Mary's Story

Mary reminds us that many women need the pill just to function normally from day to day.

I was put on the pill when I was 13 years old. I began menstruating when I was 11, and my periods were very painful, accompanied by nausea, extremely painful cramps, lethargy, and chills. I would frequently miss school for the first two days of my cycle. At 13, my cycles seemingly began to get shorter. Since my fathers health insurance didn't cover OB/GYN, my mother took me to the clinic at a local teaching hospital, where it was discovered that both ovaries were covered by cysts, due to hormonal issues (This was 17 years ago, so I'm fuzzy on the details). The Pill let me keep my ovaries by regulating my hormones - my niece wasn't so lucky and had to have one of her ovaries removed as an infant. Aside from taking care of the cysts, the Pill made my periods far more comfortable, enabling me to attend school throughout my cycle, and even participate in sports during it. I'm very grateful.

Mary Holzman-Tweed
jadegirl@winterdream.com