Birth control and scheduling a pap

Hello! My spouse visa was approved and I am scheduled to fly out to be with my husband this Thursday! I am currently on the pill, however I am about to reach the placebo week and, since we are newlyweds that haven't been together since we married back in May, we want to be sure we are protected for the time being as well as avoiding the discomfort of messing with my hormones.

So, I have a few questions:

Do I still need to have a pap done just like in the States before getting prescribed my birth control? I am not trying to avoid a pap, just asking standard protocol before sounding stupid when I start this process.

Is it possible to schedule it but still get my prescription when I need it so there is no gap in my cycle? I don't know how understanding (or not) nhs doctors and staff are when it comes to these protocols.

Lastly, are the brands the same? I'll have my prescription on hand to hopefully match the best I can if not.

I'm already a little overwhelmed with no longer having my gyno that I've been with for ages and switching to what I guess is a little less specialized (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this; I don't really have anyone to talk to about what this experience will be like). So if anyone can shed a little light on any of this, I'd truly appreciate it. There are just some things my husband won't be able to answer for me.

Congrats on getting your visa .

Do I still need to have a pap done just like in the States before getting prescribed my birth control? I am not trying to avoid a pap, just asking standard protocol before sounding stupid when I start this process.

Nope - I was put on the pill at age 16 (for my bad skin and for period pain) and I didn't have my first pap until I was 25.

In the UK, paps are only done routinely on the NHS from age 25 and only every 3 years (every 5 years from age 50), unless you have an abnormal smear (though if you have a history of cervical cancer in the family, I believe you can ask for it to be done earlier than age 25)

Is it possible to schedule it but still get my prescription when I need it so there is no gap in my cycle? I don't know how understanding (or not) nhs doctors and staff are when it comes to these protocols.

You might be able to - birth control is free to all, so if you need it quickly, you might be able to just walk into a Family Planning Clinic and get a prescription pretty much on the spot (not sure though, as I've never done this).

You could try to register with a GP as soon as you arrive, but it may take a couple of weeks before you can have an appointment... alternatively, maybe you could be seen as a visiting patient just to get the first prescription and then sort out registering with a GP afterward.

See: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/contraception-guide/Pages/where-can-i-get-contraception.aspx

Lastly, are the brands the same? I'll have my prescription on hand to hopefully match the best I can if not.

Not sure, but there is a big book of equivalent drugs/brands that doctor's and pharmacies should have access to, so they can look up what the equivalent is in the UK.

Thank you; that was very informative!

It's strange how the practices are so different between the US and UK. I am over 25 and a bit of a worrier, so I'll probably make them as routine as possible!

There are some of the same drug brands, but not all. You could do a google search to see if the brand you're on is available. One thing to bear in mind that they don't ALWAYS give you the exact same name brand drug. If the GP I saw when I first came over was familiar with the migraine medication Maxalt, he told me he would have given me the generic for it. Because I didn't know the actual drug name, he just gave me the name brand so I would have the drug I was used too. Even though I told him I'd been taking a generic back in the states.

I'm going to be going in next year for a second IUD/IUS, whatever they call it here. I don't handle BC pills very well. They made my migraines worse. But the IUD has been awesome, after the initial 6 months of not great settling in.

That's a bummer about your migraines. Luckily I don't require any other prescriptions. Though I have noticed that some over the counter medication like pain killers have different names in the UK. I'm allergic to certain NSAIDS so I have to pay attention to ingredients. Apparently paracetamol there is what we call acetaminophen here. Life is going to be interesting for a good while, isn't it?

Yep, paracetamol is acetaminophen... Exact same drug, it's just that different countries took different parts of its full name: para-acetylaminophenol

Other than that, I'm not sure of any other drugs that have a different drug name (I used to work in a pharmacy). Aspirin and ibuprofen are the same, but the brand names may be different.

Plus you can buy some codeine products over the counter - low dose co-codamol (500mg paracetamol, 8mg codeine), Nurofen Plus (ibuprofen and codeine).

A couple of other things:
- Benadryl here is non-drowsy (different antihistamine)
- what is sold as Benadryl in the US is sold as a sleeping tablet in the UK (Nytol)
- you can buy Sudafed over the counter (pseudoephedrine), but no more than 12 tablets
- antibiotic creams like Neosporin are prescription only
- Night Nurse and Day Nurse are similar to NyQuil and DayQuil but have slightly different ingredients
- you can't buy more than 32 painkiller tablets off the shelf (they come in packs of 16). If you want more than 32 in total, you need to go to a pharmacy counter or get them on prescription.
- Aleve (naproxen) is prescription only, although it is licensed to be sold over the counter for period pain only (as Feminax Ultra, I believe)... It's not called Aleve in the UK though, so just call it naproxen if you ask about it



Sent from my iPod using Tapatalk

Ksand, you're better than the Internet when it comes to so many things.

Visas, medicine, weather... where does your knowledge end?

 

I'll preface this with the usual "your mileage may vary" disclaimer, but I prefer getting my birth control from the local walk-in sexual health clinic over my GP. 

Getting an appointment with my GP is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock unless you're bleeding out right then and there, and for some reason, I can't get more than 3 months of birth control without needing to come back for a review appointment (which is rarer than gold to get in time before my prescription runs out).

With my local walk-in sexual health clinic, they're open 6 days a week, have extended evening hours almost every day, and I've always gotten an appointment as a walk-in.  They cover all the birth control methods, and when I asked, they gave me enough pills for 6-12 months at a time when I explained that I've been on this particular method for years and haven't had a problem.

Ksand, you are a true hero. That is SO helpful to know before I sound even more like an idiot in the pharmacy than I already will.

Aquila, thank you for that suggestion. I will rather do that and just use the gp for my routine things. I think pretty soon we will be talking about the whole baby thing, but we aren't there just yet. So it sounds like you have the best solution for me!

I've heard very good things about family planning clinics as well.

I would go on and get one or two months more before you leave is you are not in a panic.  Things don't always work quickly here!

Defo head to your local sexual health clinic. They should have drop-in hours and will be able to give you a prescription right then. You will not need a smear test to get birth control - from an expense point of view, they don't want you to have an unplanned pregnancy and will do whatever needed to help you prevent it. You may have to answer some rather saucy sexual history questions 😉😉😉 Ahhhhhh... my early twenties.

Apologies if someone else has already mentioned it, but it might help you to know that 'that' test is called a smear test, or a cervical smear in the UK, rather than a 'pap'.

I don't know why, but that term 'pap' just makes me cringe! 

Apologies if someone else has already mentioned it, but it might help you to know that 'that' test is called a smear test, or a cervical smear in the UK, rather than a 'pap'.

I don't know why, but that term 'pap' just makes me cringe! 

My mother-in-law always refers to the test as a "smear". That gives me cold chills! "Pap" isn't better but "smear" is simply horrible. Lol

My mother-in-law always refers to the test as a "smear". That gives me cold chills! "Pap" isn't better but "smear" is simply horrible. Lol

Couldn't agree more!!

You can use something like this to find your nearest clinic.

We can help you find a free contraception or sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment clinic.

http://www.fpa.org.uk/find-a-clinic