The best contraceptive for you?

sleepyescapade · 27-01-2012 6:01am

was previously on Microlite happy out but got switched to POPs after a discovery of being a factor v leiden carrier. Just started the brand Nora-Be now, not sure if it's in Ireland? Seems ok so far, but am paranoid/more careful due to POPs being less effective than combined pills.

dearg lady · 02-02-2012 5:02pm

Just looking for some anecdotal thoughts on pill side effects, how soon have people noticed side effects? I know doctors say you should try it out for three months, but just wondering about personal experiences of Loungers?
I won't make this into a personal issue but my thoughts on a particular situation have literally changed to a polar opposite in the last couple of weeks, and I'm on a new pill for 2 weeks. I think it's unlikely to be related but I don't know.

Honey-ec · 02-02-2012 5:13pm

dearg lady wrote: »

Just looking for some anecdotal thoughts on pill side effects, how soon have people noticed side effects? I know doctors say you should try it out for three months, but just wondering about personal experiences of Loungers?
I won't make this into a personal issue but my thoughts on a particular situation have literally changed to a polar opposite in the last couple of weeks, and I'm on a new pill for 2 weeks. I think it's unlikely to be related but I don't know.

It depends on you, it depends on the pill. Some people don't get any side effects at all. I never did.

dearg lady · 02-02-2012 5:22pm

Honey-ec wrote: »

It depends on you, it depends on the pill. Some people don't get any side effects at all. I never did.

yeah, I know, I'm just lookin for some general feedback

LegacyUser · 05-02-2012 2:40am

A few recent occurances prompted me to read this thread for some information and I have to say I think i'm more confused now than when I started reading!
Basically, I have been on the pill (Yasmin, microlite, marviol and finally mercilon) for the past decade since I was 18. Over the past year or so I have been seriously considering the implications of taking hormones for such an extended period of my life. I consulted my doctor last year and after reassurance from her continued on with mercilon. I might add that I have been very lucky and experienced very few side effects over the years, or so I thought anyway.

I finally decided when my prescription ran out last month to take a break. My main motivation being that I realised that all my sexually active life (8 years with my current partner) I have been on the pill. I am 28 years old and have never known how my body would react hormone free. Since being off the pill I have noticed some favourable changes. Like I said I never suffered from the typical side effects, altered moods, weight gain etc etc., but I was obviously suffering from a few other side effects and didn't even know it. I have never had a very high sex drive and have always suffered from dryness during intercourse, things I assumed were just normal for me.

Since I have come of the pill the dryness problem has significantly improved, leading to improved sex. In fact I particulerly noticed this this morning and was going to mention it to my partner when I noticed that the condom we were using had split! Is it just me or is that a particular type of bad luck?? Anyway, as a result I ended up getting the MAP this afternoon. How typical to have come of the pill to avoid hormones and end up taking a hugh dose of hormones as a result!

This incident got me thinking about contraception choices. I had thought that condoms would be totaly fine on their own as long as we used them right. Now i'm not so sure.

I really don't want to go on hormones again as I have just started to really enjoy sex without artificial lubrication for the first time in my life. I am also wondering that if I have improved this much in just a month what other improvements I might experience if any. I think I am going to stay off the pill for at least another few months to see but I don't want my sex life to suffer from lack of thrust in condoms as our only method of contraception.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

coffee_cake · 05-02-2012 10:35am

The IUD is a non hormonal form of contraception, fitted internally
http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/n/contraception

make sure he is using the right size of condom for himself so there is no chance of slipping/splitting

Quality · 09-02-2012 1:09am

Anyone else using the Evra transdermal patch.

Doc prescribed this for me today as I have pcos and am absolutely brutal at remembering my pill.

Haven't started it yet but would like any feedback please.

EllenBidd · 09-02-2012 2:51am

Hi Ladies. Long timer lurker here, hence the first post. Just wanted to pass on my experiences with contraception.

At 16 I went on the pill, Mercilon, due to very heavy periods with excruciating cramps. I stayed on this after becoming sexually active. Then at 19 I got the depo shot. Wasn't too happy with it as I bled all the time and my boobs got HUGE (and have remained so). So then I went onto Yasmin. Found myself feeling very down on this, so went onto Yasminelle. Over the years I put on serious amount of weight and developed very bad acne on my face. Also I had a low sex drive. None of this I equated to the pill as I had been on it as a teenager and have known no different.

Then early in January in this year, and now being 27 years of age (11 years on hormonal contraception) I got a very bad DVT (I didn't know this, thought I had badly pulled a muscle in my calf). Within 2 weeks I was rushed into hospital unable to breathe and in agony, and I mean serious, serious agony. So much so that a doctor or nurse couldn't get near me to give to examine me. Eventually after a plethora of tests, I was diagnosed with massive bilateral pulmonary embolism (i.e. huge potentially fatal clots of both lungs - part of the clot of the DVT broke off and went to my lungs). If I hadn't gone to hospital when I did, well, I wouldn't be posting here anyway. I hadn't been on a long haul flight, or a long car journey, nor had I damaged my calf to produce the DVT. The cause? I'd been on the pill for almost 11 years non-stop, apart from a few months foray into the depo shot area.

I was in hospital for 9 days, and obviously stopped the pill. In fact I can never go on the pill again. Ignoring all my health issues due to the clots, since going off the pill I haven't had one spot on my face, and normally there's so many you could spend hours trying to count the ones on just my forehead alone. Also I can feel my sex drive rising considerably. However, I need a new form of contraception, so between myself, my partner and my gynae, we decided to go for the Merina coil.

I got it in 3 days ago, so I can't report much. However getting it put it was exceedingly more painful that i expected. I got diahorrea almost instantly after it was inserted, and the pains were just awful. I had lots of painkillers at my disposal due to the hospital incident, and nothing stopped the pains. These continue for about 7 hours, and all i could do was lie in bed, trying not to get sick, or have diahorrea! For about the 24hours after that then I just felt like I had bad period pains (can certainly handle them) and now I feel nothing. Really hoping it works for me, and as it's progesterone only, I won't have any problems with clots. Fingers crossed it stays the way.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but maybe those of you who have been on the pill continuously for many years, or who smoke and are over 35, should maybe for a second stop and think if they are a clot risk.

I wasn't, and I'm certainly too young to be just randomly getting pulmonary embolisms. So while I don't want people freaking out, I just suggest maybe have a little think about what is good for you.

iPink · 11-02-2012 11:15pm

xalot wrote: »

My cousin got pregnant when breasting, I wouldn't rely on that completely...unless you're planning another little bundle of joy:)

My sister was a result of the effectiveness of breastfeeding as a contraceptive!! I was 4 months old when my Mum got pregnant again... she was exclusively bfing!!

iPink · 11-02-2012 11:27pm

prettygurrly wrote: »

i'm on the nuvaring now...there's been a few mentions of it already so thought i'd let you know of my experience.

i started on the depo provera when i was 19 nearly 20. it was great, no periods and no worry but then i just went really loopy. pretty sure i was on it for a year before i got fed up with the side effects. i also put on weight, about 2 stone so i was seriously depressed cos of that.

so...i decided on the pill, took ligynon or something like that and then realised with my dodgy tummy i could never be sure that i wouldn't get pregnant (had a scare in my first month) and i'm pretty bad at remembering to take a pill every day.

thankfully my forward thinking doctor in nuig suggested the nuvaring and its been a godsend. ive been on it for a long time - about 6 years. its great because the dose is so low, it doesn't have to go through your digestive tract, it doesn't get affected by anti biotics and its really really really straight forward, only 2 days to think about each month, when to put it in and when to take it out. its also great for delaying your period if you have something important on like a holiday or you can completely skip your period for one month. you have a 24 hour window after 7 days of it being out to get a new one in and if you dont you just have to use barrier for a week (that happened to me once in 6 years)...so yes i would thoroughly recommend it. the bouts of thrush are maybe 3 times per year but i think im prone to thrush anyway so that's not bad for someone like me. sometimes i think its my imagination cos its usually stress related!
with regards to weight, i have gained and lost weight over the last 6 years, i'm pretty stable at the moment and i dont believe my weight gain is to do with nuva but because i did not exercise and ate carbs for a year, that's enough to gain 2 stone!
the only drawback is that it is expensive compared to other forms of contraception.
any questions of a personal nature feel free to pm me. i dont mind.

Sorry to contradict you there, I used the Nuvaring for many years too.. started back in the day when you actually had to change it every week instead of once a month lol
I LOVED LOVED LOVED it but had a pregnancy scare whilst on it.. I was on antibiotics and like you thought they didn't affect it as it doesn't go through your digestive tract etc.. turns out they actually DO!! Confirmed by my doc and I checked in the booklet.. I was shocked and surprised as I was CONVINCED, actually argued with my doc over it lol
Apart from that I loved using it, low hormone dose, so easy to put in and take out and my partner/s never felt it... didn't even have a period for over a year and a half.. that was another problem... when I stopped using it it took almost a year for my periods to come back!!!:eek::eek:

aisling.laura · 12-02-2012 1:30pm

Been looking through this thread for a while but don't have the time to read through it all so sorry if this has been asked/answered!
I've been on the pill since I was 17 (now 21) first on Yasminelle, now Yasmin. Not a huge amount of problems but definitely some weight gain and some mood swings at the start. In the first few pages of this thread I noticed someone mentioned a decreased sex drive which resolved when she came off the pill (sorry can't remember who wrote that!). I don't have the greatest sex drive for what I'd expect for a 21 year old (and compared to my friends) so I'm wondering if the pill could be the cause? I don't know any different really because I've been on the pill since I began having sex.
I've wanted to change contraception for a while, due to forgetting to take the pill a few times and the fact that my future career involves very long shifts which will make me more likely to forget to take it too! I think a long-term option would be preferable, just wondering if anyone has any experience of switching from the pill to the implant and if it had an impact on sex drive? Preferably an increase!

Greermua · 14-02-2012 3:52pm

Pillfree wrote: »

A few recent occurances prompted me to read this thread for some information and I have to say I think i'm more confused now than when I started reading!
Basically, I have been on the pill (Yasmin, microlite, marviol and finally mercilon) for the past decade since I was 18. Over the past year or so I have been seriously considering the implications of taking hormones for such an extended period of my life. I consulted my doctor last year and after reassurance from her continued on with mercilon. I might add that I have been very lucky and experienced very few side effects over the years, or so I thought anyway.

I finally decided when my prescription ran out last month to take a break. My main motivation being that I realised that all my sexually active life (8 years with my current partner) I have been on the pill. I am 28 years old and have never known how my body would react hormone free. Since being off the pill I have noticed some favourable changes. Like I said I never suffered from the typical side effects, altered moods, weight gain etc etc., but I was obviously suffering from a few other side effects and didn't even know it. I have never had a very high sex drive and have always suffered from dryness during intercourse, things I assumed were just normal for me.

Since I have come of the pill the dryness problem has significantly improved, leading to improved sex. In fact I particulerly noticed this this morning and was going to mention it to my partner when I noticed that the condom we were using had split! Is it just me or is that a particular type of bad luck?? Anyway, as a result I ended up getting the MAP this afternoon. How typical to have come of the pill to avoid hormones and end up taking a hugh dose of hormones as a result!

This incident got me thinking about contraception choices. I had thought that condoms would be totaly fine on their own as long as we used them right. Now i'm not so sure.

I really don't want to go on hormones again as I have just started to really enjoy sex without artificial lubrication for the first time in my life. I am also wondering that if I have improved this much in just a month what other improvements I might experience if any. I think I am going to stay off the pill for at least another few months to see but I don't want my sex life to suffer from lack of thrust in condoms as our only method of contraception.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is something I was incredibly worried about when I moved in with my boyfriend. I am against the use of the pill for various feminist/political/anti-pharmaceutical/Foucauldian reasons, but I was just a bit freaked by the idea of using condoms alone. I now chart my fertility using a graph, by taking my temperature when I'm in a similar bodily state daily, keep a record of discharge (people are often grossed out when I tell them that, but it's the easiest thing in the world to do, just look down), and thus charting when I'm ovulating, and when around that time it's possible to get pregnant. The method gets a lot of bad publicity due to its association with Catholic anti-contraceptive ideology, and medical methods that just presume a cycle lasts 28 days. It takes months to be able to use it as a reliable method, but I've found it's liberated me and I know more about my body/my fertility than before. Unlike dudes, we're only capable of getting pregnant for a small number of days during the month, so being on a month-long cycle of contraceptives just doesn't make sense to me.

http://www.fertilityuk.org/ this is a useful website. I went to a nurse in the NHS system but she just wanted me to go on the pill, so I wouldn't recommend going through the healthcare system, but there are a lot of private workshops run on it/books to be read. It's really incredibly simple and when used to complement another form of contraception is, in my mind, deadly.

dearg lady · 14-02-2012 4:55pm

Greermua wrote: »

This is something I was incredibly worried about when I moved in with my boyfriend. I am against the use of the pill for various feminist/political/anti-pharmaceutical/Foucauldian reasons, but I was just a bit freaked by the idea of using condoms alone. I now chart my fertility using a graph, by taking my temperature when I'm in a similar bodily state daily, keep a record of discharge (people are often grossed out when I tell them that, but it's the easiest thing in the world to do, just look down), and thus charting when I'm ovulating, and when around that time it's possible to get pregnant. The method gets a lot of bad publicity due to its association with Catholic anti-contraceptive ideology, and medical methods that just presume a cycle lasts 28 days. It takes months to be able to use it as a reliable method, but I've found it's liberated me and I know more about my body/my fertility than before. Unlike dudes, we're only capable of getting pregnant for a small number of days during the month, so being on a month-long cycle of contraceptives just doesn't make sense to me.

http://www.fertilityuk.org/ this is a useful website. I went to a nurse in the NHS system but she just wanted me to go on the pill, so I wouldn't recommend going through the healthcare system, but there are a lot of private workshops run on it/books to be read. It's really incredibly simple and when used to complement another form of contraception is, in my mind, deadly.

I'm currently on the pill, but this is something I've been reading up on recently. Are you saying you use condoms only at your risky days and you don't need anything the rest of the month? I do think there's a lot of misinformation with regard to pregnancy in the media.

Greermua · 14-02-2012 5:01pm

dearg lady wrote: »

I'm currently on the pill, but this is something I've been reading up on recently. Are you saying you use condoms only at your risky days and you don't need anything the rest of the month? I do think there's a lot of misinformation with regard to pregnancy in the media.

Technically that should be the case, with appropriate experience of using the method, a regular cycle and careful monitoring.

I use condoms 99% of the time right now though. I've only been charting my fertility for about 4 months so I don't feel confident enough in my knowledge yet. There are however days when I'm absolutely certain I'm finished ovulating for that month and there's no chance of residual sperm living for long enough to fertilise anything. It takes a lot of reading up and I suppose quite a bit of work to monitor, and the idea of taking a pill once a day is a lot more attractive, but this method is really appealing to me.

Also, there are a lot of apps for androids that 'help' with this, but I've found them to be a dangerous distraction. They often suggest when you're ovulating and when your period is due, but they can't know that as it can shift from month to month, so relying on them can result in messy accidents for you. The pen and paper method is the best, I think.

The best contraceptive for you?

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