Birth Control Required?

I would just like to know if anyone out there chose not to take birth control after surgery.  My husband and I have been TTC for over 2 years and my fertility doc thinks my chances of getting preggo right now are slim to none.  I don´t want to have to take yet another pill if I don´t have to.

Any and all advice is welcome!

 I can only give you the advice my surgeon gave me.  He said by going ahead with the surgery, I am committing to doing everything possible to avoid pregnancy for 18 months.  It has the potential to be very dangerous in the beginning after surgery.  It isn't a problem for us since we have 2 kids and our family in complete.  I can honestly say I would not have been able to make that commitment 6 years ago.

You know the pill is not an option?

Not true. The pill can still absorb enough. It's another topics of debate amongst surgeons/OBGYNs. I can say I take the pill to regulate/avoid periods, and mine is absorbing just fine. I'd be getting my period each month if I was not absorbing, and I am not getting one (and no, I am not pregnant ). Mind you, my cycle was a mess for about six months after surgery, which is expected and normal, but it seems to be leveled out again. I use other methods of BC as well, but the pill not being an option is simply not true.

I personally wouldn't risk it. You may become more fertile when you lose the weight and there is no way to predict that.

There are lots of non-pill versions of birth control these days. Getting pregnant early after a RNY can be dangeous since you will have a difficult time getting in enough nutrition just for yourself, let alone you and a growing child.  Please use SOMETHING because it is not unheard of for women to get pregnant simply because they lost weight (depending on the original issue, of course).

Lora

Two months post-op my periods regulated to "like clockwork" and any signs of PCOS went away. The doc laughed and said if there was any chance of me getting pregnant, he'd give me the shot right then because I was probably as fertile as a rabbit. Losing the weight can cause you to be SUPER fertile at the worst possible time. I completely get wanting to get pregnant after having tried so long, but if there's the tiniest little voice back there saying, "Well, if I might be more fertile, why not leave it to chance?" DON'T LISTEN TO IT. It's VERY difficult to get enough nutrition for you, let alone a growing baby. It will also stunt your weight loss and make this whole process kind of pointless. It's best to get Depo or Mirena and wait. If you're going to be more fertile post-op, you'll be in the best possible situation once your body settles into a comfortable weight.

 Consider Implanon.  You don't have to think about it and it lasts 3 years.  Since I am still not certain if I want kids and I turn 40 next month, I made sure to discuss with my GYN.  She made sure to let me know that the biggest concern with getting pregnant within that 18 months after surgery is getting enough nutrition for you and the baby given the malabsorption you have early out.

Losing weight certainly increases your fertility.  I stop taking pills years ago simply because I could never remember the daily pill.

Since it would be dangerous to you and the baby if you did conceive, and since many people that previously had trouble conceiving do get pregnant after RNY, it seems awfully risky to take that chance.

I agree with what everyone else said.

If you want a baby, and it sounds like you do, then you probably want a VERY HEALTHY baby. Ketosis can have disastrous effects on a developing embryo, and if you were to get pregnant in the first six months postop (and really in the first year to 18 months).... you might discover that you've DAMAGED that precious bundle of joy. It's hard to hear that you might be super fertile and not use that as a reason to avoid the BC.... but for the sake of a healthy baby, it's worth waiting six to eighteen months.

I remember when I was preparing to have surgery, there was another pre-op on here who had been, like me, very good on her pre-op weight loss. So much so that when she went in to have her WLS, she couldn't have it because she failed  the routine test to make sure she was NOT pregnant. Losing weight is a sure-fire way of improving fertility, and for her, she had to put off her WLS for quite some time (she was not disappointed)