Volume 124 Issue 71
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Friday, December 2, 2011
It's so thumb-believable
PAGE 5
Men's basketball preview for Sat. PAGE 9
FINALS
HEALTH
Birth Control Pills: A risk worth taking?
CHRISTY NUTT
Victoria Renn was only
Victoria Renn was only 10-years-old when her family told her she would never be able to take birth control pills. The decision had nothing to do directly with Renn, a senior from Lathrop, Cal., but was made because of a serious complication that happened to her sister. At the time, Renn's sister was 26 and living in San Francisco. After a fun night at a Giants game, Renn's sister woke up and knew something was horribly wrong because her face was numb and droopy and she couldn't feel her left hand. A friend drove her to the hospital, where a variety of tests were done. The results were shocking. Renn's sister had suffered from a stroke in her sleep. And the stroke was caused by a blood clot attributed to her birth control pills.
In late October, federal health officials reacted to results from recent studies by publicly acknowledging that the risk of blood clots appear to be more prevalent with use of newer birth control pills than older medications. The FDA will review the risks and benefits of new birth control pills on Dec. 8. Although the risk is serious, it's relatively rare for women that have no medical history or family history of blood clots.
Although Renn says it's hard to tell her sister is a stroke victim 11 years later, there are long term effects. "Some things are still hard for her to do, like carrying bags with her left hand," Renn says. "If she is tired or stressed, her hand gets weaker and her face droops." Renn's sister takes aspirin daily to thin her blood, and before taking new medications, she must carefully look at the side effects.
Most birth control pills use two hormones, estrogen and progestin, to prevent pregnancy. Newer birth control pills, such as Bayer's Yaz and Yasmine, use the synthetic progestin hormone drospirone instead of the older progestin levonorgestrel.
A study funded by the FDA and released in late October reviewed 800,000 women's medical history who took different birth controls between 2001 and 2007. The preliminary results showed that women taking birth controls that use dipirenone had a 75 percent greater chance of developing a blood clot than woman using older, levonorgestrel birth control pills.
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Birth control pills are one of the most frequently studied drugs, says Sue McDaneld, advanced registered nurse practitioner at the Lawrence Health Department. McDaneld is in charge of family planning and STD services. She says despite the recent studies, birth control pills are safe for healthy woman with no concerning medical history. In fact, there are greater health risks involved in being pregnant than using birth control pills. "Women who are pregnant are 10 times more likely to have a blood clot than woman on birth control," McDaneld says.
Because all medications have side effects, it's important to look at your medical history in regard to specific medicines, McDaneld says. "When in doubt, set up an appointment with your health care provider to discuss all of your options and really ask the questions you have about the risks," McDaneld says.
When taking an oral contraceptive there is also the risk of suffering from gallbladder disease or experiencing liver problems, McDaneld says. But these risks are rare. More commonly, people experience what she described as inconvenient side effect. "More often people notice things like weight gain or moodiness after starting a birth control," McDaneld says. These inconvenient side effects may be reason enough to stop taking birth control pills.
The FDA posted a disclaimer on its web site for woman currently taking birth control pills that contain drospirenone to talk to their healthcare provider before discontinuing use.
Why the pill?
Oral contraceptives or birth control pills are the most common form of contraceptive used by college students, says Sue McDaneld, advanced registered nurse practitioner at the Lawrence Health Department. She says the pill is popular because its easy to access and people are familiar with it. Birth control pills can also have some non-contraceptive benefits, such as manipulating a woman's menstrual cycle to be lighter or more regular, help relieve symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder and treat moderate acne.
However, these benefits often come with a cost. When a medication alters a woman's natural hormones, it also alters her sexual experience, says Ginny Ramseyer Winter, an alumna social who worked as an educator at Planned Parenthood in Knoxville, Tenn., for more than four years. This can sometimes make a woman lose her libido.
It's important for woman to know their bodies so they can detect changes caused by medications. Ramseyer Winter says. Women must also know what they want out of a birth control and what side effects they're willing to put up with. "Research shows that women who choose an [birth control] option that fit their own personal needs experience contraceptive failure less." Ramseyer Winter says.
Risky Business: Medical studies link negative side effects, like blood clots, to birth control pills.
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CAMPUS
Student Senate provides funding for Occupy KU group
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Occupy KU secured $200 in funding from the Student Senate Wednesday night after offering assurances that they will not start a riot or large-scale disturbance on campus.
The group is required, according to Senate funding rules, to use the money to buy office supplies or paper and printing.
Brian Sultana, a senior from Manhattan, sponsored the bill as a student senator for the School of Social Welfare. He said the group wants to get students involved in issues including student debt and University contracts with multinational corporations.
"The issues are many," Sultana said. "But the goal right now is to get that information out and get students talking about it."
Sultana has been involved in the Occupy KU group from the beginning, he said. One issue the group
is talking about is the University's exclusive contract with Coca-Cola. Sultana said Occupy KU members are discussing accusations of environmental abuses, union busting and even murder at the cola company's oversea bottling plants. That same issue has been raised by the New York Times, Businessweek and the PBS program Frontline since 2005.
Occupy KU meets each Tuesday at noon and 4 p.m. and each Friday at 4 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Kansas
Union. The group is making plans to start tabling in the first week of the spring semester as part of an effort to attract more students. Sultana said the group now counts around 15 regular members. The group's Facebook profile has 60 members.
Hannah Bolton, senate chief of staff, said some senators did have concerns about approving funding for Occupy KU.
"We were kind of questioning their validity as a group." Bolton said.
But the group met Student Senate requirements of being open to all students, which entitled it to $200 for office supplies and a banner just like any registered student group. Bolton said senate is not able to discriminate against any group that applies for funding and meets those requirements.
"They assured the senators that they are not planning any takeover on campus," Bolton said.
—Edited by Josh Kantor
Occupy KU on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/
groups/295957317094233/
Occupy KU meets each Tuesday at noon and 4 p.m. and each Friday at 4 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Kansas Union.
**Index**
CLASSIFIEDS 11 CRYPTOQUAPS 4 SPORTS 12
CROSSWORD 4 OPINION 5 SUDSKU 4
OCCUPY ONLINE
Occupy KU on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#1/occupyku
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget There is a men's basketball game on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
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