Birth Control and liver disease

[t27ertwine]

Hello!  I have not been on the site for quite a while. I finished  48 weeks of treatment Dec. 14, 2009 and I am doing GREAT!  Now that my body is getting back to normal, I am trying to figure out what is the best birth control for my husband and I. What is not toxic to the liver? What is safe for me to use?  Everything I read say's do not use is you have liver disease. Ladies can you help?!!?

[tashka]

If you are SVR and stage 2, you may try oral contraceptives. They are selected pretty much by trial and error-you try one and see if you feel OK on it. If not you move to another one. But make sure to ask your doctor for a blood test few weeks after you start and regularly thereafter to watch your liver functions-just to be safe.  

My personal experience convinced me many times that most (not all!) doctors are of little help. And with arrival of internet, patients often are better informed than the doctors are.

Your doctor may be a wonderful OBGYN, but she doesn't know much about liver. She also has no way of predictinig how your liver will respond to contraceptive. My own OBGYN tried to convince me that in is dangerous to have unprotected sex with my husband who has hepatitis C-and I must say, he is a great specialist in his field. Only my explanation that it already happened many times and we had a child long before my husband was diagnosed-and despite of all this I am NOT infected-convinced him.

I hope everything goes OK for you.

[Isobella]

I neglected to say....Congratulations on finishing tx!!!!  Glad you are doing well.  

When you go back in August, ask your GI/hepa what birth control they would suggest.  Doesn't sound like your GYN is going to be much help.

Good luck,

Isobella

[t27ertwine]

I am in stage 2 type 1a.   I have just reached my 6th months after treatment and everything is normal. I go back in Aug to get more blood work done. My GYN was not helpful recommending me birth control. He handed me a pamphlet for Mirena and it says in the literature not to use if you have liver disease. Obviously my GYN knows NOTHING about the disease. I just want to know what is best for my liver and overall health.
Thanks for your input!

[Isobella]

My doctor suggested Nuvaring. I never tried it, but she later told me that if she had known I was only a 1/1, she would have given me ortho-tricycline lo.

http://www.nuvaring.com/consumer/index_isi.asp?PID=0001117101000000&SRC=1

Isobella

[tashka]

It depends on how much liver damage you have. If you were stage 1-2, then oral contraceptives are OK under supervision. Your liver enzymes and other liver parameters have to be regularly checked, especially in the first few months.  

If you have higher degree of damage, I would recommend avoiding all oral contraceptives. You are correct, they are hard on the liver and sometimes cause liver damage and elevated LFTs even in healthy women. Recommendation not to take them if you have liver disease is a very sensible one.

Try other methods of birth control that don't involve hormones. They do work and work well when used correctly.

Congratulations on completing your treatment and feeling so well.