For Julie-Anna, birth control means quality of life
By Julie-Anna Murphy | Nov. 17, 2017, 3:43 p.m.
Category: Birth Control, Health Care Equity
For Julie-Anna, birth control is essential health care that helps treat her adenomyosis. This is her story.
Are we really fighting for our rights for birth control again?
My quality of life depended on birth control. After a diagnosis of adenomyosis, an IUD placement was the only treatment for my pain and blood loss. It helped me function enough to go to work everyday. Before receiving the IUD, daily birth control pills were the only option and were equally necessary in attempting to sustain a normal life.
Prior to treatment, I had become so anemic from blood loss I could hardly function. For years, I suffered with extreme dysmenorrhea, and as a cook, I could not afford the proper treatment I needed. This resulted in taking far too many sick days, ultimately leading to frequent job loss.
After my initial visit to Planned Parenthood, I was rushed to the emergency room and diagnosed with severe anemia and adenomyosis. After several blood transfusions, the IUD, and ultimately a necessary hysterectomy, I am a functioning cook again living my dream of becoming a chef. Even after I was diagnosed and told that I could not have children, I needed the IUD to control my symptoms alone.
It would have been impossible for me to hold any kind of job or honestly even leave the house without being on birth control. My career in the kitchen would not be possible without Planned Parenthood, and it certainly would not have been possible without birth control. Birth control was the reason I could get out of bed and face my day without pain and severe bleeding. Birth control is the reason I have a job.
Wanna join the #Fight4BirthControl?
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