I know that this is a REALLY strange question......

My spouse and I will be doing a RTW for about 1.5 - 2years (AWESOME!) except that I don't know what to do about birthcontrol while away......sure you can pick up lots of items, but in developing countries, I don't think I'll be too keen on using unknown products. The pill is great - but I don't think taking a 2 year supply even makes sense!! (This is one of my possibilities....). Being in cities will be a rare occurence for us as well......

Has anyone ever thought about this?? A baby on this trip would be terrible!! What have you done, experienced, problems?? There's gotta be someone with the same situation/question, right???

Thanks....sorry for such a weird post

Uh, I don't think birth control is a wierd concern at all.

I know that doctors here are only allowed to prescribe birth control for 1 year at a time. They can't prescribe for the second year until the you've had another pap. I'd suggest you take the first year's supply with you and try to get the second on the road. Are you going to be in any developed countries at that point? You could get another check up on the road and either get a prescription there or fax your exam results back to your doctor at home and try to have them sent to you...Canada could be different though. I'd talk with your doctor.

I would take a supply of pills with you like crackerj says, or how about the injections or implants? I don't know much about them but maybe ask your doctor, I know they last for a while but I'm not sure how long. I'm constantly running out of pills on the road and getting people to sneakily obtain some for me at home and send them over, it's a pain in the bum. And I got some in France- supposedly the same kind as normal although under a different brandname, but they gave me strange side effects. And they were expensive.

There was a topic about this before in the Health section.

My wife uses the depo shot and has been for some time with no ill effects. (Some stated that they were concerned about taking it long term, but I don't think there is any reason for that concern myself.)

She has to take the shot every 3 months. We took along a stash of the medicine and some syringes and her nurse taught me how to give her the injection. She also taught my wife hwo to give it to herself in her thigh, but many people probably would struggle with injecting themselves.

Maybe you could have someone mail it to you somewhere and you could get it...or Norplant or IUD last a while (though I suggest getting that inserted a while before you go away to make sure your body likes it). Try to figure out where you are going to be around the one yr point, and maybe if you'll be in a major city at month nine, get yr exam then.

Good luck and be safe!

Thanks for the advice. I will be seeing my doc next week and hopefully there'll be a light at the end of the tunnel. As for the depo shots, I thought about them, but I'm not too sure how it will be taken when I enter a country with a bunch of syringes, which is why I stayed away from that one. If I go with the birth control pill route, I may be looking at other problems with repsect to bringing in "drugs" into other countries.....I guess I'll find out sometime soon!!

Thanks for the comments.....if there's any other thoughts, please send them on!!

PdC - think about the patch too...it's smaller than packages of pills?

PC,
Have you ever tried VCF? I think it stands for Vaginal Contraceptive Film. It's sold in Rite Aid and the like, in a white box with red letters. It 's a type of spermicide that comes in a piece of film that's about one inch by one inch. You put it in 15 minutes before sex. It's as effective as the pill, no hormones required, and so small that you can take literally stacks and stacks of them with you. You can also have friends mail you some if you run out (that's what I did). For monogamous relationships, I highly recommend it.

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Originally posted by cherie:
Maybe you could have someone mail it to you somewhere and you could get it...or Norplant or IUD last a while (though I suggest getting that inserted a while before you go away to make sure your body likes it). Try to figure out where you are going to be around the one yr point, and maybe if you'll be in a major city at month nine, get yr exam then.

Good luck and be safe!

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IUDs freak me out. Norplant may be the better way to go or maybe seeing what your doctor can do for you if you explain what you're doing...

And don't forget the time-honored condom...

We traveled all over with a box full of syringes and vials of depo with no problems. We were concerned initially, but quickly forgot about it. We had the materials carefully packaged and a letter from the nurse stating that it was for medical purposes. No one ever asked to see anything.

Obviously, diabetics must travel with syringes all the time so I don't think you have to worry too much.

Has anyone elected to forego having their cycle? If so for how long? Side effects?

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Originally posted by FUNCHILDE:
Has anyone elected to forego having their cycle? If so for how long? Side effects?

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I tried to do that by not taking the week off birth control pills, but it didn't work for me. I got my period anyway. A friend of mine did it for a while, though and didn't seem to have any problem with it.

If you are on depo you dont get your period ever. It takes about 2 months of being on depo before your cycle comepletely stops, for a long term trip I think depo would be ideal if only for the sake of no period

Try Depo *well* before you leave - I took it and suffered for 8 months while it worked its way out of my system. Baaaaad side effects.

The VCF is what I used when I first came to Japan (because they hadn't legalized the pill here until after they legalized Viagra). I now get the pill shipped from Canada because my family doctor knows my situation (and you can only get a two month supply here before having to go back (and pay) for a checkup).

The VCF is great... just remember it is NOT as long last as the sponge. I had someone translate the package for me and I stupidly assumed it would be good for 12 to 24 hours. Wrong. The ones you get in Japan are only good for something like 3 hours. Read the package carefully, or get someone you trust to translate the entire package for you.

Liz