents argued that not only the Patch, but most of the newer methods carry an increased clot risk that no woman should be allowed to take without being adequately informed.
The committee ruled that despite limitations of the data, the patch most likely carried a 1.5 times relative risk of blood clots compared to 2nd generation levonogestrel pills, but not necessarily higher than that of newer pills containing 3rd and 4th generation progestins and drosperinone. With a few dissenters, the committee voted to allow the Patch to stay on the market, but asked for Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
November 2nd, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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On November 8, Mississippians will be voting on ballot amendment 26 , the so called “Personhood Amendment” that if passed, would declare a fertilized egg a person.
The question at hand is, would the Personhood Amendment be used to outlaw contraception?
Dr. Freda Bush, an Ob-Gyn and spokesperson for the Personhood amendment in Mississippi, seems to think it will not. In a press conference in support of the amendment in September, she stated this –
The personhood amendment will not ban the use of hormonal contraceptives.
The video of this press conference is being used to reassure voters about the intent of amendment 26. And yet the information Dr. Bush presents about contraception and the amendment stands in complete contrast to that which the personhood movement itself has presented. Here is the standard “talking point” on contraception from personhood sites at states across the country seeking to pass similar amendments – Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
October 12th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
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A well-written and balanced article on mammography from USA Today may help move the conversation about this screening test away from hype and a bit closer to reality. The title – “Mammogram is ‘terribly imperfect’, though recommended.”
For women in their 40s, mammograms reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer by about 15%… But mammograms miss some cancers and raise false alarms about others, causing women to go through unnecessary follow-up tests… “We’re saying, ‘Mammography is a terribly imperfect test, but we’re recommending women get it,’” Brawley says. “The task force was saying, ‘Mammography is a terribly imperfect test, and Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
September 21st, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Opinion
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Just yesterday, I put up a post about the recent birth control pill recall. This recall is a big deal – millions of women are potentially impacted, and the adverse effect – an unplanned pregnancy – is very significant.
I knew women taking these pills would be very worried, and wanted very much to do more than just spit out the press release from the FDA. I wanted to both reassure women and give them information that they could use other than just a link and a phone number. I also needed to figure out how I would be handing the recall in my own practice. So I combined the two and posted what I’ll be telling my patients to do if they find that they are taking a recalled pill pack.
As soon as the post went up, I got worried.
What if the advice I was giving my patients was not what other docs might do for their patients? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
