| The Frisky

Confession: I Hate My Gynecologist

Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry Filed in: sex
9:30AM, Friday January 18th 2008

Do any of you ladies kind of hate your gynecologist? I sort of do. I called in a refill on my birth control a couple days ago to a local pharmacy. The audio recording told me I didn’t have any more refills left, but that they would call my doctor for approval. Now, the last time I saw my doc, she gave me a six-month prescription and technically I did run out of refills a few months ago—I didn’t think much of it because she kept giving the pharmacist permission to refill it, and besides, I figured she could just write me a new prescription the next time I had a chance to come in for a pap. Which was going to be soon, I swear.

So anyway, yesterday she rejected my request for a refill, telling the pharmacist that I needed to call and make an appointment for an exam. Alrighty. Annoying, but okay, that is not entirely unreasonable. Besides, if I called this morning to make an appointment, she could call in my prescription after that and I’d be able to double up my pills today and not get knocked up. Unfortch, when I called her office this morning, her very bitchy receptionist told me that under no circumstances would my doc renew my prescription until after I’ve come in for an exam. Too bad, pathetic pap smear slacker, they said, “You’ll have to skip this month’s pack of pills.” Say what? My doctor is screwing with my hormones, which have been used to taking Ortho-Lo for over five years, because she’s mad I haven’t come in for a visit? She hasn’t called me about coming in. She hasn’t sent me a letter. She’s just cut me off. And everyone knows that if your body is super used to the hormone levels in birth control pills and you go off them, you can be much more fertile at first. If I get pregs, I am going to be pissed. Does anyone else think this is kind of unprofessional and unreasonable? Sympathize with me (or tell me I’m wrong) in the comments!

comments

Deirdre
wrote on January 18 2008 @ 09:49 am: [report]

if you can buy cigs over the counter you should be able to get the pill too! I hope you don’t break out, that scares me more then being knocked up : )

Amelia
wrote on January 18 2008 @ 10:02 am: [report]

Dang, I didn’t even think of that! If my fiance breaks our engagement because I turn into a hormonal psycho, I am going to be extra extra pissed about being a knocked up, single pizza face.

JessicaRabbit
wrote on March 21 2008 @ 02:41 pm: [report]

It’s an annoying situation but it’s your responsibility to stay on top of it!

Kristen
wrote on August 1 2008 @ 11:10 pm: [report]

Annoying yes, But it is your responsibility to keep on top of your pap’s etc. It would be irresponsible on her part to continue to write you Rx’s without assessing you.

RavenTiger
wrote on August 3 2008 @ 11:06 am: [report]

Man that would be annoying…Feel better girl? I don’t blame you for not being overeager to get a pap done…

Suzy
wrote on September 25 2008 @ 06:09 pm: [report]

You have probably already gone, but in the future, you can skip the pap and pelvic entirely. That’s right, skip em, they’re more of a cultural ritual than anything done for your health, and they have nothing to do with taking the pill. For real.

Planned Parenthood will give you the pill with no exam.

I haven’t had an exam in 16 years. I take the pill through Planned Parenthood.

Source: a book called “Male Practise: how doctors manipulate women”

msu.umich
wrote on January 1 2009 @ 08:29 pm: [report]

My gynos have always been considerate of keeping in rhythm…perhaps its that midwest hospitality you hear so much about. I’ve been miles and miles away from the only gyno my insurance would cover, or some other circumstance out of my control, and the docs have ALWAYS let me float a month. If you can’t make an appointment within the 8 week or so window that gives you, then Get Thee To a Planned Parenthood…to expect more than that from your doc is laziness on the patient’s part. I’m sure insurance hassles, AMA accreditation, ethical concerns and other issues have more to do with their denying your refill at that point than just trying to eff up your day.

Emily-#2
wrote on January 1 2009 @ 09:02 pm: [report]

I know this was posted a REALLY long time ago, but here is my input, because it pissed me off:

Suzy, I completely disagree with you, and I cannot believe that as a female you would be so nonchalant about your reproductive health. Being on hormonal birth control affects your reproductive system and can cause cysts, among other things that can be diagnosed with a pap smear. Also, it is important for any woman that is sexually active (or has been in the past) to get checked out to make sure those touchy cervical cells are healthy (ie: HPV free, which is done during a pap smear).

Also, that book was written in 1981, now 28 years ago. It seems a little ignorant to trust medical advice such as that when women’s reproductive health treatments have grown extensively since then.

Amelia- To answer your question, I believe that it is very important to keep up with that yourself. Sometimes things happen, but I don’t blame your Dr. at all for denying the refill, she could get in big trouble for filling the Rx without examining you. Plus, why would you want to risk your own health just because paps suck so much?

I found this link that I hope helps: http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/papsmear/PAP_important.html