PROTEIN S DEFICIENCY AND BIRTH CONTROL

[girl5]

I recently had blood tests done to find out how prone I am to blood clots.  It does not to my knowledge run in the family, however my mother had one after giving birth due to the way I was positioned before birth.  The blood tests revealed that I have a Protein S deficiency which is possibly border line and was told I could not be on the pill.  I was also led to believe that there were other options such as the shot becuase there was something different in it. Is this true? Are there other forms of contraceptives that I could safely use having this Protein S Deficiency other than condoms?

Thank you for your time.

[sweeterin]

I have a factor II prothrombin mutation and have been told that I can fairly safely take a progesterone-only-pill (POP).  I was told that even safer than this would be the Mirena IUD.  Search for Dr. Stephen Moll's page on blood clots... he has a nice chart describing the relative risks of birth controls for people prone to blood clots.  

I do not know for sure if Protein S deficiencies pose different problems from Factor II ones... (I actually had a pulmonary embolism last year and consequently stopped taking the combination pill),  so please be sure to check before you decide to do anything, but it seems like these might also be options for you.  I think I remember that no positive link has been identified between the POPs and blood clots.  

[peekawho]

Towards the mid-to lower portion of this article, the doctor discusses Protein S deficiency and other issues in detail (the first part is about other blood clotting disorders).  He does not go into birth control options, however.

A hematologist would be the best person to advise you as to your birth control options and impact on your clotting disorder.

http://www.fvleiden.org/ask/50.html

[sweeterin]

This section discusses birth control and thrombophilia specifically.

http://www.fvleiden.org/ask/23.html