Surgery and contraceptive pill

[Corrinne]

Hi everyone, I'm following a few videos on Youtube about people having jaw surgery. I watched one yesterday where the woman says she hasn't been able to take her pill and well, we all know what happens if you skip a few days in the middle of a strip - total body clock mess-up that can take months to fix :/

I was wondering how any others out there dealt with this issue - is it possible to somehow still swallow the pill or should I finish a strip before surgery and start again after surgery. This woman says that her OBGYN said that crushing the pill or sucking it won't work.
But I think that the pill is really tiny - surely I will be able to swallow it?!

Thanks
Corrinne

[midnight]

I stopped taking the pill a month before surgery for that reason. I'm glad I did as there was no way I could have swallowed it whilst banded shut. You will also be given liquid antibiotics which might stop the pill from working anyway so I would think it's best to stop the pill and then start it again once you've finished the antibiotics. If you're not banded shut then you would be able to keep taking it if it isn't affected by the antibiotics.

They gave me the tiniest codeine pills which I did try to crush up and put through a syringe but you could clearly see that loads of the powder was left in them so I wouldn't risk doing that with the pill!

[sarasea]

I used a pill crusher and took it that way, but then I had that whole body-clock mess up that you speak of because too much of the powder residue was left behind. It is a tiny pill, but there was no way I could take it whole when I was banded shut because I couldn't open my teeth at all, not even slightly. So that was my experience - I would agree with midnight that you might just want to stop it prior to surgery and pick it up again after once you are unbanded.

[Corrinne]

Thanks for your responses. You guys have both told me what I didn't want to hear, but thanks for being honest! I will be taking your advice

[bmueller]

Can you switch to nuvaring for a month? At least you'll still be on track with your dosage. And yes, you will get antibiotics so you wont be fully protected either way.

[Anastasia8]

I'll be coming off the pill before surgery, can't imagine having sex will be a priority after having my jaws sawn off

[slb1982]

I'm not sure if this will help you, but I had a SARPE surgery (surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion) 2 weeks ago and I also have an expander in my mouth which has made it difficult to eat/swallow, especially at first (I got it put in the day before my surgery). I'm on the pill and I managed to barely choke it down after several tries on the morning of my surgery, WITHOUT taking any liquids with it (I was told not eat or drink anything for 8 hours before surgery, but I swallowed my pill anyway). Then, even though I was barely able to open my mouth much for the first several days after the surgery, I was still able to swallow my pill with apple juice (it wasn't the easiest, but it was doable). I just took the biggest mouthful of liquid I could, tilted my head back, dropped the pill in, and tried to swallow all the liquid in one gulp and it always got it down after a few tries. This might be too much info, but my husband and I were very intimate on days 2, 5, and 6 after surgery (I took my antiobiotic (Clindamycin) on the day of the surgery, but only took it that one time because I read very bad things about it and the surgeon told me I didn't have to take it). It didn't seem to interfere with my pills (or maybe it just was out of my system by day 2) and I didn't get pregnant. Good luck!

[Corrinne]

Thanks for your replies

@slb1982 I was hoping to hear something like that! My partner currently lives on the other side if the world. He will be back for my surgery - I was hoping to be able to keep taking it (mainly for the few days he is here before the surgery! I'm not sure I'll feel like 'being active' much after a double jaw surgery!
I think I might just risk it (if my doctor allows it of course).

Thank

[slb1982]

I didn't feel great at all on day 2, but that still didn't stop my husband and I. Lol. I will say, be careful if you take antibiotics though because some can interfere with the pill.