Irishgirl, your Mirena experience sounds like my fantasy contraceptive. I wish it was subsidized where I live, but looking at the one-off cost across five years it works out to be pretty reasonable.
Olives, your experience sounds traumatic to say the least!
No regrets, since having my baby 21 years ago, I’ve had mine changed every five years. The first one gave me a really rough period, but only the first one. I crawled back into the clinic asking them to take the damn thing out. Luckily for me one of the doctors asked if I usually had not very painful periods, which was true. She said give it a chance, I did and I’ve been back to my normal light periods ever since. It doesn’t suit everyone (sorry Olives) but it suits me. Last time it cost around USD$150.
Yup, that’s why I have mine! I’m never allowed to be on normal hormonal birth control again after my pulmonary embolism last year, which is why my hematologist recommended the Mirena. So if it’s safe for *me *to have one, I can’t imagine it would be a problem for someone with a lower risk of clots.
1.) If you can’t afford one on your own, it’s possible that your doctor, Planned Parenthood, etc. might be able to supply one.
2.) Like you said, when you spread the cost over the whole five years, it’s probably way cheaper than any other form of hormonal BC.
It sucked, but I think my experience is in the minority. I’ve always had major issues with PMS and menstruation and have been on birth control of some kind to control it since I was 12. Whereas a lot of women find hormonal BC exacerbates their issues, my body actually needs that stuff to keep it in line. It took me a lot of experimenting before I finally found something my body could deal with.
That ‘‘something’’ is my NuvaRing, which the doc said I could leave in for a full month and switch on the same day. This means I never have a period. No more cramps, no more bloating, no more rapid and extreme mood swings, no more bleeding, no nothing. It’s beautiful.
(And I’m hoping once I take it out next month I get pregnant DAMN FAST because the thought of having BC-free periods for months before conception is terrifying!)
I am also a Mirena user and love it. I am surprised at the number of people here who paid so little for it though! I had to pay the full price (something like $750 inserted) because my insurance didn’t cover birth control. I thought that was pretty typical - are more carriers finally covering it?
(It was still worth the cost for me, BTW, but I am glad it worked out for me. I would have been kind of pissed to pay that much and want it taken out after a year or so.)
Oh, and I did have spotting/odd cramps for quite a while at first. Over 6 months, IIRC. I was just at the point of getting discouraged about it when all the bad things stopped and it started getting awesome. So I am glad I stuck with it, although just as another anecdote, I have a friend who was also on it for a few years and just had it taken out because her acne was getting so bad. I have noticed a minor blemish once in a while but nothing that really bothers me.
I’ve already hit my deductible for the year, so my insurance covered most of mine. Which is fortunate, because all the fancy stuff I had with my insertion made it pretty expensive (I think the total was around $1,800).
I’m really surprised your insurance doesn’t cover birth control at all–even the super-crappy insurance I had when I worked for a temp agency for five minutes covered BC, as long as I could get a doctor to say it was medically necessary (easy enough). Do they cover pregnancy-related things? That’s got to be a hell of a lot more expensive than helping you not get pregnant in the first place.
It’s not uncommon for insurance policies to not cover birth control. In my case, they don’t cover it at all*, but that’s because we have my husband’s policy and he works at a Catholic hospital organization. Sigh.
This pisses me the hell off. At one point I had a private health insurance from work, but still covered under the national health service. The private wouldn’t cover the coil, and the national will throw all the condoms, pills and shots at you that you want - but the coil? Oh no, why not? Surely it’s the most cost effective, and probably the most effective birth control. I should have faked acne then?
Exactly my point. They *do *at least cover it if you can get a doctor to say it’s medically necessary, which you should have no problem doing. (A lot of doctors hate these policies, too.) So to say that they “don’t cover it at all” is very inaccurate.
Now, it’s complete and utter bullshit that you can’t get it just for reasons of BC, but that’s not the same thing as saying it’s never covered.
I’ve had a copper T IUD for the last 6 years and I love love love it.
I like that there are no hormones involved because those make me loopy. I like that there is nothing to forget to do. I like that it is worry-free for 10 years. I like that once it’s paid for, there are no additional costs.
It hurt a little to get it inserted, but not too much, and then my body adjusted.
True, but it’s splitting hairs, IMO. I mean, I know what you’re saying, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are doctors who would refuse to say it’s for something non-BC if BC is why you want it. Know what I mean?
Sure, but then you just say you get cramps. What are they gonna do, give you some Magical Pain Test during your next period?