For me, the best birth control was knowing my body better. The Fertility Awareness Method (NOT the rhythm method), as described in Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, is a great way to know your fertility. Knowing this makes it possible to AVOID pregnancy or ACHIEVE pregnancy. If you want to have sex during fertile times, use a condom and spermicide. Plus, it's free and doesn't have any harmful fake hormones!
I'm a fan of alesse, personally... I like the pill, it's cheap and easy for me to remember now that I've figured out setting my watch to go off every day and remind me And alesse is a rather low dose pill... but not everyone's a fan of course. I can't deal with the triphasic pills (a different dose each week, instead of the same amount every day for the 21 days) because they make my body want to have a lot of yeast infection, ick. Also, condoms are still around for preventing STD's from being spread
I've been on the pill for about 6 months and so far, i haven't got pregnant so that's good...I'm on this kind called Mercilon, which is one of the new generation low dose monophasic pills, which is less likely to give you side effects. I still got some side effects like sore breasts and decrease in sex drive, but it's got a lot better after a few months.
i love my ortho-try cyclin lo and i have to agree with jinxxycat don't go on the depo shot it is horrid
I don't think there is any birth control that is "the best", I think it all depends on what birth control is best for you and your body. I've used ortho-tricyclen, depo provera and now I am using an IUD b/c I didn't like the side affects I had from hormonal birth control, especially the depo shot. Some people are ok on depo, like my best friend who has never weighed over 115lbs. For me, I gained at least 30 lbs while I was on it, havn't lost it yet and it's been over a year since I was on it. I would have tried the FAM as someone else had mentiond, but my husband and I don't want kids and we feel uncomfortable not using a physical form of birth control, but since I am not on hormones anymore I am going to look into it just so I can get to know how my body operates better. If you are concidering the mirena iud you may want to look into an IUD called paragard, here's the link to the site http://www.paragard.com/paragard/index.php. Also, since you mentioned it her is a link to some info on Mirena http://www.mirena-us.com/index.jsp, it looks like they call it an IUC, for Intrauterine Contraceptive, but I read up on it and they are both similar. Mirena is an iud that contains hormones and Paragard is an iud that does not contain hormones. Paragard lasts 10+ years and can be taken out at any time. I just got mine about a month ago after stopping hormonal birth control. I had my period and some cramping for about two weeks after getting the IUD, but that is partly because of stopping hormonal birth control. If you do get one, make sure it is around a time where you can take it easy, I wasn't bed ridden, but I wouldn't want to have been climbing mountains. An IUD is an intrauterine device. It's a t-shaped devise that isn't too big and a psysician inserts it into your uterus. (not very comfortable when they're doing it, but worth the discomfort) The reason I chose Paragard is because my husband and I don't want kids....at least for now, and I was sick of the side effects that came along with hormonal birth control. The procedure itself wasn't so pleasant, but really I could compare it to a very uncomfortable annual visit, mainly because they have to go a little deeper I guess since they're inserting something into your uterus. The doctor put in the speculum, measured my uterus, swabbed me with some betadine stuff and then inserted the iud, checked to be sure it was positioned correctly and I was done,worst part was when they measured my uterus and "took hold of my cervix". I'd say the actual procedure took maybe 15 minutes, if that. The side effects for Paragard are heavier and longer periods for a few months after placement and some women have spotting between periods. My doc said that these effects have not been compared to occurances of them from women who had just switched from other types of birth control, so really it could be that it's just heaver than what there periods were compared to the shot or the pill. I was told that these will probably go away after the first few months as my body gets used to making its own hormones, since I switched from the pill. There are some risks, but those I am willing to take, my dr said that they are very rare. I paid $250, but I went to planned parenthood, they go by income, in my area the most you'll pay at PP for Paragard is $275, although they are actually about $400 at an actual dr...they do have a payment plan where you pay apx $40/month for 12 months and also a financial assistance program, but you can only make so much to get that, I'm not sure how much.... I figured out for me I'll be paying equal to about $2 per month for bc over the next 10-12 years, even if I want it out in 3yrs it'll still only cost apx $14 per month and hey, it's already paid! Even if you paid the full $400 it'd still equal out to about $3 per month if you used it for 10 years... so worth it to me for the price, the abilty to have very effective bc with no hormones and the convienience of no maintainance.
True, you won't get pregnant if you don't have sex. But the OP is asking about contraceptives, so I don't think telling her not to have sex is really going to help her.
Yeah like someone else said, it really depends on your body. I personally just switched to a Seasonale copy (like the generic brands cuz they're cheaper with our insurance) and I really like it. I do better on low rather than high but thats just me.
I got pregnant while on Ortho Tri-Cyclen. But, I loved it. It made me lose a little of the extra weight I had. It cleared up my skin. And, it give me stronger hair and nails. After I had my daughter, I started the Provera shot. I HATED it. It made me gain a lot of weight in just the three months I was on it. I had HORRIBLE mood swings, I almost lost my boyfriend because of that thing. We fought constantly....yes, he caused some of them, but most of them were from me flying off the handle....which only happened after I started the shot. I bled almost the whole 3 months I was on it. I stopped maybe 3 days before it ended. I was always constantly hungry. Now, I'm on Lo/Ovral. I like it so far, but I've only been on it about a week. Not near long enough time to find out if I'll keep it. I've lost some weight on it. Just the little bit I've been trying to lose from the Provera. Lo/Ovral is a monophasic pill. I like that a lot better. I just feel more....safe on it. I'm still trying to get back in the groove of taking a pill everyday. I don't think I've taken 2 pills at the same time yet. So, my boyfriend and I are still using condoms until we both feel safe with this. I'm getting my new phone tomorrow, it has an alarm....unlike the one I have right now, so that will help a whole lot in remembering to take my pills. I had a friend that had the ring. She had trouble with it slipping out on her a lot. I don't know if that's happened to anyone else that uses it....but hers did, and she ended up pregnant.
I love Yasmin. It's actually the first pill my OB prescribed me. It's funny some women fake a pregnancy, ever heard of FakeABaby?, though they have their own reasons and I've been using birth control for since 2012! Heard about the depo too. Made my couz gain weight and making her "too dry".
please help!! So first I started my birth control pack a day early then on day 4 I had unprotected sex & took my pill 5 hours late thenthe next day I took my pill again 5 hours late & right now I'm on my third sugar pill & hadn't ANY pms symptoms & no period. Could I be pregnant?
