the truth about diane-35

[rock'n'roll]

ladies my girlfriend has just switched to diane-35 and after reading all the talks of how bad it is on this board i'm not so sure she's made the right decision. now most of the posts about it are very brief, can someone please explain why it is so bad and if it is why doctors are still putting people on it?? i'm kinda worried about her.

[Dramaqueen]

Theres supposed to be an increased risk of blood clots, along with other things, but personally I wouldn't worry too much. If the doctor's changed it, it's probably for the best. If she has just changed herself-tell her it might be a good idea to see her docotr and make sure its the right pill for her.

[Thisby]

Health Canada recently issued an advisory to doctors reminding them that the ONLY thing Diane-35 can be prescribed for is severe, scar-causing acne when oral antibiotics have been unsuccessful, and is NOT to be prescribed for birth control.

I don't think it can get much clearer than that. If you need to prove it to your friend, the Health Canada web site has the notice posted. Do a search for "health canada" and "diane-35". CBC news had a big thing about it in January.

Seems doctors were prescribing it because the manufacturer was promoting it as birth control, but Health Canada has never allowed this use and only recently realize how widespread it's use had become by women who were only using it for birth control, thus the advisory.

If you want to know the technical details of the increased health risk, the HC site will provide that info too. (Basically, the risk of blood clots increases 4 times.)

[paulb]

It must be remembered that Health Canada is the body which manages health funding, Canada has a "free" health system and Diane 35 is amongst the most expensive of the birth-control (Note: birth-control) pills.

If you can put two and two together, you can figure out the reason for their warning.

[rock'n'roll]

ok people i need a straight forward answer now, i get the blood clots, but is it or is it not a birth control pill like allesse? will it prevent pregnancy?