When I was 16 years old my mom had to come to my high school and bring me a new pair of jeans. She had to do this because in under two hours I had bled through an extra strength pad, my underwear, and a pair of jeans, to the point that there was a small puddle of blood in my seat in class. There is nothing more humiliating than having to experience that, and to this day when I'm menstruating I have panic attacks over whether or not I'm bleeding through multiple layers of protection and clothing.
Ever since that day in high school, when I was enduring a six month long menstrual cycle, I've taken birth control. Not only does it regulate my body and hormones, but it helps to decrease the intensity of my depression, and it allows me to control the suffering I endure at the hand of my period.
Is this info making you uncomfortable? Do you not like having to think about cramps, bloating, and immense amounts of blood? Well guess what, I don't like having to fight for my right to access birth control, and I certainly don't like that for women who don't have insurance, birth control can cost nearly $200.
I'm currently still in the middle of a nearly month long battle of trying to get access to my birth control. First, my pharmacy changed my birth control without my consent. Last time this happened the change in formula sent me into a comatose depressive episode. Next, the pharmacy claimed they had no idea what I was talking about, claimed they had no record of my correct birth control (which I had been filling there for a year). They tried to pin the screw up on my doctor, which backfired when I mentioned the doctor they referenced hadn't been my doctor for over a year. Finally, I had to make an appointment with my doctor, drive nearly an hour to his office, and waste his time so that he could write out a new prescription for a medication I'd been on for nearly ten years.
I go to a new pharmacy, while suffering physical and mental discomfort that is indescribably unbearable thanks to my period. The new pharmacy informed me that my birth control wasn't covered by insurance. Because of the severity of my period I'm on a form of birth control where I only suffer my menstrual cycle once every three months, instead of every month. So despite that fact, and my medical history, and the specifically written prescription from my doctor, they pharmacist said I couldn't have 3 months worth of birth control unless I planned on paying $160 for the other two months.
Still the wrong birth control. Still the wrong information. Still frustrated and exhausted.
To put in clearly, this is some utter BULLSHIT. Why is it easier to get viagra or hydrocodone than it is to get birth control? Why is it cheaper? Why aren't men judged for their little blue pill, when I'm judged and condemned for taking birth control? Why is it harder to get this harmless, helpful medicine that I've been on for years and that I need to get through every day life, than it is to hire a freaking hitman?
Maybe I'm a bad millennial, but I think we should be focusing more on getting women fair and affordable access to medical treatment, and less arguing about whether or not Bruno Mars is black enough to sing his music.
