Oooooo NOW you are talkin! I have had three kids and I am not interested in having any more. But I am not all that anxious to go iunder the knife for a tubiligation either. That sounds really tempting!
I have to go under the knife to have my last munchkin so I’m getting a tubal at the same time.
Essure sounds good… if I wasn’t having a C section I was looking at having that done myself.
What autz said. She’s entirely correct.
Some people do have complications with the IUD, but it is pretty rare. I did some research before getting it, and I reassured myself that the risk was low enough to where I didn’t feel uncomfortable.
I got the Mirena. The great thing about Mirena is that sometimes you don’t get periods after a while. By all means, check out their website!
The ONLY thing wrong with the IUD is it hurts when they insert it. Just take a lot of asprin beforehand and be prepared!
My mom was a plaintiff in the Class Action suit regarding the Dalkon Shield IUD. It caused her to have an ectopic pregancy (egg grow implanted in the fallopian tube) and her Fallopian tube exploded, the hemmoragging nearly killed her, and her chances of ever having another child (me) were reduced by 50%.
Maybe they’ve advanced the science of IUDs, but I don’t think I could ever be comfortable with one.
I had my tubes tied. So far, no more babies. It’s only been 15 years. And I’m pre-menopausal. But I still freak out nearly every month. Go figure.
I’m liking my Mirena more and more as time goes on. (Well, I’ve only had it three weeks, but you know what I mean.) The insertion was, umm, rather uncomfortable because I’ve never been pregnant and have a severely retroverted uterus. Once they got my cervix pried open, though, it took about 5 minutes.
If you do choose the IUD route, take a double dose of a long-acting NSAID like naproxen or ibuprofen and hour or two beforehand. Actually, if you can arrange it, have someone else drive you and have them get you a script for a bit of Valium or something.
I had some cramping the first few days, but that resolved as my period ended. I’m still having a little spotting just about every day, which is annoying, but it seems to be trailing off now. I’ve quit worrying about every little twinge anywhere near my abdomen being a perforation, and quit checking the string obsessively at every potty break.
Oh, and AFAIK, the Mirena is completely plastic, so metal allergies shouldn’t be a problem. It only lasts for 5 years as opposed to 10 for the copper T, though. Still, my insurance covered everything but my office visit copays for insertion and follow-up. Five years of essentially hassle-free birth control for $40 just can’t be beat.
Diaphragms and cervical caps have a pretty damn high failure rate, comparatively, and it goes even higher if you’ve had kids. Every gyno I’ve ever spoken to has said they’re a really crappy choice, even when combined with condoms, when pregnancy is NOT an option.
Hello Again
The Dalcon Shield was 30 years ago. There have been no other similar incidents since then.
There are fewer risks and side effects with IUDs now than there are with birth control pills.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that with my family history its something I could never be comfortable with.
It also bothers me that no one knows why it works. Irrational, maybe.
An asprin… held firmly between the knees.
I’m 36, no kids, and have had an IUD for 6 years. I have migraines, so I had to stop using hormonal BCs, and I just really didn’t want to use a diaphragm.
My periods got a bit worse with the IUD, and the insertion was not a picnic, but overall it is totally worth it. No muss, no fuss.
One big caveat is that you should not use an IUD if you have more than one sexual partner - you can greatly increase your chances of having an STD turn into PID (pelvic inflammatory disease). PID is bad news, causes sterility or death. I would not recommend an IUD for someone unless they have a monogamous sexual relationship, counting on condoms to protect you from STDs is not good enough when you have an IUD, IMHO. But talk to your doctor about that, don’t take my word for it.
It’s not, it’s just an anecdote (FWIW, I looked it up on snopes. Nuffin. I also googled “IUD Urban legend”. Still nuffin. Well, there wereDalkon Shields references gone berserk, but nothing else).
Even if I hadn’t heard that anecdote, having some twisty piece of metal hanging around in my internal organs would creep me out. YMMV.
I hated mine. Had it taken out after a NINE MONTH long period. That fuckin sucked. I gained 20+ pounds, had to go on Pepcid for stomach troubles… nope it sucked.
I have a gonzo scar on my arm where they had to RIP those little nasties out. Hurt like hell too.
Hello Again, if you get pregant while using an IUD, the pregnancy is far more likely to be ectopic than if you were pregnant without the IUD. But that’s true for a lot of forms of birth control. Go pick up all the little pamphlets at Planned Parenthood; lots of stuff has that exact same warning.
And, of course, your risk of having an ectopic pregnancy with an IUD is still lower than it would be without it. I mean, lack of birth control leaves you with an 80% chance of getting pregnant. The IUD leaves you with a roughly 1% chance. Say the IUD quadruples your chances that a given pregnancy will be ectopic (I don’t think it’s nearly that high, but it makes for nice round numbers.) Ectopics are a ridiculously low percentage of pregnancies. I think the number I read was about 4%.
So, without the birth control, I have an 80% chance of pregnancy, and a 4% chance that said pregnancy will be ectopic. That leaves me with a (.8*.04) 3.2% chance of having an ectopic pregnancy. With the IUD, I have a 1% chance of pregnancy, and a 16% chance that the pregnancy would be ectopic, for a .16% chance of ectopic pregnancy.
Refusing to consider the IUD because your mom had an ectopic with one in would be like me refusing to consider the pill because my mom not only got pregnant with me while on the pill, but also had some very dangerous gyno problems while on it.