"Why is everyone so much more afraid of sex than SCUD missiles?"
I have a little game that I play.
Whenever I am prescribed antibiotics, I wait to see if the doctor or the pharmacist will inform me of their interference with my birth control meds.
The score so far:
In the many years since I started taking birth control, in the dozen times minimum I've had occasion to have been prescribed antibiotics--
Doctor: 0
Pharmacist: 1.
Today, My doctor handed me two prescriptions on a single sheet: one renewing my birth control, and the other for antibiotics. On the same piece of paper.
Did she say anything about it?
No.
Did the pharmacist who took the paper and filled the prescriptions?
No.
What the hell is wrong with this country?
My grandmother has had her life saved--literally-- on more than one occasion when a pharmacist noticed a drug combination with deadly interactions that slipped her prescribing doctor's mind. A case like mine today is hardly as difficult to catch. Why then didn't it merit a passing mention?
Do these people assume women, in a country with government funding for abstinence-only "education", know? Do they believe it's God's right to decide whether a woman gets pregnant, or that pregnancy is a just punishment for wanton hussies having sex out of wedlock? Or do they just not care?
Sex education is a joke in this country, and abstinence-only programs are a bad punchline. But even here in the Bay Area, where one might reasonably expect the most freely available information on sex, this exceedingly basic piece of information-- "Birth control is 99+% successful when taken perfectly and about 95% with typical imperfect usage, but it will not work if you take common antibiotics"--can't seem to disseminate. And have you ever listened to Loveline with Dr Drew Pinsky? That poor bastard's been answering phonecalls about whether or not a girl can get pregnant from oral sex for what, 25 years?
50 years after the sexual revolution, there is no excuse for Americans to be so damn ignorant and fearful about sex.
I feel a crusade coming on.
A couple of articles that should leave you feeling as enraged as I am:
Here, the SFGate on how "vagina" is an offensive word, to be avoided on public television:
In the morning, we recognize that a lot of parents are watching the show with their kids, Finlayson explained. As a parent, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable hearing that word in front of my kids. I think a lot of people would find it objectionable. Children might ask what it means.
Holy crap! Kids might learn the parts of their bodies! I am against this.
From now on, I demand that the word "cochlea" be left off television, and "armpit," and "prostate" and "esophagus" and "ucipital mapillary" and "duodenum." They might want to know about those too, and I can only imagine general blow-up would ensue.
You know, I don't even think that medical professionals really ought to be saying those dirty words either. From now on, I advocate the use of code words for no-nos.
In fact, I would like television to avoid the use of any word that makes people uncomfortable: autism, race, body count, hemorrhoids... &c.
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
(pls to be sharing any other good related articles in comments!)
Whenever I am prescribed antibiotics, I wait to see if the doctor or the pharmacist will inform me of their interference with my birth control meds.
The score so far:
In the many years since I started taking birth control, in the dozen times minimum I've had occasion to have been prescribed antibiotics--
Doctor: 0
Pharmacist: 1.
Today, My doctor handed me two prescriptions on a single sheet: one renewing my birth control, and the other for antibiotics. On the same piece of paper.
Did she say anything about it?
No.
Did the pharmacist who took the paper and filled the prescriptions?
No.
What the hell is wrong with this country?
My grandmother has had her life saved--literally-- on more than one occasion when a pharmacist noticed a drug combination with deadly interactions that slipped her prescribing doctor's mind. A case like mine today is hardly as difficult to catch. Why then didn't it merit a passing mention?
Do these people assume women, in a country with government funding for abstinence-only "education", know? Do they believe it's God's right to decide whether a woman gets pregnant, or that pregnancy is a just punishment for wanton hussies having sex out of wedlock? Or do they just not care?
Sex education is a joke in this country, and abstinence-only programs are a bad punchline. But even here in the Bay Area, where one might reasonably expect the most freely available information on sex, this exceedingly basic piece of information-- "Birth control is 99+% successful when taken perfectly and about 95% with typical imperfect usage, but it will not work if you take common antibiotics"--can't seem to disseminate. And have you ever listened to Loveline with Dr Drew Pinsky? That poor bastard's been answering phonecalls about whether or not a girl can get pregnant from oral sex for what, 25 years?
50 years after the sexual revolution, there is no excuse for Americans to be so damn ignorant and fearful about sex.
I feel a crusade coming on.
A couple of articles that should leave you feeling as enraged as I am:
Here, the SFGate on how "vagina" is an offensive word, to be avoided on public television:
In the morning, we recognize that a lot of parents are watching the show with their kids, Finlayson explained. As a parent, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable hearing that word in front of my kids. I think a lot of people would find it objectionable. Children might ask what it means.
Holy crap! Kids might learn the parts of their bodies! I am against this.
From now on, I demand that the word "cochlea" be left off television, and "armpit," and "prostate" and "esophagus" and "ucipital mapillary" and "duodenum." They might want to know about those too, and I can only imagine general blow-up would ensue.
You know, I don't even think that medical professionals really ought to be saying those dirty words either. From now on, I advocate the use of code words for no-nos.
In fact, I would like television to avoid the use of any word that makes people uncomfortable: autism, race, body count, hemorrhoids... &c.
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
(pls to be sharing any other good related articles in comments!)