Proof of birth control for women of childbearing potential

[nynewbie]

Hi,

I haven't done too many studies before, so I have just run into the requirement to provide proof of my birth control od for the first time. Usually I just tell them what I have and they take my word. The problem is that I got my current birth control from a study I participated in, so I don't think that would count. It is proper birth control the study was to test comfort not effectiveness. Also, I am not sure what kind of documentation they are looking for. I could possibly get soing from when I lived overseas, but I'm not even sure this would be accepted. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
NYNewbie

[FloridaGirl]

I am post menopausal and they still ask me for what contraception I use. So I just say my partner has had a vasectomy.
I think you need to show them a written prescription or actually medication with prescription info on it.
I wonder if you tell them condoms and spermicide if that would be enough, not sure. You could try condoms, spermicide and throw in that your partner has had a vasectomy( they just ask for how long ago was vasectomy)and see what happens or it might be worth it to go to a doctor or clinic and get birth control and be covered.
The money u will make will well cover the cost of birth control for sure.

[labrat1]

I have never been asked to provide "proof" of contraception. The clinics have merely asked me to agree to abide by the rule to use birth control, usually things like condoms, spermicide and perhaps pills and I just have to say that I will abide by it. They were satisfied with that but you have to understand that sometimes for their part, the clinics will ask you to obey a rule during consent and signing the consent means you have agreed. That is the legal part. But if you disobey the rule and some
thing undesirable happens then the clinic will at least basically have themselves covered because they can rightfully say that they asked if you would obey the rules and you said yes and if you went ahead and disobeyed the rule, it is you who messed up and the clinic cannot take responsibility for any medical care you may need because of having had conceived a child while participating in a study.

When I was newer to clinical trials I thought I could argue a bit about it in a certain way, but that was when the requirement was that I have to have had surgery to be sterile and/or any "opposite-sex partner" too.

I would just say (some thing to the effect) that I never had kids that I did not want and actually I never had any kids at all, and at my age that won't change.
I meant it.
But the studies that had very strong requirements so that a person, usually female, cannot conceive while participating, would not listen to that. I learned that if the requirements for birth control or sterilization are strict and you don't meet those requirements, then you are not going to get into that study.

I have been in a few studies in which some female lab rats I was among got pregnant and had to leave the study. And strangely, those females did not know they were pregnant until they were told by the research staff that they failed the pregnancy test. In each case the female rat conceived during an outpatient part of the study.

(That would make a good thread of its own. How many of you have observed such incidents while you were in a study?)

Interestingly, at least for me, I noticed that birth control requirements became less strict for a lot of studies that I applied for as I became more of an experienced lab rat, and mainly it does not seem that it is just because I grew older.
I have not come across a study that requires sterilization in a long time.