Should I stop taking my birth control pills before surgery?

I am scheduled for surgery on April 8. Docs are going to try to do my surgery laparoscopically, but may have to do it abdominally due to congested veins in my uterus. I've been bleeding for 5 weeks now and still taking my birth control pill daily.

I'm wondering if I should keep taking it up until the day of my surgery or stop at some point before hand. Anyone have any experience with this? I'm afraid if I stop taking it now I'll bleed even more than I am now, but don't want to do something that will affect the surgery? Help!

I would call your doctor. Stopping any medication is a really touchy situation.

I did end up calling my doctor's office and they told me to keep taking it, so that is what I will do. I just remember seeing a question on the list of things to ask your doctor that said "should I continue to take my birth control pill?" and it was something I hadn't thought about it until then.

I'm glad I can still take it.

I was already on the pill and have been bleeding 45 days straight. When I first went to the ER they told me to double them up. At the time they didn't know what was causing the bleeding and said it was 'hormonal.' I took 2 a day for less than a week and it didn't help.

After finding out the bleeding was NOT 'hormonal,' two different doctors told me they had absolutely no way of knowing if stopping the pills would make it worse and both left it entirely up to me. I chose to drop it back down to 1 and have lighter bleeding that only worsens with activity.

Basically, if the bleeding cause is something other than hormones then the pill won't make a difference either way. That's my understanding of it.

When you have your pre-op they will tell you what to be on or off before surgery.

I also will have my TAH POSSIBLE BSO ON APRIL 8TH AND WAS GOING TO STOP MY BC PILLS..GLAD I CAME ON TODAY......I AM OFFICIALLY EXPERIENCING MY LAST MENTRUAL CYCLE.......HOW WONDERFUL

I would call dr to be safe, i had to take mine up in to the day befor surgery but every one is differnt for stoping pills good luck
hugs
lisa

I would told by my doc to stop taking my birth control pills 2 weeks prior to surgery because then you'll have a less chance of developing blood clots after your surgery.

TAH/kept ovaries

My Doctor told me to stop my OCP's during my pre-op. She knew it would start my bleeding and make sure that I would abstain from sexual activity and make sure I wasn't pregnant for my procedure.

I would ask your doctor again at the pre-op to verify. Since you have the "congested veins in your uterus" your provider may want to minimize the flow, by keeping you on the OCPs until after your procedure. Is your provider removing your ovaries too? Some providers will keep you on OCPs if you are keeping your ovaries to minimize the ovarian shock some women experience after the surgery.

I hope this helps! I wish you the best of luck.