Transcript
Dr. Brian Burton: “Hi, I’m Dr. Brian Burton I’m a OBGYN here at the Woman’s Clinic and I’ve been here since 2010.”
Dr. Jill Jennings: “My name is Jill Jennings and I’m an OBGYN here at the Woman’s Clinic, I started here in 2012.”
Dr. Michael Cope: “My name is Dr. Michael Cope. We have a great bunch of physicians and nurses, and staff, with a fantastic attitude.”
How often should I visit the gynecologist?
Dr. Brian Burton: “It’s not uncommon for women after they have a child, to kind of fall off the earth for a few years as far as their gynecologic health goes.”
Dr. Michael Cope: “Women when they are pregnant, they are used to coming here weekly, every two weeks, every four weeks, it can seem exhausting. There is a temptation once you’ve had your pregnancies to take a hiatus and not go to your gynecologist for awhile. But that actually is really sort of the wrong perspective I think. I think that’s its nice to be in a place in your life where you’re not having to go to the doctor so much. But still that should be a signal to all patients to sort of reset their healthcare and start looking at their healthcare long-term.”
Is breastfeeding a reliable form of birth control?
Dr. Jill Jennings: “It is not true that breastfeeding is a form of birth control. In people who breastfeed in a consistent fashion, like on a very timely schedule every two to three hours it is true that the hormones created by breastfeeding can be enough to suppress ovulation in some people so they don’t ovulate and they aren’t able to get pregnant. But you can’t really always rely on that.”
Are there health risks related to using birth control?
Dr. Michael Cope: “A lot of people ask, “is taking birth control healthy, is it going to cause me any long-term problems?” The birth control that we use today is markedly improved than when it first came out decades ago for example. Most birth control pills today are very low dose. Some of the significant side-effects of birth control, have really gone by the wayside.”
Why do you need to know how many sexual partners I have had?
Dr. Brian Burton: “Often times at the gynecologist office, you will be asked, “how many sexual partners have you been with?” The answer is, one of the things we are doing is stratifying risk. A woman who’s only been with one sexual partner, and he’s only been with one sexual partner they’re at almost a 0 percent chance of developing cervical cancer versus somebody who has been with multiple sexual partners, they’re at much higher risk of having the human papilloma virus and developing cervical cancer later. Or they are at a higher risk of having a sexually transmitted infection. These are things that we look at a screen for, and it’s a very personal question, but I’ve kind of always said that if you can’t talk to your gynecologist about those personal things, find a different gynecologist you can talk to. Because that’s a very important open discussion you should have with us.”
For any other questions about pregnancy, or your gynecologist, contact The Woman’s Clinic at (877) 455-1492 to make an appointment today!
