QuestionI am 20 years old(21 in a couple monthes). I have no children. My last period was September 4-9, 2003. My periods have been irregular since I started at the age of 13. I was told by my gyno that it would regulate itself as I got older. On the contrary, they didn't, so at age 16 my gyno put me on birth control pills to regulate me and said to take them for 1 year. I did this gladly, and after a year I got off them. However, intsead of improvement I saw a drastic change in the wrong direction. I lost my medical insurance when I was 18 so I have been unable to see a doctor since. It costs $1000 just to walk in the office when you don't have medical insurance, a price I am unwilling to pay unless I KNOW that my problem is serious. I know I could go on birth control to regulate myself again, but there are two problems with that. First, I want kids, so I can't stay on them forever. Second, the last time I tried that it worsened my condition, and I don't want to take the chance of that happening again. My question: What could be causeing this? Will it affect my fertility? What other long-term effects could this cause? How serious is my problem?
AnswerFirst of all, there are many, many gynecologists that you can see for $125. It does not cose $1000 just to walk in a doctor's office without insurance. There are also free cliniics in most cities that will take care of you. You definitely have to go back on birth control pills and you may have to stay on them for more than a year in order to regulate your cycles. They will not cause you to become infertile and, when you wish to conceive, you can stop the pills and try to conceive. If you are ovulating, you can pinpoint the date of ovulation using ovulation predictor kits or monitors and, after having your baby, go back on the pill for regulation. Being on the pill is healthier than not being on the pill. The pill lowers the incidence of iron deficiency anemia, pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cysts, prevents cancer of the uterus, cancer of the ovary, benign cystic breast disease, regualtes your periods, and gets rid of painful periods (dysmenorrhea) in addition to being 99.9% effective against pregnancy. You, obviously, have a hormonal imbalance that has to be corrected and one year of birth control was not enough. You have to consult a gynecologist.
