Questions

[syoung]

Hello All! Has anyone switched back to using birth control pills after full recovery? And how does that affect you as far as ppcm? Also any suggestions for birth control besides the mirena would be helpful if anyone has any? Thanks!!

[JAMESFETT]

Works fine, if no clotting issues from previous use. Here's what I wrote in the medical journal, Contraception:

[Fett JD. Family planning methods in peripartum cardiomyopathy. Contraception. 2011 Jul;84(1):109. Epub 2010 Dec 13.]

Family planning methods in peripartum cardiomyopathy:

Thank you for your important article regarding the safety of contraceptive use among women with peripartum cardiomyopathy: a systematic review”. The need for this information is reinforced by the fact that your search “found no data concerning the safety of contraceptive use among women with PPCM...”
We have published an article on precisely this subject. In documenting family planning methods for 100 peripartum cardiomyopathy patients in the Hospital Albert Schweitzer district of Haiti from 2000 to 2006, we identified the following:
Tubal ligation, 10
Five-year implantable hormone, 11
Depot hormone injection every 3 months, 29
Oral contraceptive tablets, 3
Barrier (condoms), 9
Died within 2 months of diagnosis, no contraceptive, 10
Never used any method, 28
We did not identify any complication from any method listed that required discontinuation. The most important aspect of our study was to emphasize that a dangerous risk to the mother of relapse of heart failure from becoming pregnant before recovery of heart function was far greater than any risk of complication from the methods utilized to prevent a new pregnancy.

James D. Fett 2331 Mt Hood Ct., SE, Lacey, WA 98503, USA E-mail address: fett.sprunger@comcast.

References :
[1] Tepper NK, Paulen ME, Marchbanks PA, Curtis KM. Safety of contraceptive use among women with peripartum cardiomyopathy: a systematic review. Contraception 2010;82:95-101 Epub 2010 Mar 12.
[2] Fett JD, Murphy JG. Prevention and control of peripartum cardiomyopathy in Haiti. Prev Control (World Heart Federation) 2005;1:305–7.
[3] Fett KD, Christie LG, Carraway RD, Murphy JG. Five-year prospective study of the incidence and prognosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy at a single institution. Mayo Clin Proc 2005;80:1602–6.

[buckeye]

I use birth control pills and have not had any issues with it.

[JAMESFETT]

Two helpful websites:

http://www.peripartumcmnetwork.pitt.edu

http://www.healingforamothersheart.com

[Maya2010]

My cardiologist actually preferred me to do the birth control shot, Depo, verses birth control pills. Of course, everyone wanted me to do Mirena first but I did not.