CN: Descriptions of periods, medical procedures, etc. But hey, if half the world can deal with this, the other half should at least know about it.
I have heavy periods. And I really mean heavy. Like the bottom is falling out. An average period is 60 ml of liquid. My mens cup holds 48 ml and I can fill that three times in an hour when it’s a bad one. Add the cramps, the migraine and the iron deficiency that goes with it and I was fed up. This is clearly an issue that affects my life and my health, so I decided that something needs to be done and that the something is an IUD. IUDs have a great success rate at reducing periods, up to not having any at all (my ob gyn mentioned this as a side effect: “But then you may not hay any periods” as if I knew any cis woman who was happy having hers). Sounds like a medical solution to a medical problem, right?
Nope, nope, nope. As a side effect, the IUD also works as contraception and we can’t have the sluts having sex without at least paying heavy money for it. That would be absurd. Because people afab need to suffer for the very fact that they have a certain biology and they are not allowed to offset the suffering by having fun sexy times. As a society we’d rather have them suffer even without fun sexy times or when they’re using a different method of birth control before we help women and others with uteri to not suffer*.
So I had to pay private for my IUD. With insertion it was 350€ and from what I know this is even cheap compared to the USA. I’m not poor, I could pay, but a poor woman can’t. This would be 75% of what a person on welfare gets a month, and the fact that with any luck this will last me five years doesn’t change that. I’m still angry about it.
So to recap, I have a medical problem, there’s a highly effective therapy, but because I get birth control as a side effect, it’s not covered by health insurance. Fuck the patriarchy.
*And if you get m,ore offended by my wording than the fact that this is happening, kindly fuck off.
I think this is a combination of patriarchy and bad old-fashioned religious wannabemorals and pseudo piety and ordinary conservatism. There is plenty of women who are against contraception being freely available under health insurance. I do not understand why. What I find most baffling are people who insist contraception should be paid out of pocket and then rant about how poor people are irresponsible by having lots of kids.
Yep. I’ve heard this from others as well. Sorry this happened to you, Giliell.
I hope it works as intended. Periods that heavy are debilitating, even without the anemia.
You are correct about 350 being very cheap by US standards. That’s the cost of an office visit with maybe a blood or urine test. You will also get to argue with your gynecologist if you want an IUD, because they claim the IUD might render you sterile. It is so very crucial that my uterus be secondary to some non-existent mans right to infect me with a fetus. Glad that I’m now menopausal, the care is still crap, but at least unintended pregnancy is off the table.
I hope I works out for you!
Your words are totally the right ones, it is a fucking heap of bullshit. A friend of mine had the same problem a few years back, one doc all but called her a slut and it took ages until she found actual help.
Wow, that’s expensive. It also surprised me how expensive the IUDs themselves are. Here in the Netherlands costs for the device itself range from €50 for copper-based IUDs to €150 for hormone-based IUDs (which might or might not be covered based on the level of healthcare insurance that you’ve chosen; it would most probably be covered if there was a medical indication like your menstruation problem). Placement by a GP would be covered by healthcare insurance.
Because if I’ve learned anything, it’s never, ever about kids. Kids are just used as a proxy to justify whatever shit you want to talk. The opposition of lots of women against free contraception is baffling if you look at you logically, and I expect that it is the same phenomenon as “the only moral abortion is my abortion”. Long time reversible contraception would do so much to prevent unintended pregnancies and as a result children nobody is really able to care for.
+++
At least I didn’t have any troubles here. The advantages of being a middle aged middle class woman. People are very understanding that you want birth control, but would totally not understand me wanting an abortion.
Giliell @ 6
I’m hoping the IUD will work for you. In Finnish we call it kierukka (the same as your Spiral), even though they are more or less T-shaped nowadays.
I guess that could boil down to somewhat conscious (there being well-known examples of hypocrite philandering conservative “family values” men) or subconscious drive to suppress competition, even with half-measures, if more efficient ways aren’t possible in current circumstances. Were you implying that?
One could question those people, if they’ve ever heard about a technological device or system fail. Contraceptives are also tech.
I hope the IUD works to leave you period free. And yes that attitude stinks, it’s bad enough when you want contraception, but appalling when you have a medical need. Contraception by pill, IUD or subcutaneous pellet thing is free in the UK, IIRC you don’t even pay prescription charges.