What’s vaginal health care like in your country?

[faithfullyhis4ever]

A few friends and I have found over the past few years of traveling or moving to another country, that getting different kinds of care for our vaginas is way more complicated (or not as complicated) as we originally thought.

For e.g. one friend needs birth control pills to manage cysts, and wound up developing new ones after waiting weeks for her pills to be sent from the US and cleared through EU customs. It turned out that a visit to an English-speaking doctor and buying birth control at a local pharmacy would've been doable for her.

Another friend was unaware for several days (but then informed) that she could get her dislodged IUD taken out for free while she was traveling in the UK. The list goes on.

So we're setting up a blog on vaginal health care around the world - including what you have to do to get birth control, treatments for infections, testing, pregnancy care, etc.

Is anyone open to sharing what it's like accessing those sorts of health care in the country/ies you've lived or travelled in?

Any piece of info shared in this thread would be very helpful!

Please be advised that any answers will be shared to the blog and our instagram. For privacy reasons, respondents will only be identified by a random letter and their city name (e.g. K in Amsterdam) or as they ask to be identified.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mahlon]

@faithfullyhis4ever When I lived in South Korea I could choose from several birth control pills and just buy them for 7-15 dollars a pack, without a prescription, over the counter at the grocery store pharmacy. I don’t think I even needed to provide my alien registration card, and didn’t need to answer any questions.

Getting a Mirena put in cost me ~350$, primarily for the cost of the system. This also included transvaginal ultrasounds to check perfect placement, and the cost of antibiotic suppositories.

Going in for checkups post insertion was usually around 40$, again including transvaginal ultrasounds and really professional care from a great doctor who did her best to communicate with me (my Korean wasn’t great).

All was with the national health insurance plan. I paid about 15$ a month for it, and my employer contributed too.

 

[weaknessofflesh]

@faithfullyhis4ever I live in the UK and contraception is always completely free. Obviously most of our health care is free but you pay for prescriptions unless you can’t afford it (e.g. you’re a student or unemployed etc.), although it is a fixed price of £9 regardless of the medication, and I think there are other exemptions like you don’t have to pay for diabetes medication etc. But any kinda of contraception is free, and relatively easy to access. Also it means your parents don’t have to know if you’re under 18 and want to go on the pill or something, they’ll only be informed if you’re considered at risk in some way or of course if you want to tell them.

 

[joshuadavid]

@weaknessofflesh Also, that it doesn't matter what age you are ANY woman can get emergency contraception for free! I've had many friends shocked when I tell them I've never paid, I just go to the GUM clinic, ellaone isn't cheap either. There are a few ad campaigns like those for the c-card and the age ranges for Chlamydia and sti etc screening saying you need to be 16-25 and I guess maybe that confuses people beyond that age, but that's only a few external services. BC is always free on the NHS as you've said

 

[frontier]

@weaknessofflesh That's awesome! Here in the US if you can't afford your diabetes medication, you just die.

 

[weaknessofflesh]

@frontier Ive heard so many awful stories about medical costs in America. I have an aunt in the US who is in 10s of thousands of dollars of debt because of medical costs, never understand why she doesn’t move back to the UK

 

[ariamadison]

@faithfullyhis4ever I'm from Croatia.

I'm fairly new to birth control, I've started it in April last year. To say the least, it's been a roller coaster. If you're prone to infections, birth control might make it worse for you. I had to wait for an appointment very long, and then every next appointment aswell. Or, I had to explain my problems over the phone (it was basically the same problem every time) if I didn't want to wait in line for over an hour because the waiting room was always PACKED. This is the first time I've heard about birth control, no one mentions the benefits or the risks in sex ed. It's highly shameful because it could help so many young girls.

The good news is, it's fairly cheap. For a broke student like me, 60 kunas(around 8$) a month is duable. I'm on Yaz and it changed my skin and the amount of pain, but it takes a toll on the mental health.

Edit: Public healthcare is free, so the appointments are covered by the health insurance. You have to cover a fee when buying pills. BUT, I'm not even sure if IUDs and birth control besides pills are even available, or if you have to pay. No one talks about it unless you specifically ask your doctor.

 

[stampit3d]

@ariamadison I took Yaz between ages 16 to 25, and I had huge mental issues cause of them, and my libido was super low as well. I recently swapped to another "lighter" pill but i feel like these ones take a toll on my mental health as well. And they make me develop a fat belly even tho I still weigh exactly the same

 

[katrina2017]

@faithfullyhis4ever I live in Canada and my experience has been great.

I first brought up getting birth control back in March and I immediately was sent to get blood tests to make sure all reproductive hormones were good, I had no UTIs or STIs, and I wasn’t pregnant.

Everything was great except for my LH hormone levels which I was immediately sent for another blood testing and everything was fine with it.

I was pretty set on getting an IUD (hormonal) when I first brought up birth control but I was still told about my other options and given lots of information about their pros and cons. In the end the IUD was seen as the best fit for me because of the fact that I suffer from chronic migraines.

I didn’t decide fully on getting my IUD until late July because I was pretty scared and it was pretty daunting as I had never had any professional look at my lady bits before (I’m 19). I was immediately referred to a obgyn and had my appointment at the end of August only because she was on vacation.

My insertion experience was pretty great, the gyno I went to actually has an informative YouTube channel which I used to prep for my insertion.

My IUD was the only thing I had to pay for and because of my insurance (mandatory by my uni) I had 60% of the price covered. However the gyno appointment and insertion is all covered by out health care system.

I had another check up a month following the insertion because my gyno likes to do that and it was also quite fast and efficient.

When I’m 21 I’m going to start getting Pap smears and other check ups and it’s all covered again because woohoo Canada.

I have friends who have taken the pill and other forms of birth control and that is usually done through their family doctor or any GP really. I know people from outside of Canada who were able to easily get BC by seeing doctors here but they do have to pay seeing as they are not citizens. However they’ve had blood work and other testing completed for free.

Pregnant women also get their tests and checkup done for free and most women are seen at least once a month to make sure everything is all good throughout their pregnancies and most abnormalities are covered and handled right away.

 

[isaiah268]

@katrina2017 Wish they all made you do a blood test for hormones before you start birth control! If you’re gonna take hormones for contraceptive the least they can do is get a baseline for future reference. Wish they did that with me. I just asked for BC pills and they just prescribed it to me without digging much about my health first or giving me fair warning. I had suspicions that my testosterone levels were low because of the pill and got my doctor to test it but without knowing my normal values cant really tell if they went down or not.. oh well..

 

[johncval13]

@katrina2017 Just out of curiosity, which province do you live in?

 

[katrina2017]

@johncval13 Ontario

 

[acura]

@katrina2017 Why would an iud help with migraine?

 

[katrina2017]

@acura An iud doesn’t help with it. Any form of birth control with estrogen would make me susceptible to strokes

 

[acura]

@katrina2017 Ah, ok

 

[marshall2004]

@faithfullyhis4ever I'm Norwegian. I got a free appointment with my doctor when I was 14, and complaining about terrible camping, both during and outside my period. During my period, I had to stay home from school for a couple of days, since I couldn't move. He informed me of the different types of BC, and what would most likely help with my pains, and I got a script for some BC pills. They helped a lot, and until I turned 20, I paid nothing. Then I moved to a big City for universitet, where there are multiple clinic for people between ages of 16-26, completely free. Here you can take pregnancy tests with immediate consultation if positive (they help you set up an appt with a gynocologist, and you discuss your options, still free, and an abortion will cost almost nothing if anything at all), you can take tests for STDs (both for men and women) and get the result texted discretely to your phone, there are also classes for Childcare and how to prepare for emergency. They also provide all kinds of BC, and have Obgyns on siste to imsert and remove BC devices. I got my Nexplanon there. All I payed was for the nexplanon itself, wich they provide the script for. I was 21 at the time, and paid full price, if you're younger, you can get it for 700kr. These places also provide mental health care, still free. You get 5 sessions, if I remember correctly, and after, they can refer you to furter mental healthcareproviders if you feel it is helping you.

It is easy to book an gyno appointment, you can ask your doctor (call the office) and ask them to fix one for you. There might be a waiting list if you don't want to spend some extra money on a private clinic.

I feel like my vagina and reproductive needs are well tanken care of, and take seriously here. Young and vounerable people have a lot of options for very cheap and discreet help, atleast if you live near one of the big cities. It is a bit more difficult if you live in rural areas, as you might have a couple of hours of travel to get to a hospital, but clinic are required in every county and municipality, and your doctor there can help you plan further.

It is easy to set up

 

[asyaphari]

@faithfullyhis4ever I sure will be following this...interested in knowing as well!

 

[evander]

@faithfullyhis4ever For me in the uk, getting birth control was quick and easy. I actually used the planned parenthood website to look at options, made sure the one I wanted was available on the nhs, booked an appointment and explained why I wanted that one. She asked me a few questions, seemed satisfied that I knew what I had decided, and the prescription was sent to the chemist that day

The only slightly annoying thing is because nuva is so uncommon, they have to order it in for me every time I want it, as far as the doctor knew I'm the only person in my 10,000 village that is on it.

I help fit coils too, you have to wait about a week or two for an appointment just because we need a certain room, and either myself or a colleague to help the doc fit it. Unless you need a copper coil as emergency contraception, in which case we'll fit you in over lunch time or in the evening, where ever fits because, well it's not called emergency contraception for nothing.

If I need a swab, I either call up the doc to organise it, or go to my local gum clinic which is awesome, and they fit coils too.

I also had an issue with ordering nuva a few months ago, the day it was supposed to go back in the chemist said the manufacturer had ran out, so I got a telephone appointment with my doctor on my lunch break, we talked over some options on the phone and then she sent a prescription for some pills to a pharmacy near where I was on my lunch break, so I could get them straight away and therefore not have a break in my cover.

Obviously, as people in the UK know, the NHS is very much a post code lottery for what you get in your practice, your area etc. So this is just a snap shot of it

 

[staperk]

@evander So strange hearing the term "coil" for a contraceptive! My first thought was the device that damages your tubes, not an IUD/IUS/LARC xD (I have a coworker from the UK, who I learned the term from)

 

[toe]

@faithfullyhis4ever I live in Italy.

We pay for all birth control out of pocket here, which is annoying, but it's much cheaper than it would be in the States without insurance.
For example, generic BC pills usually cost €10-15 per month, a copper IUD costs around €80 and the arm implant costs € 170.
The price of a doctor's visit to get a prescription for birth control (or to get a LARC inserted) depends on wheter you rely on the national health service or a private doctor.
In public hospitals/family planning clinics (called "consultori") you have to pay a fee which varies according to your income- it's free if your income is under a certain treshold.
If you go private, it varies but on average you pay €100 for a prescription for birth control and €200-300 to get an IUD or implant inserted.

Most doctors require you to get a blood test before prescribing a combination method, to check your blood sugar, cholesterol levels and prothrombin time.
The price of these tests is not included in what you pay for your initial visit.

Four regions have created programs to offer free birth control to young and/or low-income residents, but these programs are pretty new and their execution is not perfect yet.

As for emergency contraception, you can get both the levonorgestrel pill (Plan B, called NorLevo or Levonelle here) and the ulipristal acetate pill over the counter if you're over 18.
If you're a minor you need a prescription for both and you can get it from your regular doctor, from a family planning clinic (without needing an appointment) or from the emergency room.