Contraception ideas...

sallyanne12

So after 6 years on the pill, I feel it's time to give my body a break from the hormones. I'm feeling down though because would like to still not have to worry about getting pregnant. I'm not looking for medical advice just a natural method that works. Does anybody know of any reliable machine I can buy for example an ovulation machine that tracks when ur ovulating or a fertility monitor? At least then I could avoid sex on the dangerous days etc...
Would just love to hear from anyone who's used anything like this?? Condoms and hormones are not an option. I was researching the non hormonal copper coil but I don't like the idea of becoming pregnant and miscarrying every few months. thanks

pwurple

Yes, there are a few cycle tracking apps. Clue and fertility friend are the ones I use. Find them very useful.

Condom use with those on risky days can work. How come no condoms? Safe sex and all...

Johnnyhpipe

Why are condoms not an option?

LolaJJ

I use an app called flo, although I do this to keep an eye on my cycles, not for contraception. We are always careful, all month long but I guess we could relax on the other days of the month, its good though, it gives the dates and percentage chances of getting pregnant on particular days.

Xterminator

Hi Op


if you want to take a break from the pill, that's understandable.

typically the methods (to prevent pregnancy) would be (nhs figures)

Injection - 99%
IUS - 99%
IUD -99%
Patch & Ring - 99%
Contraceptive pill 91-99%
Sterilization - surprisingly only 99% effective
mail and female condoms 79-95% effective
natural family planning 76-99% effective

So if you rule out all hormonal based treatments - then you leave

IUD -99%
Sterilization - surprisingly only 99% effective
mail and female condoms 79-95% effective
natural family planning 76-99% effective

im not sure why you are ruling out hormonal based treatments, and if its based on medical advice. But you are ruling out IUD (copper) and that leaves you with less effective methods. As a wise man once said to me

"do you know what you call people who use natural methods to prevent pregnancy? Parents!"

.......

LolaJJ wrote: »

So I was on the pill for 14 years. It caused me no-end of problems, turned me in to a complete mess and I wound up in rehab with an eating disorder. Sadly I didn't make the well-established connection between the pill and the need to overeat until I felt the enormous relief of coming off it 2 years later.

Huh?

Apologies for hijacking the thread to ask this - but really? I came off it a few months ago (25 years on it - different types, but last 8 years or so on mini pill which had worst effect) and immediately lost 2 stone (still losing), my whole body has improved, my hair is the most fascinating, gone from being thin and brittle to lucious and long, my skin has improved, my libido, but the weirdest change for me of all (if the foregoing are not enough!) is that I spent years dressing in black, grey, dark colours and baggy clothes. Now Im wearing tight pink dresses and vibrant colours all the time. Make up every day and a sudden renewed interest in jewellery. Its like the pill took away my girliness.

Anyway - back on topic - you can get basal thermometers and use in conjunction with an app to track your cycle, but if you want true reliability then maybe the Mirena coil - still hormones but a much smaller amount and not processed through your digestive system.

I dont understand your comment re getting pregnant and miscarrying with the copper coil?

Are you against condoms because they are latex? There are non latex versions.

Unfortunately some of the previously popular contraceptives are less available, largely due to the Mirena becoming the magic bullet - but you could ask your doc about the Nuvaring?

Dial Hard

sallyanne12 wrote: »

I was researching the non hormonal copper coil but I don't like the idea of becoming pregnant and miscarrying every few months. thanks

Sorry, what?

Juicyfruit

sallyanne12 wrote: »

I was researching the non hormonal copper coil but I don't like the idea of becoming pregnant and miscarrying every few months. thanks

I have the copper coil and have done for years, got it out to have my 2 children and back in again with no issues.

I can assure you, I do not get pregnant and miscarry every few months - bizarre comment.

wiggle16

sallyanne12 wrote: »

I was researching the non hormonal copper coil but I don't like the idea of becoming pregnant and miscarrying every few months. thanks

I thought this was strange as well, but since I'm male I thought maybe I was even more ignorant of coils than I thought I was, so I had to read up on IUDs again but... I still don't understand what you mean.

I think you need to research this properly and maybe visit your GP for advice. "Natural" methods invariably entail a higher risk of becoming pregnant, so if you dont want to use condoms or other measures, you're going to have to accept that you're taking more of a risk. There's no getting away from that. If tracking your cycle had 99% effectiveness, other forms of contraception would not have been invented.

jimgoose

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Why are condoms not an option?

For some folk, men and women, the whole ejaculation thing is central to sex.

Faith

LolaJJ wrote: »

Some people can take the pill and the coil and the bar....it tops up your oestrogen, so if, like me, you already have a load of oestrogen, it's a recipe for disaster.

We use condoms. Normal durex, there is NO hormones in condoms, just spermacide and lube so there is no way at all that they can impact you like that. In fact, from looking in to this quite a lot, male and female condoms (never tried the female ones) are the only non-weird form of contraception that don't supply your body with added oestrogen so. I'd be looking at that option.

There's a lot of misinformation in this post. Oestrogen and progesterone are two hormones. They are both used in certain types of contraception, particularly the combined oral contraceptive pill, the patch and the vaginal ring. However, there are plenty of options that do not contain oestrogen, such as:

intrauterine device (IUD; i.e. copper coil and has no hormones)
intrauterine system (IUS; i.e. mirena or jaydess, has progesterone only and is locally released in the uterus)
contraceptive implant
contraceptive injection
progestogen-only pill

No type of contraception requires deliberately becoming pregnant and miscarrying :eek:. The copper coils work by providing a physical barrier that makes it difficult for an embryo to implant. It also releases copper that makes it more difficult for sperm to reach an egg and fertilise it. So eggs are released as normal, but the sperm has a harder time getting to it. If the sperm manages to get through, the IUD stops the embryo from implanting itself. You're not pregnant if the embryo doesn't implant.

The IUS, or Mirena etc, releases progesterone, which does the same as copper but may have the pleasant benefit of making periods lighter or disappear altogether.

I strongly suggest reading this: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/which-method-suits-me/

Natural methods have a reasonably high failure rate. If you don't mind the possibility of getting pregnant, then natural methods are fine. If you were to take every possible effort (charting period cycles, taking temperatures, monitoring cervical mucus etc), then I think it can be quite effective. But if you just rely on "safe days", based on educated guessing, then I think the failure rate is quite high (~25%). There was a past thread in the Ladies Lounge (hopefully it's okay to link this? https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057804374) where at least one person following the natural method and posting on the thread got pregnant in a short time period, and another reported 4 pregnancies resulting from using that approach.

sallyanne12

Op here. Thanks for all the replies.
When I mentioned getting pregnant and miscarrying with the copper coil, my doctor told me I would be essentially getting pregnant but losing it each time as the egg won't implant. So the egg would be getting fertilised regularly. I just don't feel right making a life and then it not implanting if that makes sense...
does anyone know the best machine I can buy in boots to help me show the safe days etc?

wiggle16

sallyanne12 wrote: »

Op here. Thanks for all the replies.
When I mentioned getting pregnant and miscarrying with the copper coil, my doctor told me I would be essentially getting pregnant but losing it each time as the egg won't implant. So the egg would be getting fertilised regularly. I just don't feel right making a life and then it not implanting if that makes sense...
does anyone know the best machine I can buy in boots to help me show the safe days etc?

A fertilised egg is just that, a fertilised egg. It's not a pregnancy until it implants. Plenty of fertilised eggs never implant and end up leaving the body when you next menstruate - that's not a miscarriage.

As Faith advised above, the coil prevents implantation, so you don't get pregnant. If the egg is fertilised and can't implant because of a coil, it will eventually leave the body, but this is not a miscarriage. The coil also makes it very difficult for fertilisation to occur at all, so it doesn't happen regularly.

No disrespect, but your GP definitely did not explain that properly if you left their office thinking that.

maxsmum

sallyanne12 wrote: »

Op here. Thanks for all the replies.
When I mentioned getting pregnant and miscarrying with the copper coil, my doctor told me I would be essentially getting pregnant but losing it each time as the egg won't implant. So the egg would be getting fertilised regularly. I just don't feel right making a life and then it not implanting if that makes sense...
does anyone know the best machine I can buy in boots to help me show the safe days etc?

Ok they mean that the womb is hostile to a fertilised egg because of the copper. It wouldn't implant in the lining. You're not pregnant if a fertilised egg doesn't implant, and you won't be fertilising an egg every month anyway (otherwise there'd be no such thing as a 'trying to conceive' forum on Boards, for example). Your doctor has put it a bit dramatically.

Faith

sallyanne12 wrote: »

does anyone know the best machine I can buy in boots to help me show the safe days etc?

I don't believe there's a "machine" you can buy. It's all about getting to know your own body extremely and intimately well. You can use a smartphone app to track things, and you will need to buy a digital thermometer to (if you don't have one) to take your temperature daily. The NHS has a great guide here:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/natural-family-planning/

Although, I'd highlight the following drawbacks:

If you decide to abstain, there can sometimes be up to 16 days during which you cannot have sex, depending on your cycle.

It can be much less effective than other methods of contraception if the methods aren't followed accurately.

It won't work without continued commitment and practice.

It can take several menstrual cycles before you become confident in identifying your fertile time. During this time, you'll have to use barrier contraception, such as condoms.

So you'll probably need to use condoms for 3 months at least, while you're getting to know your cycle well enough, and after that it's a daily commitment.

LolaJJ

Faith wrote: »

There's a lot of misinformation in this post.

Apologies, didn't mean to spread wrong info, I would have tailored research to my own situation and it was years ago......will edit my post now.

Mybad & thanks for pointing out

Idle Passerby

I use period tracker apps which give a good estimation of your ovulation day and fertile period. Ela for example gives your percentage chance of getting pregnant on every day of your cycle. For me its 30% on the day of ovulation (surprisingly low I thought) down to 1% on my least fertile days. Obviously its more of a guideline than a foolproof guarantee but I find it really interesting to know these details. It takes so much mystery and guesswork out of how your own body functions.

I was so paranoid about pregnancy through my 20's I could count on one hand how many times a penis came near me without a condom applied with military precision. It would have been nice to have known that I wasnt actually 100% going to become pregnant on every single day of my cycle

The_Conductor

How about your partner using male contraception pills?
Imuran in low doses is prescribed as a male contraception in the US- not sure if its used in Ireland.
There are other options too- any good doctor should be able to explain.

Caranica

....... wrote: »

Unfortunately some of the previously popular contraceptives are less available, largely due to the Mirena becoming the magic bullet - but you could ask your doc about the Nuvaring?

I wouldn't recommend Nuvaring to my worst enemy. Side effects were way worse for me than any pill I tried. Back on the same pill I went on when I was 18 and happy out. I love my pill!

OP don't freak out about delays in getting pregnant after the pull. Most people I know got pregnant in the first week! Only couple I know who had problems after coming off the pill would have had problems anyway, they just didn't know it at the time.

sallyanne12

Caranica wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend Nuvaring to my worst enemy. Side effects were way worse for me than any pill I tried. Back on the same pill I went on when I was 18 and happy out. I love my pill!

OP don't freak out about delays in getting pregnant after the pull. Most people I know got pregnant in the first week! Only couple I know who had problems after coming off the pill would have had problems anyway, they just didn't know it at the time.

Thanks. I'm more worried about cancers from long term pill use

nikkibikki

The Clear blue Fertility Monitor can show you the best days to get pregnant. The thing is tho, sperm can live for 5 days so you can technically get pregnant from intercourse 5 days before ovulation. The fertility monitor will tell you the day before when it detects the surge in LH. So it's not reliable for use as a contraceptive.

pmrc

https://uk.clearblue.com/contraception/persona-monitor

What about the above?

Faith

pmrc wrote: »

https://uk.clearblue.com/contraception/persona-monitor

What about the above?

£80 for the monitor, and £12 for one month of sticks (plus delivery), testing your urine between 6 and 16 times a month and not being able to have sex for 6 to 12 days in a row out of every 28 days or so :eek:. That’s far more work (not to mention cost!) than I had realised.

Caranica

sallyanne12 wrote: »

Thanks. I'm more worried about cancers from long term pill use

You're more likely to get some forms but it protects you from other forms. Swings and roundabouts?

.......

sallyanne12 wrote: »

Thanks. I'm more worried about cancers from long term pill use

Long term pill use decreases your chances of some cancers.

There is only mixed evidence that it MAY increase your chances with other cancers, its not conclusive.

maxsmum

Is anyone else getting hidden Catholic undertones from this post?

woodchuck

Mod note:

maxsmum, if you have a problem with a post, report it. Please don't post unless you have advice to offer.

Addle

I'm on the pill. I have been for nearly 20 years.
I'm not religious.
I do question why we're ok with pumping our own bodies full of fake hormones, but don't allow animals that we eat to ingest hormones.
I think that's a bit messed up.
I'm too nervous to rely on 'natural' methods though.

wiggle16

maxsmum wrote: »

Is anyone else getting hidden Catholic undertones from this post?

Mod note: Further to woodchuck's note, please be reminded that the OP's reasons, religious or otherwise, for wanting to use natural or rhythm methods of contraception are not relevant and if the OP does not wish to disclose her reasons, that's her right.

Thanks.

LegacyUser

Hi OP.

I used the Natural Cycles app for 7 months on "prevent" mode. The app is a certified contraceptive.

Basically it gives you red days when it detects you are fertile and green days when you are not. Green days mean you're okay to have unprotected sex. At the start you get a lot of red days so unless you want to use condoms/diaphragm/etc you have to abstain for a good for days of your cycle. But the more you use the app the more green days you get. You need to take your basal body temperature every morning at approx the same time which doesn't suit everyone. You can also use ovulation tests (I just got cheap ones on Amazon) to make the app more accurate. These are optional though.

There is a very useful Facebook group called "Natural Cycles Users" which has a very active community if you are on FB and would like to find out more. Unplanned pregnancies DO happen with this app and we see them the odd time on the Facebook group but pretty much all the time it's due to user error. For example many people use the withdrawal method on red days thinking it'll be grand but obviously it isn't.

I am now 22 weeks pregnant and used the app in "plan" mode to know when I'd be most fertile to conceive. And it worked first month. So I avoided pregnancy for 7 months and got pregnant in my first month of trying. I was on the pill for 10+ years and just wanted to try out this app before getting pregnant and to see if my cycle would be normal after being on the pill for so long. Not sure if I would have used it if I had no intention on getting pregnant anytime soon. But I do trust this app once you do it right. I also recommended reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility if you are interested in natural methods to understand the science behind it.

Hope that helps!

shesty

I got a leaflet from my doctor, after my last pregnancy, explained things well, including whst methods are reliant on oestregen or progesterone.It seems to go with a website www.mycontraception.ie....I presume you've seen that OP??
Tracking is an option, but personally, I wouldn't be sure enough of it to use it, particularly since my second baby was conceived in a very short window of time when I would have thought that I was not fertile......