Type 1.5 Sterilization for women with diabetes?

Hey all!

I don't want to have children and have always used birth control to prevent pregnancies, but now that I'm on insulin I react very poorly to hormonal birth control. While condoms are totally fine, I'm also finding myself in a position where I just want to be sterilized and be done with it. I'm still 'young' (29) so I'm probably going to have to fight for this, but I also have a whole range of medical conditions of which diabetes is only one that makes me terrified of pregnancy and what it will do to my body and soul. Besides the fact I don't want kids, I also consider adoption a 100% valid option, and would prefer it over having my own even without the medical stuff if I were to ever change my mind.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this? I know women with diabetes can have absolutely normal pregnancies so I don't think it's a good 'excuse' for a doctor to go with. (It's quite sad that a firm "I never wanted kids" is not enough, actually.) I do have a herniated disc, bad knees and mental health problems since my teens which make me entirely unfit to be a mother even if I wanted to be. And then there are the aspects of having a moderately invasive surgery as a diabetic to weigh against this.

Just want to see if anyone else has been sterilized as a diabetic and what the risks/issues were you ran into?

catapillar said:

If you're sterilised and not ovulating I think you would have to be on some kind of hormone therapy for early menopause. That kind of hormone treatment might have its own blood sugar challenges that might be equivalent to the ones you are experiencing with birth control pills.

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That depends on the procedure. My mother had her tubes tied and still ovulated, there was just no way for any conception to occur. There's an option to remove the ovaries but that does require HRT for life.

My challenges with HBC are also not exclusively related to bloodsugar. The insulin had a bad reaction and triggered 4 week periods for me non-stop, which were happening more frequently with less time between each period as time went along.

kaylz91 said:

Hi there sorry I don't have an answer to your question but if you don't mind me asking what birth control option are you using? x

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Right now? Only condoms. I have had too many side-effects from the pill and the Implanon was my last resort and worked beautifully until I introduced Novorapid into my system, then bam, **** hit the fan.

I'm absolutely 100% done with hormonal birth control and will *not* get anything else because I legitimately can't cope with the side-effects anymore. It's either condoms + plan B, or sterilization.

helensaramay said:

I have some empathy with you: I never wanted children but also did not want to be popping pills every day. I relied on condoms which were a bit of a pain but worked with the exception of a couple of visits to the pharmacist for the morning after pill.

I can't comment on a doctor's reaction for sterilisation. However, I have recently undergone a "partial hysterectomy" (removal of my uterus but kept my ovaries) at a relatively young age. This was not as a result of a need for sterilisation but for other medical reasons. This was the only time I have ever had surgery and the first time I spent a night in hospital since I was born (so the first time with diabetes).
The procedure was straightforward key-hole surgery which healed quickly: I was told to do "a little walking" instead of full blown gym for 6 weeks; after a couple of days I was walking for nearly a hour and was back at the gym within a month. My diabetes was well controlled during surgery and just required a little extra basal insulin for about a month after.
So diabetes is not a reason against surgery ... although, as you say, diabetes is probably not a reason For This surgery.

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That's good to hear about your bloodsugar control during/after surgery! That's a relief. Diabetes could be a partial reason for me because it's part of a whole package of stuff that affects my ability to get safely pregnant (every pregnancy has risks, and they're amplified with every condition you have on top of that), but not standalone I suppose.

The procedure I'm looking for is having my tubes tied (my mother had the same procedure done at around my age after having me and my sister) so I don't have to deal with HRT.

Freema said:

I was 28 years old before I ever thought of having children..

and have known a few that also said they didn´t want children but ended up changing their mind later in life. then I ended up being a mother of 37 years old... and well it is the best thing/miracle happening to me in my whole life, wasn´t mature enough mentally to get a child before around the age of around 30... do wish I had known how wonderful it is to have a kid so that I had been early enough to get a sibling for my daugther...

years ago I read of an american statistic of middleaged women who hadn´t gotten children, at the age of 50; 3 out of 5 regretted never to have had children... don´t claim you would be like that ........... but well I do believe nobody really knows how big this is before they have the child in their arms themselves... ...

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My question was related to the procedure and speaking to the doctor about it, I'd prefer to keep all posts on topic and not be told I don't know what I really want.

SockFiddler said:

As someone who has suffered with her periods for years and years and years (I call my reproductive system "She-*****"), I have never been able to persuade anyone to remove the faulty equipment. Like you, I was comfortable with having no (more) children, and was happy with adoption as an option should family planning become an issue.

The reasons I have been given over the years have ranged from patronising to sexist to just plain insulting. I have had numerous - pointless - invasive procedures only to be told that, essentially, the periods that often leave me debilitated with pain on the settee for three days are all in my head.

I've been told that surgery is too "dramatic" an option for a woman my age, that the removal of my ovaries would result in HRT for the rest of my life (as if a length of plastic driven into my arm that releases FSH for 5 years isn't the equivalent of that. And, brilliantly, they can't remove it now unless I want an operation).

Frankly, I've given up. I manage my periods best as I can - I live around them. I hate them, I survive them, I don't bother talking to the doctor about them anymore.

I wish you huge luck and offer whatever support I can offer. May your luck be better than mine.

Sock <3

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I hear you. When it comes to our reproductive systems, women have surprisingly little input on what goes on inside their own bodies and it's frustrating to hell and back. It's especially bad from male physicians.

I'm quite sick of people who know nothing about me insisting/implying I'll change my mind one day and having that be a valid reason to deny me what I want. I'm also so freaking tired of juggling hormones. I've gone through all of them barring an IUD which I can't have and none of them work out for me. Condoms are great but they have a higher fail rate and I don't necessarily want to hit my system with a massive dose of hormones for those "oops" moments if I can prevent it.

I'm waiting a few months to collect info and get my arguments ready for when I go see my GP about it, I'm hoping they'll let me tie my tubes. I'll take the 2-3 debilitating days a month where I'm useless if it means I never have to be pregnant and don't have to deal with the side-effects from hbc. :/

Snapsy said:

@DaftThoughts I had all sorts of problems with all three brands of the pill I had ever tried. The oestrogen component would drive me round the BEND and I really really struggled. I appreciate that you are 'done with hormonal birth control' but there is an alternative kind of oral contraceptive which is entirely different in its makeup. I was dubious at first but it has made my life demonstrably easier in terms of my mental health and blood glucose control, and in my case I don't even have a need for sanpro any more.

I now take the 'mini pill', or POP - progestogen only pill - and it's brilliant. BRILLIANT. No periods, no mood swings, no babies, no PMT, no change in insulin needs at different times of the month.

My experience with it has been great. The 'ordinary' pill in the several guises I experienced it over many years, in contrast, was without exception horrible.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/conditio...6/the-mini-pill-progestogen-only-pill-or-pop/



PS Thank you for posting your post. We share many of the same feelings. It's not often that I see them written down. Hugs. xxx

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Thank you so much for sharing! I don't think I would be very happy with this particular pill, I'm 125kgs and the reliability of this particular pill tanks massively after 70kg, plus it also has the risk of depression side-effect that made me go off the other pills. :/ I'm really not willing to go through another 6 months of trial and error and feel like **** if it doesn't work out. Hopefully this info helps someone else though!

Edit: Also forgot to mention that as I have IBS, diarrhea can severely affect the reliability of the pill as well, so there are too many factors involved for me to have me feel safe and secure with a pill.

SockFiddler said:

Not in my experience, no. The radiologist and gyno who carried out my last trans-vaginal scan told me that they thought I had (at 39) the "uterus of a 21 year old" and recommended a hot water bottle, paracetamol and to "try to make less of a fuss about it." This was after 45 minutes of then questioning me on the type, location and impact of my pain.

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It angers me so much how menstruation is regarded in the medical field, alongside weight. If you're fat then every problem you have is related to being fat and 'come back after you lose weight', if you have period issues then 'it's just your period, suck it up buttercup'. Or all the times when you have symptoms while you happen to be on your period and instead of doing an actual exam, 'it must be your period, take some paracetamol and wait for it to go away'.

At this rate corpses have a better chance of getting treatment than live women, ugh.

I've already vowed to myself to go back to my GP every month if he turns me down until he forwards me to the hospital, and I will fester them the same way. Hopefully it won't come to that but I've been thinking about this for years and now seems like a good time to make it happen.

Snapsy said:

@DaftThoughts I love love love your autocorrect of 'pester' to 'fester', which I think is ENTIRELY appropriate in the case of dealing with the medical profession sometimes.

It's something you've been weighing up for considerable time and you deserve to be listened to properly. Women's experiences with periods, and family planning choices - including whether to have a family at all - are all very different but are nevertheless equal in that all aspects of all of it are important and need to be considered as valid points by the medical profession.

All the best with it all.



PS Your doctor would do well to read the beautifully-expressed words in your signature:
I don't believe in one way for all. Assess individual needs and work with individual circumstances for an individualized advice and lifestyle. Avoid generalizations and assumptions - work with facts wherever possible.

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Oh whoops, LOL. Well it works either way I guess!

And thank you! I wish I could express is that well in real life too, but I do think I'll work individuality into my argumentation for sterilization wherever I can.

tim2000s said:

I've been following this topic with interest, and while I can't comment on the OPs original question, this is one that is much wider than the medical profession and goes completely against many social norms. My partner and I, having sat down, discussed it deeply early in our relationship, and agreed that we weren't really interested in having kids and weren't going to do it, have seen a remarkably large amount of surprise and prejudice about making such a decision coming from others (notably our family members).

So I applaud anyone having the courage to make such a decision, for whatever reasons they choose to.

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Thank you! I see the same thing with adoption - it's something that is written off as a 'last resort for infertile/gay couples' when in reality, it should be as normal as getting pregnant yourself. But the way people respond to it is kind of shocking, it shouldn't have the kind of stigma it does.

I am glad my mom has been okay with my decision not to have kids. She thinks it's wrong to have such a personal choice forced onto you and will support whatever decision I'll make about my life as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.



In other news, I do have some reservations about the anesthesia for the procedure. It makes me INCREDIBLY nervous to think about being put under. Anyone have some reassurances about this?