What birth control method do you use and why?

Fertility Awareness method....I have to say, this is the best method I've ever used. No chemicals, and all it took was learning about my body's own natural functions instead of supressing them.

 

I'd like to do this, but it would make my husband uncomfortable to not be using anything. When it comes down to it, he wouldn't enjoy himself and in turn I wouldn't enjoy myself if he were uncomfortable with it.

 

I use condoms. chemical birthcontrol makes my body feel gross.

 

Have him read the books as well! Let him help you chart. Maybe make looking at the cervical fluid a more intimate thing that he can be a part of....


Basically why should you suffer the horrid sideeffects of chemical birth control just because he'd be more comfortable?

 

ahhh me too

 

in order for FAM to be effective, your husband needs to understand your cycles, and be part of charting your fertility signs. I do not use it as contraceptive, but I do credit FAM with both of my children being here with us today.

I've tried all sorts of birth control methods. Most come with bad side effects for me. Of those, the IUD had the worst side effects for me, personally. The hormone medications were really bad, too. I got pregnant while using a diaphragm and spermicide (spermicide makes me burn and itch something awful, too). Unlubricated, non-spermicidal condoms were the only acceptable temporary birth control that worked for us. I'm now permanently sterile, my fallopian tubes were completely removed during my last lap surgery for endo.

 

I'm on microgynon 30. Though its side effects have affected me a little, I need to know that I'm over 99% protected against pregnancy. neither my boyfriend nor I are ready to be parents, and we like spontaneous sex, so the pill is just perfect.

 

It wouldn't matter if he understood my cycles or not, he would be uncomfortable with not using anything for protection against pregnancy.

 

Heyyy I have an IUD and I've never had children, and I have NO problems with my iud. I have paragard, which has no hormones. I haven't had worse cramping at all since I got it either, and that's a side effect. I would say I've had less cramping actually, but longer periods.

 

Ok I am soooo glad to hear that from someone! I was researching and I believe I have made my dicision to get paragard. My main factor is that it has no hormones... so you've had no side effects at all except for longer periods? No weight gain? I think it was the one with the hormones that had weight gain as a side effect. Any info you could give me would be great. I'll be talking to the dr, but sometimes I think it's better to get a collective of actual peoples experiances.

 

I use condoms, and sometimes the sponge if we don't want to use condoms. however, the sponge makes me nervous, because I always think it's going to move, or go out of place or something. I've never had any trouble with it (besides taking a bit of practice to get in and out), but I still worry sometimes.

 

Since there are no hormones in paragard there would be no reason it would cause weight gain.

The side effects I've had is less cramping but longer/heavier periods (which doesn't bother me at all but you might want to take into consideration). Although Mirena is known for making hair fall out, mine fell out with paragard at first and after research I found that the copper levels can do that, and to take some Zinc supplementation. I haven't had any problems since.

Those changes aren't common though, and lots of people do not deal well with IUD's because of intense cramping (btw, my first period WAS bad after) and increased bleeding.

Although I love it for protection I am debating taking it out and using FAM instead (as I already combined both as is), but I do not want to risk a high-risk pregnancy if I were to get pregnant, that's the main drawback to me now is that I may not be eligable for homebirth if I were to get pregnant.

 

Can't IUD's pierce and become imbedded in your cerxic or uterious? I remember reading about them and the risks of injury and infertility scared me off.

 

They can be embedded, but that's a risk not really a side effect, so it's rare. Embedded isn't a huge problem either, and shouldn't effect your fertility. The fertility risks is that increased risk of PID, but that is why you're risked out if you have multiple partners or your partner has multiple partners. It's possible that during insertion the IUD can perforate the uterus, but that's very rare too. There's definately cases of it happening, just the same and something you want to keep in mind when considering birth control.

I totally recommend FAM, I would recommend charting to lesbians and nuns too, just because I think it's THAT important. I wish now I had waited on the IUD and just have gone that route, however I think the IUD is an okay choice for women who really just do not have the "time" (patience) for charting and do not want hormones as long as they know the side effects/risks.

 

Abstinince because i had a prego scare in Sept and never want that feeling again until I am ready

 

i heard that too ..but i wont try it at all..thats so disgusting ..

 

Yeah...and I bet it taste like shit too!!

 

My Doctor wouldn't give me the pill any more because he said that it caused abnormal cell growth on my cervix. I couldn’t use a diagram because I was allergic to the spermicidal jelly. So I got my tubes tied.

 

thats why i pretty much take the pill. my periods are so irregular! i havent been on the pill for about 3 months now though, cause i always end up messing it up (skipping days) and then it fucks up my irregular periods even worse. i tried the patch before, but i didn't like it at all

 

I went to the doctor the yesterday and asked about possibly getting a fertility test done. My reasoning is this: they give you a pregnancy test before they start you on birth control but not a fertility test... If for some reason I'm not fertil, why would I want to keep putting unnecessary crap in my body? The doctor didn't bite... she said that they don't do fertility tests for that only if you can't get pregnant and are trying. So if I wanted to get off birth control and see if I got pregnant we could do it that way... and I'm saying HELL NO to that! the whole reason I am still on birth control is to keep that from happening..... I think I'm going to get an IUD... now it's just a matter of when. Do I use the three last packs of ortho tricyclene or just go and do the iud now?