Oh, that reminds me, Jilli, do you know anything about The Corpse Bride? They had a preview for it at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Looks rather interesting.

Gorgeous stop-motion animation movie based on a Russian folk tale, and that I'm going to see it opening night? And that I'm never, ever going to have any spending money again, thanks to collecting toys from that AND the never-ending line of Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise?

Gorgeous stop-motion animation movie based on a Russian folk tale, and that I'm going to see it opening night? And that I'm never, ever going to have any spending money again, thanks to collecting toys from that AND the never-ending line of Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise?

Just another way to say "No," huh?

Shouldn't I feel a swell of righteousness at having called in sick? Something? Where's the payoff of virtue? Also, is chocolate bad for a cranky stomach?

I'd never heard of strokes/heart attacks being related to BC pills before this article.

Scientists could just be extrapolating from the blood-clot risk. I've heard plenty about that, especially if you smoke and are over 35, but nothing about strokes/heart attacks.

But my BP went up after going on the Pill last year, which is why I'd prefer an IUD, though I don't know if my OB/GYN will agree, b/c they're weird about women who haven't had kids getting IUDs.

I've heard about strokes and BCP, but specifically in smokers on high-dose pills -- which fits with it being an early round of safety panic, before either dosages or the specific risky factors were as well known as they are now.

(Though, really, my personality is all the birth-control I need....)

(pfffft)

I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.

I am. I had actual work to do, so I am even happier that other people nagged for me while I was gone.

t thwap!

Unrelated, I'm downloading My Name is Earl right now, and it's earwormed me with "Duke of Earl." Just thought I'd share.

If you have a preexisting condition that puts you at risk for blood clots (as I do), it's recommended that you use only low-estrogen pills

That makes sense. I know my doc won't prescribe them for me because of the heart disease/stroke history in my family. I guess that means I'm at a higher risk for getting a clot.

I grew up with a woman who had a stroke on those early pills.

She was my Dad's next door neighbor, a very beautiful vivacious girl who (without her strict parents' knowledge) had gone on birth control pills. When she had the stroke her first or second year of college no one had any idea what was happening.

By the time I knew her she was in her late twenties or so. She was like an old woman how she walked and talked but looked like a young woman. Her sister was just as bubbly as she had once been and I remember being bewildered when I was told Clare used to be just like Susan is now. She lived with her parents for the rest of her life.

For several reasons I've never really been on the pill, but my gut-level distrust has never made me miss it. The article is sort of disconcerting on that same gut-level.