I was in a car accident and suffer from herniated disks and arthritis of my spine. As life changing enough as that is when I received the report from my CT Scan they had other news to tell me as well. I have a liver disease. When the doctor explained how serious this could be and that I need to go to a specialist for further examination because I'm too young (22 years old) for this type of problem I became overwhelmed by emotion, but needed to find out all I could on my condition. I looked up everything I could on the disease and came to find that it's most common in over weight people and people who drink excessively. My argument was I know I’m not in the best shape, but I know plenty of people who are far worse about taking care of their health than I am that don’t have this problem; and as I do enjoy having a social drink I don’t drink that often. Little did I know after further research one of the leading contributors to my condition was the birth control pill that I had been taking since I was 16 years old. I had always had a terrible menstrual cycle. My flow was always very heavy and my cramps were so intense that at least once a month it was guaranteed that I would be in bed clenched up in the fetal position wishing the pain away. To help with my unbearable period my doctor had prescribed that I go on the pill to lessen the severity of my monthly visitor, so I did. It worked wonderfully! The pain was not nearly as bad as before and the flow of the blood lightened immensely as well as giving me shorter monthly periods. Unfortunately for me later on this would give me more problems with my health than I could have ever imagined. Sure enough when I read the small print on the inserted leaflet of my birth control prescription it does say that problems of the liver may occur. There is not a cure for the liver disease that I have, but am told that if I change my lifestyle I can stop it from progressing into cirrhosis of the liver which is ultimately what most people die from when they have liver problems. I am taking all necessary precautions at this time to keep the condition from getting worse, and wanted to share my story with all of you so that every woman is aware of all of the possible risks.