Thank you Crafty!  And I know too what Dave is talking about.  I got pregnant WHILE an IUD was in.  At the time this was the only viable and safe birth control for women.  Pills were new and because of my physiology the doctors would not prescribe them for me. 

After three children, one on top of the other, I developed the most severe and dangerous form of postpartum depression.  Changes and fluctuations in hormone levels become wild and rampant.  While ‘some’ of this can now be controlled to some degree, back then (I’m old), there was little to no relief.  Because of my fears the doctor and hospital with which he was affiliated approved a letter I wrote under my doctor’s advisement requesting a tubligation.  Even though I was not yet even 23 years old, my letter and compelling reasons were approved by the board of that hospital, the surgery was performed and it was invasive because today’s methods did not exist. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004481/

Symptoms

The symptoms of postpartum depression are the same as the symptoms of depression that occurs at other times in life. Along with a sad or depressed mood, you may have some of the following symptoms:

  Agitation or irritability

  Changes in appetite

  Feelings of worthlessness or guilt

  Feeling withdrawn or unconnected

  Lack of pleasure or interest in most or all activities

  Loss of concentration

  Loss of energy

  Problems doing tasks at home or work

  Negative feelings toward the baby

  Significant anxiety

  Thoughts of death or suicide

  Trouble sleeping

A mother with postpartum depression may also:

  Be unable to care for herself or her baby

  Be afraid to be alone with her baby

  Have negative feelings toward the baby or even think about harming the baby (Although these feelings are scary, they are almost never acted on. Still you should tell your doctor about them right away.)

  Worry intensely about the baby, or have little interest in the baby

Over time, I have learned not to judge someone else’s life or their choices too harshly because one NEVER knows all of the details.

  Steve, to be blunt, how do YOU know that birth control wasn’t used?  Which forms were left out?  Are you SURE? 

  As Crafty said, in my own case, not only was birth control used, MULTIPLE forms were used at the same time.  Believe me, I was VERY careful, yet every other fall or spring there was another young one to be raised.  It can be difficult to deal with that condescending, smug, self-righteous attitude that is all too easily assumed by strangers that know NOTHING of my personal situation!  They just say “Don’t you know where they come from?” and “Why didn’t you use protection?”  That kind of attitude does NOTHING to help the situation, and only serves to insulate the speaker from reality. 

  Look, sometimes things happen.  Things we would NOT have chosen.  And then we go about trying to do the best we can with the hand we’ve been dealt.  Just because we are able to be honest and voice our doubts and concerns and the reality of our lives doesn’t mean that we would necessarily go back and change anything. (Though in some cases…)

  To come on a forum where you have NO background info and spout off platitudes about how we should have done “this” or “that” and life would be peachy keen is shallow and ignorant.  Sometimes that one in a million thing happens.  Sometimes repeatedly.  If it hasn’t happened to you, then consider yourself lucky, don’t look down on those where it has.   [/rant]

Sorry folks, didn’t mean to go so off topic, but I had to respond.

I am thinking there may be more to Steve’s remarks than what appears obvious though.  My mind conjures:

http://en.wiki.org/wiki/The_lady_doth_protest_too_much,_methinks  The .quotation “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, scene II. The phrase has come to mean that one can “insist so passionately about something not being true that people suspect the opposite of what one is saying.”[1]

Anyone so adamant would appear to have an underlying anger about ‘too many offspring’.  Perhaps in the case of welfare abuse, perhaps because they had been an orphan; perhaps because a parent or parent(s) did not meet up with their needs or expectations; perhaps because they are unable to have children; perhaps because children just irritate them; or just because they needed to sound off at the moment.

Steve, is there a specific reason why this may have caused you such grand irritation?

[I’m aware that I’m off topic too…..............................unless, of course this sidebar is also a cause to further mistrust?]

And back to what Acci said too, yes I do think that trusting your doctor as a friend, trusting their judgments does play a vital roll in patient care.  Historically I had perhaps 2 people who were doctors treating me that I felt I could trust.  One was not from this country and the other nearly half a century ago.  Trust is a huge platform and a huge responsibility.  A doctor who only is ‘reminded’ of you by looking at your chart to see what they scribbled down during last visits is not a friend, not one I can truthfully trust….they do not know me and I don’t know them.  What I do know is that I’m not going to Jiffy Lube for a monthly maintenance change of oil and inspection, yet this is how I feel treated.  It’s important for a doctor to know and understand the psyche of a patient as well as the physiology because there are some patients who respond well to blatant news and others for whom such news will mean immediate death of the spirit. 

I do believe there doctors who take such care with individuals and even entire families but they typically only exist now in areas of very sparce populations.

Robin Bobcat - 11 February 2011 04:02 PM

Yeah.. I wouldn NOT be surprised to find, say, Nancy Malik’s name attached to that article.. or the Power Balance idiots.. or any number of the quacksters we see rummaging around this place. This is exactly the sort of ‘woo! scary doctors!’ language they like to use.

Let’s play a game - let’s change every instance of ‘doctor’ in that article with ‘auto repairman’. Then I’ll believe it.

Why are you dragging my name into it?

Dr. Nancy Malik - 08 March 2013 10:49 AM

Robin Bobcat - 11 February 2011 04:02 PM

Yeah.. I wouldn NOT be surprised to find, say, Nancy Malik’s name attached to that article.. or the Power Balance idiots.. or any number of the quacksters we see rummaging around this place. This is exactly the sort of ‘woo! scary doctors!’ language they like to use.

Let’s play a game - let’s change every instance of ‘doctor’ in that article with ‘auto repairman’. Then I’ll believe it.

Why are you dragging my name into it?

Oh, hello again. It’s been a while.

Protip: When Googling your name to see who’s talking about you, it helps to check the dates. Necroposting to a thread that’s over two years old is generally considered rude.

To answer your question, though, I will direct your attention to your many similar posts poo-pooing conventional medicine in favor of little bottles of placebo water.

WOW!  I had to read down almost ALL the comments from a couple years ago to see what we were discussing and I’m the one who first posted it!

Dr. Nancy Malik - 08 March 2013 10:49 AM

Robin Bobcat - 11 February 2011 04:02 PM

Yeah.. I wouldn NOT be surprised to find, say, Nancy Malik’s name attached to that article.. or the Power Balance idiots.. or any number of the quacksters we see rummaging around this place. This is exactly the sort of ‘woo! scary doctors!’ language they like to use.

Let’s play a game - let’s change every instance of ‘doctor’ in that article with ‘auto repairman’. Then I’ll believe it.

Why are you dragging my name into it?

I don’t know about that article but I have no faith in Homeopathy. There is no such thing as “evidence based Homeopathy”.