Contraception: The Poll

Pill now. Was on Depo for years and years though. Nuvaring is probably my favorite ever.

a poll on ilx without celibacy as an option is no poll at all

ED

having sex with motss

c on ts

Can't make a withdrawal without making a deposit, Catholics.

At the moment it's condoms, but when I'm dating someone regularly, it's obviously whatever she prefers to use. Mostly that's been the pill, but I've heard positive comments from people who've used the ring.

(xxpost) other missing poll options:

- celibacy (voluntary)
- celibacy (involuntary)
- homosexuality

Yeah, the lack of a celibacy option is a big problem here.

I know it says "do/did" but I... can't... remember!

Could celibacy really be considered a form of "contraception" though? I mean, how many people are celibate only because they don't want to get pregnant?

You'd be surprised.

Also, "I am past the menopause and don't give a fuck" is not an option (but will be my method of choice soon.)

how

Also, I'm not being entirely disingenuous here... considering that in parts of the world, abstinence is promoted as the ONLY acceptable option, I do wonder if anyone finds this in any way workable option.

I do realise that there's quite a big difference between my self-imposed lifestyle choice, and that of a young person raised within the confines of a political ideology/religion which imposes it upon them.

Being someone who is celibate, I know that it requires a certain kind of person/mind/sexuality - so I would never impose it on others, but there are vast amounts of people who would.

sarah palin to thread

does willful impotence count

more importantly, why am i listening to spacemen 3 on last.fm

What does willful impotence mean exactly?

obstinate contraception

Tantric sex?

er that shoulda been obstinate celibacy rather

damn thread title's got me oh-so confused

cross+post, natch

withdrawal worked for me

when

for about 15 years

- celibacy (voluntary)
- celibacy (involuntary)
- homosexuality

contraception is not needed in these situations

As someone is involved from the other end can I vote nuva ring FTW. Seems to be the least hassle for all involved.

withdrawal rocks

uh oh TMI

yeah it really worked for you guys!!!!

jk

right on

haha. its like gambling with the odds v slightly in your favor!

plus mandatory cs on something

^^otm

does anyone use the pills made to be taken continuously such as seasonique or lybrel? maybe i could start a thread about this. thinking baout things.

Hang on... I'm just trying to get my head around the logic behind this.

Contraception = trying to avoid pregnancy.

So you say that abstinence is simply not a contraceptive method. Despite vast amounts of money being poured into "sex education" in the US that claims abstinence is the *only* contraceptive method.

Are we quibbling about words here (that abstinence may be birth control, but isn't technically contraceptive because no sex was involved) or is the political/ideological nastiness of the latter of those two options above making you throw out the entire idea that it could be used as a form of birth control?

I mean, granted, I didn't choose to be celibate *solely* with the aim of avoiding pregnancy, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a big plus. (It's 100% effective, after all.)

I'm certainly NOT advocating or promoting it as an option for anyone else - but I think it's naive - and perhaps politically motivated - to say that it's *not* an option at all.

(I mean, perhaps my annoyance is based on those yearly checkups where the doctor always asks me "what contraception are you using" and I say "celibacy" and she says "nope, that's not an option on my list and I have to check something." That this is somehow inconceivable as an option for a healthy woman of child-bearing age.)

A: that abstinence may be birth control, but isn't technically contraceptive because no sex was involved

I dont think anyone says abstinence is the only contraceptive. Its more like abstinence is the only way to be 100% sure you wont get pregnant.

Its an option but i wouldnt call it a contraceptive method.

I was under the impression that US right wing bible bangers had been shoving it down kids throats along with Intelligent Design. I guess I gotta stop reading those liberal newspapers and stuff. Ha ha!

They have and they do, but it's more like Rock Hardy says. And they don't give out info on the other types.

That's just plain dumb and counterproductive. Argh.

I don't remember what I said, but I'm sure it was OTM.

My own answer is vasectomy. That shit hurt! (But not as bad as having a baby, I'm sure.)

tell me about this nuvaring thing! side effects? have just gone off the pill again because i kept forgetting to take it, plus i hate the is-this-making-me-mental-or-not feeling when i'm on it (i.e. is it just shit going on in my life or is this fake hormone making everything feel 10x worse than it should).

i looked at the website (this thing is not even available in NZ) and it sounds great, but i'm always dubious about anything containing hormones.

Side effects are next to nil (I had none when I used it) because the hormone dose is HELLA low. It doesn't have to have much, cause it doesn't need to travel dar in your body, basically.

I have had side effects (mainly just zombie or robot "feelings") while on every other hormonal method.

the problem with pill side effects for me is that they're not blatantly obvious and come on slowly, so i don't realise the change till i go off it (eg. i'm managing my anxiety/stress/etc about living in a new country much better since i went off it). i hadn't been on the pill for about 2 yrs and went back on right before i came to the US... pretty fucking stupid plan, really, but i procrastinated. so then i didn't know if it was this new pill fucking me up or the fuck that i was uprooting my whole life.

Tough to tell in most situations with that stuff, yeah. Just ride it out.

lol 'the fuckfact that i was uprooting my whole life'

haha i read it that way anyways

haha..me too

i know a couple girls who went on the nuvaring and couldnt stop crying for days and days so... ymmv

IUD and cervical cap are not the same thing. Isn't a cervical cap similar to a diaphragm?

xpost, I don't think that's an expected side effect of...anything.

AAAAGGHH, IUD and Cervical Cap were supposed to be on different lines!!!!

And yeah, a cervical cap is similar to a diaphragm, but thicker, rubber and fits directly, snugly over your cervix.

i havent been on the pill since 04 but even then it was only for 2 months. before that i think it was early 90s. i become a complete whiney bitch when im on the pill.

well im always kind of a whiney bitch so lets super whiney super bitch

plus i dont give a shit about shorter periods. who cares.

i've been pretty emotional on it, but there's been some mega shit going down so it's hard to tell wtf is up anyway

i doubt it's pill-related, though. it's low-dose (mircette). I was on a very high dose BC method (depo) long ago, and it just made me cold and emotionless.

xpost otm, mine's like 3 days tops anyways

one of life's biggest lols is that BCs often lower your sex drive

I'm all about no periods. this is one of the reasons I took the pill for so long. But so far I have had no periods with my IUD either.

i mean, we can land a fucking man on the moon

xpost

hey how long have you had an IUD and which kind do you have, susan?

i thought they banned iuds years ago because it was make ladies infertile. i guess theyve fixed them since then. don't all you non period chicks worry that its screwing up your fertility should you want babbies down the road?

Nah, it doesn't hurt you at all not to have a period, look at the observant Jews -- they stay pregnant or breastfeeding pretty much their entire adult lives, and it doesn't seem to stop them from having 11 children each.

I back the ring 100% but I just went off it because I miss the hormonal high of ovulation, when every masculine characteristic in the world looks magical. Keeps life interesting.

Have researched IUDs but it seems the new ones are also hormonal in nature, there's at least a little bit of hormonal affect in addn to the chemical (copper or whatev). I think if I were going through the pain/discomfort of having an IUD inserted, I'd want to be totally artificial hormone-free...?

they still use copper? i thought the copper was the problem?

The problem was, I think, only with one brand (the Dalkon Shield) and had to do with the string or stem that protrudes from the uterus, and the kind of string they were using could harbor bacteria and give it a way to travel erm, up. At least that's my understanding. Nothing to do with copper that I'm aware of.

I've got some contraception: twenty minutes of cybersex with my boyfriend (who is at home) while I am at work. No fear there, except my boss leaning over my shoulder... of course I now want to skip out early...

I use the pill, I love the pill though I suspect it's contributed to weight gain. I am also always tickled when I go to buy more and I use our shared account as per my boyfriend's insistence!

hey how long have you had an IUD and which kind do you have, susan?

Only six weeks. I have mirena, the plastic, hormone kind. I mostly didn't want to mess with having another pill to take everyday. It's also more reliable and cheaper (assuming you have insurance to cover it).

The insertion hurt like hell for about 20 seconds and then it was done.

I know I've talked about it endlessly on other threads but there's nothing wrong with skipping periods. The obgyns I've had for the past six or seven years have had no issue with it. Also, the period you have on the pill isn't real anyway.

I skipped periods on Depo for about 4 years, and it definitely didn't mess with my fertility. When I went off of it I promptly became pregnant.

I use the pill, I love the pill though I suspect it's contributed to weight gain

Man, about the halfway point of the pill pack I want to eat everything all day. I suspceted this was making me gain weight, but I weighed myself and had lost 4 pounds.

Pills be makin' women crazy and shit.

One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small

now that's just plain mean (funny though).

Which is this small pill?

trimspa baby

dexamphetamine

ru 486

Yeah, that doesn't stop conception, if you can believe it! And it's not called that anymore unless you're French.

it was a response to this:

Which is this small pill?

― I'm right right and you're wrong left (Susan), Monday, September 22, 2008 3:46 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you goof

oh haha, i had it bookmarked so i forgot that shit even happened
carry on

ok

an abortion would make you smaller

I find it kinda sad that in the past I've actually used withdrawal (several times) and morning after pills (once) as a contraceptive method. In both cases it was by mutual agreement, but it's still not a wise thing to do at all. What is it about sexing that makes you throw all rational thinking down the well?

i get it now n/a!!!!! lol

oh god i used withdrawal for 12 years and it rocked but i suspect i had a good luck charm hanging over me

When my wife and I first hooked up, there were 3-4 times there with no birth control at all. Considering how fast she became pregnant when we decided to start trying for a baby, we shudder to think of the bullet we dodged.

one of life's biggest lols is that BCs often lower your sex drive

maybe that's what makes it work....

my kingdom for a male pill that will not cause most of my body hair to fall out

and/or my shapely bum to atrophy

Form of contraception on first date with current partner: none!
Times ejaculated into: 7

...blame me being drunk and not saying "condom?" before he entered me. I figured he'd pull out, he figured I was on the pill, and I was too embarassed after the first time to admit it, so I held my breath and kept going. The date lasted about 30 hours, I went to work and straight to the clinic afterwards. Got on the pill but didn't think to get tested... we're still together almost 3 years later and I have since been tested for STDs, all clear. Phew. Never pregnant ever, and came clean to him sometime around six months in when he was reading my emails (we were being silly.. reading each other emails to friends about our first date). I had emailed a friend telling her about the embarassing mistake and didn't think of it when we were reading old emails..

rhythm worked for years until we got (purposefully?) sloppy. Now we are parents.

Now looking for non-pill, safer-than-rhythm method...

do something nonhormonal, maybe diaphragm or cerv. cap

does cc stay in all the time?

Either way. You gotta take it out and empty it after your period, though.

oh god

im not good with the ickiness

You can always take it out before your period and do whatever you normally do.

does nuvaring stay in?

I think it comes out before your period and then you put a new one in.

yeah and you can also take it out for up to 4 hours (so if you want to take it out and have sex, etc)

god. im just gonna keep having babbies

i think nuvaring sounds funnest! i like hormonal, never had a problem

ok here's a question -- i want an IUD (mirena sounds ok, it's low hormone, right?) but they say that you can only get one "if you have had a child"

1) is this true?
2) if so, why? is it psychological (maybe you want to have babby) or physical?

ps currently using nuva, got no problem with it but trying to get rid of period-related migraines

you can get one without having had a child; my friend has one. but i think it could slip out easier or something? a physical thing, can't remember what it was.

i was getting really angry reading the website, because there were ZERO answers to my question and it just kept saying "Mirena could work for you if..." and "Mirena is not for you if..." but the two did not jive on the babby-having question.

also i have insurance, but it will not cover this thing, so i have to make sure i want it when i go in.

no clue what this website is but the bottom says you may have a smaller uterus if never pregnant http://www.epigee.org/guide/iud.html

sucks that insurance won't cover it :((((((((

no kidding
i wonder how much a vasectomy costs.

y'know the first day i went to see m,y obgyn when i was 12 weeks pregs with le beeps one of the first qs his nurse asked me was "do you want your tubes tied immediately following the birth?" uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

like lets try to grow this one first before getting all up in that tube tying bus, yeah?

that said, im so in love with my obstetrician PP refers to him as my boyfriend.

Doctors used to only give IUDs to women who'd already had kids because:

1. The medical establishment have a long history of being assholes who know what's better for you than you do,
2. The uterus is more accessible in women who have birth-ed a babby, and
3. The infamous FAIL of the Dalkon Shield and all the cases of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) that it led to made docs very nervous that you could get a bad case of PID from your IUD and end up infertile, so better not to use it until you already had one or more babby to keep you happy and fulfilled as a woman.

The only one of those that doesn't make me stabby is #2, and in fact it's perfectly fine to get an IUD even without ever being pregnant, it may however take more skill from the doc and it will def be painful/uncomfortable either way. Also, the new generation of IUDs are shaped differently and are easier to insert. So basically hormonal birth control can suck it.

HOWEVER, SUCTION-OPERATED menstrual devices such as the Keeper used to come with warnings (do they still?) that they were incompatible with IUDs because of the risk that suction could dislodge your birth control device.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/The_More_You_Know.jpg

My gf got an IUD despite never having kids (and stating that she never wanted any) because she was still smoking cigarettes in her mid-30's and on the pill and her OBGYN figured it was the better risk, health-wise.

^^^xp non-ironic, btw

apparently scalpel-free vasectomy will run you $400-$700 sans insurance
mirena is $586 and not permanent, still hormonal and possibly painful.

hm.

I wonder what the scalpel-free method consists of? I had mine done in the dark ages (1990) -- felt like the dr. was sawing at my nads with a piece of chert.

this is all so horrible

...

chert?

this is all so horrible
you mean, like the fact that people have to endure pain to gain control of their reproductive faculties?
yes, that is horrible.

yes, sarcasto, thats exactly what i mean

Yeah, SARCASTO. Serisly, she's like the most earnest person in Chicago. Probably in Illinois.

A. Manda, there are non-hormonal IUDs too; ParaGuard is one. I think more are available in Europe than here.

In Europe there's a "frameless" IUD called GyneFix that isn't T-shaped: more info here.

And an account of having it "anchored" into the uterus here:

ah geez
now i'm embarrassed. i would just like to know what i want (or, what we want) before we go to the doc. our insurance plan doesn't cover anything that doesn't involve getting hit by a bus/chronic condish.

Really Europe is about eight million miles ahead of us, in this arena. There are multiple copper-only IUD avail in England, and even more in Belgium where the inventor of the GyneFix lives. Also I think the non-hormonal ones last longer, I've been seeing ten years as a ballpark. Which is like forever in terms of fertility when you're already in yr 30s, basically.

awww...im just messin'. contraception does make me queasy though.

It's repugnant to me that American women are going overseas and paying the $500 insertion/doctor's fee out of pocket rather than limit themselves to USian options (and either no healthcare or plans that don't cover fertility planning anyway, which is...beyond, just beyond).

everything said above is true. Mirena is low-hormone and most women like it for the period control. The copper kind has no hormone.

I have had no children and it hurt like hell when it was inserted. The contraction I felt I thought could be similar to birth contractions. It felt like a hand reached inside me and balled up all my lady parts. But that only lasted for about 20 seconds and then I felt like I had been kicked in the nuts for the rest of the day. (I love how all of my descriptions of pain are based on things I've never actually felt). Fine the next day, not bleeding, nada.

My insurance covered it but I noticed on the bill it was $500-something for the device and $500-something for the insertion. My doctor said I could keep it for 5 years.

Susan, did the doc prescribe (or recommend) any kind of muscle relaxant or painkillers? I mean hit me with some Klonopin or I'm coming in on Valium.

She gave me a "cervix softener" to take six hours beforehand which was supposed to help. Besides that, she just recommended ibuprofen. I was much more anxious about it than I should have been. A few moments for five years of no worries is a good trade-off.

i agree that this doesn't sound SO bad, but compare to no-scalpel vasectomy
read here
it involves some freezing and some pinching.

ok, and some cauterizing

Laurel this is OT but is Klonopin better than valium in your opinion. The last time I took valium was probably 6 years ago and it felt GOOD but my doc recently prescribed Klonopin for panic attacks and it makes me feel like shite.

I love klonipin over xanax, valium and atavin.

what dose?

teensy, can't even remember. Mine is just mild anxiety though. I didn't really like valium b/c it made me feel stoned. Klonpin just takes the edge off. Isn't ativan more fast-acting and better for attacks?

but i like the stoned

I have never taken either/any. I used to have a friend who was prescribed Klonopin for anxiety attacks and he was a big person but whatever dose his doc recommended, it made him S-P-A-C-E-Y. Like, scarily spacey. Like high and about to pass out. I would not like to be that way.

when my bf was researching IUDs for me, he read some stuff about how even the non-hormonal ones (copper) can have weird side effects, like decreased libido (anecdotal evidence). the copper ones can also cause severe period pain/heavier periods.

They do say that about heavier periods, mine's quite light so that wouldn't be a big concern for me. More importantly some people are allergic to COPPER -- and I'm not sure if you'd be likely to know that before going in. You could see an allergist, I guess. Or eat a penny.

Read that as eat a pussy, had to come back and re-read. Nice!

A fair alternative to contraception, but not precisely interchangeable.

It all comes back to C on Ts

That worked out really well for you, did it?

I have had a Paragard IUD for two years (copper non-hormonal) and I fucking love it.

Pretty much everything Laurel has said in answer to people's IUD questions is 100% OTM. The having to have had babies first thing is BS and pisses me off that the Mirena commercial says that. Yes, nuliparous women are more likely to expel but the risk of expulsion is not that much greater. The my cramps hurt more for about 6 months after insertion and have now leveled off but I do get cramps mid-cycle which I've never done before. It's nothing that some Advil can't solve.

Re insertion: I didn't know I was going to have one inserted until about an hour before my procedure. My NP gave me 800 mg ibuprofen and made me wait 30 mins. I did get a cervical anesthetic which def helped some. It still hurt as hell but as Susan said it was very quick and TOTALLY worth it.

I haven't spent a single second thinking about BC in over two years (my own - I think about others for a living lol) and the whole thing cost me $50 thanks to my insurance.

I <3 my IUD.

hey ENBB, what's your job?

no option for "anal only"?

nuliparous

I love this word.

seriously (XP)

yeah, why not just find a nice bottom and settle down then? way less hassle.

Roxy - I'm in my last semester of MA program in Women's Health and I'm concentrating in sexual and reproductive health of young women. I used to work in a family planning clinic and am now interning at an organization that provides sex ed program TA and runs support programs for pregnant and parenting teens.

What about you?

That's awesome! I'm no longer in the field, but I worked as assistant director of a women's clinic from 2000-2005. Best job I ever had.

jw, "anal" is a situation that requires no contraception, not a mode of contraception itself

haha "anal"

i meant "anal only"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I always thought it would be cool if somehow IUDs came in custom shapes and so when you got an x-ray it would be 'whoa cool 45-adapter in your inguinal region.'

jw, "anal" is a situation that requires no contraception, not a mode of contraception itself

tell that to millions of apocryphal Catholic teenage girls

xpost, haha. I think I'd opt for a pair of crossed knitting needles.

i would have a cupcake

thats probably another reason they do it! xxpost

Abbots: Awesome only if the custom-shaped IUD could be scientificologically beamed into my uterus rather than inserted the normal way.

Yeah, therein lies the rub: getting a rad shape into one's cervix. Unlikely.

dudes my obgyn showed me on an ultrasound that i have an ovary shaped like a heart

that was my TMI of the day

That's sweet!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Withdrawal rockin the bronze wooo!!

Like a real heart or a drawing of a heart?

it looked like this:

http://media.bigoo.ws/content/glitter/cartoon/cartoon_267.gif

those are future babbies hiding coming out of it

sunny, yr somethin special.

wonder who voted for the patch

WOW, AWESOME

i voted for the pill fwiw, not sure my vote shd count but it's what my gf does, she had a uterine tumour at 16 and has had to have been on it since for health reasons

how the fuck did the sponge get zero
this is about as bad as the coaches poll on ILNFL

"Bill Belichick" and "Andy Reid" would also probably be good contraceptive options

Who is my brother in vas-snippage?

i have no idea what a sponge is except for the whole "sponge worthy" seinfeld joke

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper932/stills/4271357384e9a-32-1.jpg

Man, how did I space the thread? I love contraception! I was on Depo for 7 years, then Nuvaring for a few, and I just got my Mirena IUD four weeks ago (and I've never been pregnant). I love them all.

sponges are just tough to come by these days

its tough to vote for something as practical as BCs on nostalgia alone

tell that to millions of apocryphal Catholic teenage girls

oh, they're a little less apocryphal than you might think...

also, IUD wins this hands-down, at least for those women who can tolerate it.

IUD = awesome, so far. I had a bad few minutes in the stirrups, a bit of cramping for a few days, now I'm wonderful.

^^ Yes! As much as the insertion hurts it's totally worth it. Like I've said before, I'm a total wuss when it comes to pain and if I got through it then I think most people can!

tell that to millions of apocryphal Catholic teenage girls

oh, they're a little less apocryphal than you might think...

― growing up in brazil has its advantages (unregistered), Tuesday, September 30, 2008 12:22 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

unregistered t-bombin' it real style

wonder who voted for the patch

here

Oh yeah, I used to love the sponge. After Today went off the market I would order them from Canada.

you still use it, salsa? just curious

yeah. I've used it on and off for a couple years... I've also used the pill, but happily switched to patches once they became available (problems swallowing pills, bad at sticking to schedules, much easier to just stick something on myself once a week, etc).

I used the patch for a few months. It made my knockers humongous and sore.

interesting!

I thought I'd have to keep swatting my husband away from them, but he said, "they even look like they hurt."

thinking about the diaphragm here, any experienced users

no but i would like to know why "Yaz" is "the most popular birth control pill in America." serious question.

totally awesome logo natch

https://secure.securexsl.com/~pharmacy/images/Yaz_logo.png

rox i asked my doc about this some time ago, and she was really dismissive and not much help but basically said they're a pain because if you lose or gain a few kilos your diaphragm won't fit properly

my insurance covers it so i could just get a new one i think

Okay wummenz, I need some help or support or something. Have made two attempts at IUD insert, both FAIL b/c of nuliparousness and the size of the bottleneck in my uterus. First one was unmedicated and hurt like HELL while she fished around, second one with local anesthetic didn't hurt but couldn't get any instruments in there either.

Only remaining option in this vein is to try a medical dilation next month, the shots again, and if that doesn't work, that's it for me. I am p discouraged and was crying in the doc's office this AM -- have been on the ring for the last month but the estrogen is DESTROYING my normal feelings. Trying a mini-pill for 1 mo while I wait for THIRD IUD ATTEMPT.

Help me feel less bad maybe? WTF BODY

Ask your doc or np for some misoprostol to insert vaginally the night before. It will "soften" your cervix and hopefully make it easier to insert. Also ask for some vicodin and valium to take beforehand.

Yeah, waiting another month for that and tbh I REALLY wish they had done that first? If you know the procedure is problematic, why not schedule it all at once? I can take the day off, take the "MCG" (whatever that is), deal with it...not this three month-long Trail of Discouragement and fucking around with other methods of BC while I wait.

Ugh, this totally sucks for you. I worked in women's health forever so I knew what to ask for, considering I was nulliparous.

My first visit for an IUD insertion was a fail because I learned when I got there my insurance covered medication, but not "devices". So, unless I ponied up $1500, I was SOL.

Took me another 2+ years before I head good enough health insurance coverage to get the IUD.

Oh hell, that's just disgusting. Mine is at least covered by insurance, for which I'm grateful.

I'm going on a mini-pill for the next month, b/c at least if the 3rd try doesn't work, I will have found something potentially less disruptive to my normal chemistry. Any thoughts about Implanon?

aww that sucks Laurel. My gyn does not feel comfortable inserting IUDs in nulliparous women and refered me to a partner in her practice, who did an ultrasound to see if the, er, path was clear. It was, and he was OK doing it, but after further talks with doc I decided to just stay on the pill. Birth control options are still sucktastic imo. Surely we (and by "we" I mean MEN wtf) should have more to choose from by now.

Oh, and this medical office doesn't offer any services on the weekends, so for someone like me with only 2 days of bleeding, if it strikes on a wkend, you can write off THAT month for the insert attempt, too. Makes me so stressed and irritated, it puts me right off the whole reason for using bc in the first place.

Wait - did your doctor say that they will only insert it while you're having your period? Mine was inserted mid cycle and without any misoprostol and it was fine. I suspect that they would want to insert while you're on your period because the os would be more open but that might not be necessary if you take the misoprostol?

Also, do you know how experienced your dr is inserting IUDs? I ask because the rate of expulsion and insertion success is directly proportional to the number of insertions the particular doc has done so it's best to have someone who is really comfortable with the procedure. The NP who inserted mine does over 250 insertions a year.

I'm really sorry that you've had all this trouble and hope it goes better for you the next time around. :/

yeah, really, find an NP.

Who knew getting a diaphragm these days was so difficult? My doctor didn't know how to fit one, so sent me to another one; when I went to fill my prescription, they told me that they weren't made anymore (!) but did discover they were still and had to special order one...
My doc wanted me to stop using the pill as I am close to menopause. What other non-hormonal options (aside from condoms & sponge) are there these days?

Yeah they really don't use diaphragms much anymore. Cervical caps are still available and copper IUDs but that's about it (in addition to the ones you mentioned) in terms of non-hormonal options.

Cervical caps that are marketed as contraception, though?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cap

At first when I read your post I was wondering what else you would use them for but I think maybe you were thinking of diva cup/keeper type things?

boyz r crazy

Yeah I was thinking of the cup.

Cup... cap... cut me some slack here.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/235939

^^newsweek about IUDs losing their stigma w/ 20somethings

c/d: finding used rubbers in your room during spring cleaning that you apparently forgot to throw away

i have a real bad short circuit in my brain that sometimes confuses/mispronounces IUDs as IEDs

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Uploads/Graphics/001-0418082510-ied-cutout01.jpg

yeah, really, find an NP.

If you meant "nurse practitioner", most of the medical staff at my GYN are NPs, and my first insert attempt was done by an NP...the second was done by a doctor but apart from the fact that docs are allowed to use local anesthetic, it was no more successful.

Have been on the mini-pill since then but today, for the first time, I forgot to bring my pack to work, so now I'll be like 6 hours late and it's invalidated for at least 48 hours. I WANT OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND NOW PLS.

Great column about how boys know nothing about BC

“I was thinking you were just magical, like a unicorn,” he told her. “I mean, you hope one exists somewhere, but you never think you’ll get to live with one…a cool chick with no period drama that has sex all month long.” He added, “The guys thought I was making it up.”

Guessing he never had sex with his unicorn again.

like for me condoms r all abt not getting the clap, so contraception is really weird to hear abt. the first line in the think i linked to upthread is like "most women spend 30 years trying not to get preggers" which is fucking mad tbh

If guys worried more about contraception (in addition to worrying about the clap) there'd be a lot fewer dazed looking dudes in my waiting room...

yeah but i am a homo tho and not really anticipating any major changes in the male reproductive system soon.

evolution happens everyday!

Aside from raw sexism, is there a reason male birth control hasn't made any real advances?

i hope ppl w/ other forms of contraception also use condoms tho yeah?

cos like

women are already conditioned to be the ones who think about it? raw sexism?

xpost

I was wondering if it was a physiological issue - impossible to stop the production of sperm without killing testosterone too or something.

that, too. It's easier to halt the release of one egg v. the production of bazillions of sperm.

so this new pill they're workin on

??? link? I am out of the loop.

a morning after pill for 6 days after. will find link

that's not exactly what i was hoping for :(

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061103522.html

boy that article spends a lot of time telling you why jerks are against it

it also has its head completely up its ass

But the new drug is a close chemical relative of the abortion pill RU-486, raising the possibility that it could also induce abortion by making the womb inhospitable for an embryo.

RU-486 is not an "abortion pill." It prevents implantation. An unimplanted zygote is neither embryo nor fetus; it cannot be aborted.

huh? you can take RU-486 up to like 2 months. definitely post-implantation. anyway the point should obviously be "who cares if it causes abortion or not"

that's true, but I mean: an abortion is a surgical procedure. unless we want to start calling miscarriages "abortions," there is no abortion pill.

Wait what? That doesn't really make sense. Sure there are. Medical abortions are just as much abortions as surgical abortions.

RU-486 is not an "abortion pill." It prevents implantation

As far as I understand it that really depends on how it is used. RU-486 can be used in small doses as emergency and non-emergency contraception. However, it is also used as an abortifacient in medical abortions. When given at higher doses it causes (among other things) the endometrial lining to breakdown at which point an already fertilized and implanted egg will detach. Another drug is then given to start uterine contractions so the women has a medically induced miscarriage.

I'm very pro-choice as you probably know but I don't think you can really say that medical abortions aren't "real" abortions.

yeah i don't have a problem calling what RU-486 causes an abortion

Yeah I mean, I don't even really see how there is room for debate here. If a confirmed pregnant woman elects terminate a pregnancy by medical abortion rather than surgery that's still an abortion.

err should have read elects "to" terminate

yeah sorry john youre not making any sense

i think maybe you are confusing ru-486 (which is not called this anymore, it is called mifeprex and terminates or "aborts" a confirmed pregnancy) with the morning after pill?

also, medically, a miscarriage is an abortion. it is called a spontaneous abortion. a surgical abortion is a therapeutic abortion, and an abortion via mifeprex is a medical or nonsurgical abortion (ime)

yeah you guys're right, I'm just leery of describing the preventing of implantation as "abortion"

it doesnt prevent implantation john

sorry to call you by your real name, shit is not heated

implantation occurs with 72 hours. mifeprex can be used up to 7 weeks of pregnancy

it's ok rox this would not be the first time I am wrong about something!

what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no way

it is embarrassing tho to be wrong on medical stuff way back in the day it was the one thing I was usually never wrong about

we all make mistakes

(thread is full circle)

uh oh did you make a mistake a few days ago or

withdrawal (lol) - for reals

if you read one or two posts before "we all make mistakes" you will see that i am referring to john

withdrawal (lol) - for reals

Been there, totally. Jizzing all over someone else tends to lose its charm (what little it has, tbh) when you're doing so only for contraceptive purposes. There's an element of justifiable anxiety in every ejaculation.

Girlfriend says she was a 34B pre-Mirena (which she got a couple of months before we met), now a 34D - no other weight gain. Possibly the most awesome contraceptive side effect ever, aside from no babies.

anything is possible, I suppose, but since there's no estrogen in Mirena, this seems unlikely.

Yeah was thinking the same.

yes is your gf entering puberty or

lol

Third try was the charm! And I have a tilted uterus apparently.

Cramping SO HARD RIGHT NOW going to bed.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

:-)

http://www.amazing-animations.com/animations/congratulations4.gif

Been there, totally. Jizzing all over someone else redacted
― kenan, Friday, July 2, 2010 4:22 PM (2 months ago)

You wanna start some shit? Wait, don't answer that.

Aw man, you know I'm playin.

YAY LAUREL!!!

What kind did you get? If it's a ParaGard the cramps will be awful for the fist 6 months or so but it gets better. My advice is to invest in some maximum strength painkillers and stick with it! :D

Don't make me have to come back there and separate you two.

I don't know if I've posted this yet. but one of the other students had been using withdrawal as his only contraceptive method for the entire time he had been married--about two years. There was also someone who had been using the rhythm method as her only form of contraception for the five years she had been married. The rhythm method, not the basal temperature method. In 2009. Not for religious or medical reasons, but just because. (Both of these people were under 25, BTW.)

Aw man, you know I'm playin.

Of course! And I'm making poop jokes. The universe remains in balance.

Para! I never had cramps before, or not memorable ones, so I thought, how bad could a little cramping be? But they're still going....

Para! I never had cramps before, or not memorable ones, so I thought, how bad could a little cramping be? But they're still going....

Are you feeling any better now?

Better this morning! Not symptom-free, but better. :) Man, NO WONDER people don't like getting their periods if this is what it feels like!

Yeah, I have a Para too and rarely had cramps before insertion. The first couple days of each period for the six months following insertion were pretty awful. A lot of ppl get fed up during that time and get them removed but after six months it gets a lot better. Just make sure you are prepared and have your painkillers of choice on hand during those times. I've had mine for 4 + years now and my periods are like they were pre-IUD.

J. has a hot water bottle that she wraps up in blankets and whatnot and puts on her tum-tum, and that seems to help a good bit. So, maybe focused heat? I mean, I guess, maybe next time. She could tell you a lot more about cramps than I could, though.

Obviously.

There's disposable hot packs made for wearing on your lower belly for cramps, BTW. I've never gotten cramps, but I do get a mild backache.

"Tum tum" is a horrible thing to say.

It was meant as a compliment to "whatnot" more than anything else. I don't think I've ever said it out loud, and won't anytime in the foreseeable future.

Heat on my stomach makes me feel sick, it always has. I'd prefer an ice pack tbh but I think that makes muscle problems worse! Will prob just tough it out with painkillers, off to find some Advil....

The numbing effects of ice wouldn't penetrate far enough into your body to do any good.

It was meant as a compliment to "whatnot" more than anything else. I don't think I've ever said it out loud, and won't anytime in the foreseeable future.

I appreciate that.

maybe try naproxen (sp?) - the NZ equivalent is naprogesic, which i used to take and was the only thing that ever helped with my severe cramping (which on a couple of occasions was so bad i almost fainted). it's some kind of muscle relaxant.

nowadays i pretty much never get cramps but i get awful terrible lower back pain almost every time.

Naproxen is sold under the brand name Aleve here.

My pain is less of a pain and more of a presence--I feel two long ovals embedded on either side of my coccyx.

we love you Kenan, but "use a heating pad/hot pack" is menstruation 101.
I have a Mirena and no cramps.

lol Kate.

I never took menstruation 101! And Laurel said she'd never had cramps before.

One day a kid was called up to the front of class for show and tell. He drew a period on the blackboard.

"What's that, Jonny?"
"I don't know, but when my sister missed one Mom fainted, Sister left town, and Dad beat up the boy next door."q

BTW, I've always been bothered by the "If men had periods, they would brag about how long, painful, and heavy they were" thing. I mean, I can't think of any male-specific non-sexual bodily functions that men brag about.

are there any male-specific non-sexual bodily functions?

golf injuries?

Enlarged prostate.

Maybe that is actually sexual, in a way, but it's not sexy.

Which illustrates what I was talking about.

Not literally, I thank the stars.

Right. There's only one part of the male anatomy that's sexy (and useful) when it's swollen.

My nipples wish to argue slightly with you.

Worst menstruation euphemism I've heard recently: Shark Week

Oh, I like that one.

My nipples wish to argue slightly with you.

This is a memorable mental image.

Haha whatever pill I was on for the past 2.5 years is the one the new ob/gyn says is #1 culprit of all the bc pills to be a libido-killer. That's...awesome. (FWIW it was Desogen, I am now on Loestrin, which she says "gives you the most free T," one of those women who is on such good terms w/testosterone that she has a nickname for it.)

:-)

I've suspected for years that I have a slight testosterone imbalance--I have a low-pitched voice, I'm hairy, I have a large rib cage and broad shoulders, and I have a high sex drive.

One of the many pills I have tried made my hair start falling out and I still didn't have any sex drive. Damn you, testosterone.

Too bad it was the only one which didn't have any other side effects.

(on another brand now, got my hair and my migraines back pretty swiftly)

Already noticing a difference & enjoying my hormone-free life, btw. We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

my brother (28 and owner of one adorable yet surprise kid) has just told me that the withdrawal method works

i just

If you got good control, it can be pretty effective! Planned Parenthood sez:
Of every 100 women whose partners use withdrawal, 4 will become pregnant each year if they always do it correctly.

but then there's the always do it correctly caveat...

aside from the accuracy of that, and the stipulation that you got to do it right, you cant flush bedsheets down the toilet

Successfully used the withdrawal method for several years. (I had a bad reaction to the pill; my boyfriend always went soft as soon as he put a condom on; we knew we eventually wanted a kid so if I got pregnant it wouldn't be the end of the world.) As soon as we decided the time was right for a child, we stopped and I immediately got pregnant. (Went on to have several miscarriages but that's another story.)

withdrawal never failed me, but Rx birth control did

guys pls dont encourage him

I discovered my plan covers IUDs! I feel like I won the uterus lottery!

my plan = my insurance plan obv

:D

Confirm that they cover the actual device and not just the insertion.

Yeah maybe I should call again, the benefits hotline guy did not seem to know very many details. "Any IDU?" "Yeah, all of them...I guess.."

he even answered affirmative to a question about Intraduterine Uvices, very sketchy

lol

My experience and tips from upthread:

My first visit for an IUD insertion was a fail because I learned when I got there my insurance covered medication, but not "devices". So, unless I ponied up $1500, I was SOL.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:30 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Took me another 2+ years before I head good enough health insurance coverage to get the IUD.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:31 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark

Ask your doc or np for some misoprostol to insert vaginally the night before. It will "soften" your cervix and hopefully make it easier to insert. Also ask for some vicodin and valium to take beforehand.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:01 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark

Ask your doc or np for some misoprostol to insert vaginally the night before. It will "soften" your cervix and hopefully make it easier to insert.

thinks: ****aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!****

I was really lucky in that my insurance covered both device and insertion right off the bat.

I actually hadn't planned on getting on the day I wound up getting mine so I didn't have any misoprostol, valium, or painkillers. The NP did give me 800mg of ibuprofen and we waited about 20 mins after that to start. IIRC she also gave a cervical anesthetic which prob helped a bit but it all went smoothly and was over really quickly. The sounding hurt more than the actual insertion for me but it was all bearable. NP later told me that I was "a bleeder" and I was thankful she didn't mention that at the time.

seriously, so much blood.

I wound up working with that NP at her family clinic a couple months later and observed a bunch of insertions that she did there. I probably wouldn't have been so gung ho about getting mine sans sedatives/painkillers had I seen those before. I never would have thought people bled that much. That actually how she wound up telling me - after one insertion I asked if it was normal to bleed that much and she was like, "Oh that? That was nothing! You bled a ton more." O_O

"family clinic" = "family planning clinic"

Ha I have been having a lot of dreams lately that are just about having cartoonishly heavy menstruation. Maybe my subconscious is prepping me.

sorry for....dream tmi?

I probably assisted in several hundred insertions before mine but it is a whole different story when it's you in the stirrups.

Don't get scared off, Abbs, it's awesome.

Seconded. Totally worth it and if you follow Kate's advice and prep beforehand it'll just be that much easier. :)

Naw I am not worried! Thanks for the encouragement tho.

I have been without birth control for a couple months now due to...boring stuff...and it will be v nice not to live in fear of OH SHIT A BABY.

I loooooove mine even though I don't need it anymore; I'm keeping that prize-catch right where it is since it's good for 10 years!

Insertion was a total, total bitch for me, but then I pretty much have never had cramps (I have, but rly mildly and briefly so compared to normal people, I basically haven't) so it's possible I just wasn't prepared for anything to hurt so much in that place.

Get the mistoprostol/whatever-the-generic-brand-is right away if you haven't had kids yet, you all probs remember I had to try three times and I was miserable. Pressures/failure of rel'ship also partly to blame, though.

Once it's in there, life becomes SO MUCH EASIER!!! Periods still kinda wacky but I'm getting the hang of it.

I got the Mirena because I was betting on my periods tapering off after awhile. Oh-ho, not so! They are now startlingly regular. Like, every 4th Sunday at 9:15PM regular.

Oh shit, really? :/ Do you get cramps?

Nothing too bad and it's a pretty short/light ordeal so whatever. I wish they didn't happen at all but it's a small price to pay for my barren, sterile existence.

lol very true

Double checked & it is both the IUD & insertion that is covered. I have an appt at the very end of April.

Congrats on your insurance functioning like it ideally should!! You are living the American dream.

I need to find a pill that isnt Bad to Take as a smoker, and I dont think there is such a beast. Doc said I could have Implanon ok, so I got that a couple of years back, and THWACK, my libido went through the floor and dug for china. Also I got pretty emotionless. At first I thought I was just blaming relationship slackness on it, but I went off it and everything snapped back into view within weeks.

Fuck if I can find a pill that doesnt mess with my moods, ugh. And no way am I ever going for an IUD or anything *crosses legs and winces*.

you can do progesterone-only pills, but you'd likely have the same libido-lowering effects that you experienced before. You really need to come off of estrogen after 35 if you're smoking, though.

So my iud is coming out and I need to go have it yanked and replaced today. What fun!

Aw shit E, that sucks.

I'm recently off the pill and not sure how I'm feeling about it.

Contraception: damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Having an IUD taken out is a cakewalk, so that part, at least, should be easy.

Oh yeah. This is my second. The last one I got out I was like "Wait, it's out?". It's the reinsertion I'm not looking forward to.

Yeah, that is no fun.

ugh it's been about 2.5 months and still i'm dealing with all the bullshit of of a mirena. it's not a big deal but boy am i looking forward to not bleeding one day in the hopefully near future.

I have been putting off having a new mirena inserted because that shit is unpleasant as fuuuuuuck.

yeah it was pretty fuckin painful (the insertion but also the depth-checking thing). but, TMI ALERT, after using condoms for 6 yrs with my husband i'd forgotten how incredibly better/different condomless sex is. wish i'd had one put in years ago - totally worth the 15 secs of terrible agony.

So I was right, it was partially expelled. She couldn't actually feel it in my cervix but trusted me enough to suggest we take it out and insert a new one. As soon as she pulled even a little the stem (i dont know what else to call it) came out and she was like, "oh yeah, that sucker was lodged in your cervix and the t part was resting on the bottom not the top". She put another in and yeah it really sucked for about a minute but I'm not feeling too bad now.

While there I had blood drawn to check my AMH and FSH levels just to kind of get a general idea of what my egg reserve is looking like.

http://www.rmanj.com/2013/09/anti-mullerian-hormone-amh-testing-of-ovarian-reserve/
http://www.advancedfertility.com/day3fsh.htm

It'll be interesting to get the results. Not sure what I'll do either way but it'll be interesting nevertheless.

ugh it's been about 2.5 months and still i'm dealing with all the bullshit of of a mirena. it's not a big deal but boy am i looking forward to not bleeding one day in the hopefully near future.

:/ Getting one put in around early February, probably.

It's really not that bad, just annoying.

Yeah this newest one was annoying for a couple days but I haven't had any problems since.

I got the results of those two tests back and I'm still "optimally fertile" as measured by both. While they don't measure egg quality they do give an indication of quantity so basically it looks like I have plenty left which is good to know, I guess.

E, how did you know yours was coming out? Just string length? I'm super paranoid bc ican't tell if I'm imagining my strings are longer or not - the np never told me like "ok icut the strings two inches in"or anything, and they've been twisted up.

I checked for the strings absentmindedly (never really do regularly) and felt the hard plastic from the bottom part of the IUD right at the opening of my cervix. The doc said the strings were very long but I hadn't noticed that. The hard plastic was unmistakable though.

that reminds me of one of my favorite things ever said on ilx

Birth Control: Advice and Anecdotes

xp ok good to know - no plastic poking out yet!!

thank you, thank you very much, xpost

I never updated what happened with my IUD a year and a half ago because I didn't want to freak anyone/everyone out buuuuuttttt, it turns out that it hadn't turned around and poked through my cervix, but the t part of it had actually perforated my uterus and was poking out the top of it (way to read that CT scan, doc!). They said it probably happened when it was inserted 4.5 years earlier. I had no adverse side effects, no crazy cramping or bleeding, didn't get knocked up, and it came out super-easily, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(my original post referencing this is upthread of LL's link)

they original dr didn't do an ultrasound to check the placement once it was first inserted??

none of mine ever have

i think that perforations usual cause a lot of immediate bleeding and mine inserts over 300 a year and the ultrasound isn't standard practice for her.

Kaiser is mostly shit but the np did do an ultrasound to make sure she'd placed it correctly.

Yeah, u/s after insertion is not standard of care. Most of the time, it's gonna be in the right spot.

@jiatolentino
Behind every successful woman is 14 even more successful women texting her "Stay strong you're gonna be so glad you got the IUD"