I
was giving a talk to doctors on “why women don’t take
their birth control.” One of the top reasons was they
didn’t have it on hand. My friend Perla Ni and I thought,
"we can solve this." Our idea was to just ship birth
control to them and keep shipping it until they say
"stop." We’ll make it delightful (freebies and via your
phone) and with automatic refills. Then we ran ads for
“free birth control delivery” and 60% of those that
responded didn’t have a prescription. I’m a doctor, I can
write prescriptions, and thus Pandia Health was born - the
end-to-end solution from an asynchronous doctor’s visit to
medications delivered by mail. Free delivery, automatic
refills; set it and forget it. Let Pandia Health worry, so
you don’t have to.
What are some
misconceptions people have about birth control?
It
causes you to gain weight, which it doesn’t. Research has
shown that if you put 50 women on the pill and 50 women
not on the birth control pill, the women NOT on the pill
weigh 1lb more, because the women not on the pill bloat up
and down. Those on the pill stay smooth - no ups and
downs.
Another
misconception is that it gives you acne. Actually, if your
acne is worse because of your periods/hormonal
fluctuations, any birth control pill, patch, ring should
make your acne better.
Finally,
there is a misconception of "brand birth control pills.”
Ninety-five percent of birth control pills are generic.
Generic is as good as brand in most cases.
With
anti-abortion laws going into effect in numerous states,
how much more important does that make access to birth
control?
Roe
v. Wade could be overturned in March 2022. This means you
need to get your birth control under control. Know your
options.
The price of birth
control pills can range from $0 with insurance up to $50
without insurance. Add the price of a doctor’s visit and
it can be quite a financial burden. What are some ways
to lower costs? How does the Pandia Birth Control Fund
address this?Most
generic birth control pills are $15-$20 per pack. Ninety
percent of people are on generic birth control pills.
Generic birth control pills are generally as good as
name-brand.
You can use Pandia Health’s expert birth control doctors
for just $20 once a year. So, for less than
one-month's health insurance, you have your birth
control ($195 + $20 for the doctor’s visit) covered. $15
per pack equals less than 50 cents a day.
However,
if you can’t afford $20 per month, then there is the
Pandia Health Birth Control Fund - just apply and we give
out free birth control pills (generic) and doctor’s visits
(if needed) depending on how much money we have in the
fund and who is in the most need. If you have anything to
spare, please donate to the fund:
https://www.pandiahealth.com/social-good/
For many, it’s
still uncomfortable or embarrassing to discuss women’s
reproductive health issues with their doctors. What are
some ways to make it less awkward to bring up issues you
may be having?
You
can email your doctor or write down your questions. Know
that your doctors have seen a lot of uteri-bearing people
and heard all sorts of stories and answered all kinds of
questions. You are not alone. You will not be the first to
ask your question.
Pandia
Health is an asynchronous telemedicine. You don’t have to
see or have anyone hear you as you answer the questions,
and you can live chat with our patient care advisors in a
secure chat. You can also text, although this method is
not HIPAA compliant. We also host Facebook and Youtube
live streams the first Tuesday of every month at 5pm PT
en español or 5:30pm
PT in English where you can hop on and get
your questions answered live.
Are
there any specific women’s reproductive
health issues that affect Asian American women more?
Vietnamese
women are known to have lower rates of HPV screening and
thus higher cervical cancer.
- Get
your HPV vaccine if you haven’t already
- Get
your pap or HPV screening starting at age 21 (or soon
to change to 25 years old, because the vaccine and HPV
screening is that good!)
Know
that most of medicine was centered around Caucasians, so
for birth control, I’ve found that desogestrel is a better
progesterone than norgestimate, but each uterine-bearing
person is different.
Turning to the
internet for information and self-diagnosing happens all
the time. What should we keep in mind and how can we
ensure that the information is accurate?
Don’t
do it. Go to a doctor you trust. You didn’t go to medical
school and you don’t know which websites to trust,
although, in general, a .edu website from a trusted
university hospital should be okay.
Not only are you
a doctor and an entrepreneur, but you’ve also co-founded
The Trust Women Silver Ribbon
Campaign, SheHeroes.org and the #FFFL (Female
Founded, Female Led) movement. How did you become
involved in these organizations?
For SheHeroes.org,
my sorority sister brought me as an adolescent
medicine expert to talk about how if young women are
inspired, they will avoid getting pregnant, doing
drugs etc. SheHeroes.org provides
free
online videos targeting third-eighth graders to
show them those with uteri can be whatever we want to
be, as long as we work hard. They also offer free
online video profiles of women in jobs where we are
under-represented.
For
The Trust Women Silver Ribbon Campaign,
I saw the red ribbon for AIDS and said we needed
something similar for abortion. Abortion affects 51%
of the population, yet we don’t get the same support
as the prevent AIDS movement. So, those that Trust
Women to make decisions about their bodies should wear
a Silver Ribbon to symbolize that they do so. The
silver ribbon has also been used for Mental Health
awareness/support and both are great causes.
#FFFL
I started it to bring awareness to Female Founded,
Female Led companies. We only receive 3% of VC funding
and that number most recently went down. So, all
things equal, choose Female Founded, Female Led. Ask
who is the founder? who is the owner? who is the
CEO?
What would be
your motto?
If
you don’t ask, you don’t get. Don’t be afraid to ask:
for help, money, advice, etc. Always
Be closing. Pay it forward. Do unto others as you would
have done unto you.
How did the idea
for Pandia Health come about?