I can quit coffee.

I can stay away from bread if I have to and I can even skip that gorgeous piece of cheesecake. But give up my birth control pills?

For all those other sins, there is an alternative. But what do you replace birth control pills with? If I slip up and accidentally eat something with yeast in it, I'll be sick for a day or two. If I slip up off the pill, I'll be sick and bloated ...except it will last for 9 months. And then manifest itself into a screaming, living, needy thing.

People with Candidiasis are encouraged to get off birth control pills. So are people who suffer from severe migranes and who consequently see "auras" (when a migraine is really bad, or on its way, part of your vision gets blurred for up to twenty minutes).

My neurologist wants me to consider giving up the pill because taking it increases my chance of a stroke.

I see some women on message boards flippantly suggest that "sex is not as important as health". Well, for me, sex is part of a healthy relationship. And when I have it, I don't want to worry about getting pregnant. Condoms break. Can't use spermicide or sponges (too harsh on the body). Don't even SUGGEST I use the female condom (a swim cap is cheaper and about the same size). And everything else just isn't as good.

The answer for me, at the moment, is find an alternative to the oral contraceptive I'm using now. I'll write more about it later this week.

Give up the pill?