On the other hand, I’m another vote in favour of Depo-Provera. I’ve been on it for three years now, and the only side effect I’ve noticed is I haven’t had any periods since being on it. It’s also more reliable than female sterilization (I should be able to give you a cite tomorrow if you want). One thing I have noticed is my arm would hurt for about a day when I got the shots there, but I don’t have any pain beyond the shot itself when I get it in my rump. I’m a fan.
I was also on Norplant for a while about 15 years ago. I found that to be good and reliable with no side effects other than no periods. If Norplant or its equivalent ever comes back on the market in the US, I’d use it again.
I had an IUD for years–loved it (don’t recall the name, sorry). I did not have heavy periods with it. I never checked for the string (my husband said he could feel it sometimes).
I got a Paragard IUD after gastric bypass surgery since the Pill’s effectiveness is in question due to malabsorptive issues.
It hurt like a mofo on insertion (I’ve never had children - YMMV). I had very heavy periods initially (no hormones in the Paragard; the Mirena IUD has the hormones - no periods) but they’ve become more normal in the past 6 months. I’ve had it in about 2 years. No issues other than described above.
I’m going to hijack a bit here and tell you ladies who deal with the horrible PMS symptoms about Evening Primrose Oil. I always had terrible PMS and heard about EPO for my skin and then read more once I bought a bottle. It’s far cheaper than Midol, is less processed, good for your skin and I even knew a lady who used it while being treated for endometriosis; she said it helped the cramping immensely. I start taking it about a week before my period starts and then till about Day 2 of flow. No headaches, no trouble sleeping, no mood swings and no bloating, which to me is best of all!
Of course you all know that decreasing caffeine, alcohol, sugar and salt intake while increasing your sleep during PMS will help quite a bit as well.
You don’t have to keep it cold, so that’s not a problem.
Also, I sorta get the impression you think the Ring only goes in prior to sex. It doesn’t; when you first use it, you note the time you put it in, and then remove it at that same time 3 weeks later. After your week off, you insert the new ring at the same time. So it shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re always horny at, say, 3pm Saturday.
I absolutely loved the convienience of the ring, but it made me more depressed than I already was. I would definitely recommend trying it, though, since we all seem to react differently to different hormonal mixes.
In fact, I haven’t found a hormonal BC that didn’t mess me up; either moodwise, or giving me migraines, or both. The minipill didn’t do either of those, but it made my periods way late and that scared the hell out of me and my ex-BF, and apparently permanently changed the pattern of my periods. Goodbye predictable three day periods! I have sworn off hormones, my body just doesn’t like them in any form I’ve tried.
Right now celibacy is doing the trick, but if it looks like that will end, I’ll probably go for an IUD. I’d be worried about trying the Mirena, though; this sounds really weird, but as much as I don’t like having periods, I’d be worried if I didn’t get them if I were sexually active.
I have a Mirena IUD - for me there are only benefits. Lasts for five years, no periods, no mood swings or migraines due to the fact it only has one tenth of the hormones you would be taking in the contraceptive pill. It is the most effective method of contraception short of abstinence. There was a couple of days of cramping when I first got it (no worse than a period) and nothing since.
Of course I’ve had 2 kids. For a woman who has never had a child, I believe it can be very painful to insert. But if you can get past that, it’s the best there is.
Actually, Implanon has superceded it. Cite, cite and cite (on the last site, there’s only Norplant listed, but I read elsewhere that the effectiveness is pretty standard among all the implants).
No. I mean, good advice–but no. I worked 6 hard years to be stable enough to get off psychotropic medications. Those days are behind me now.
That might be a bad thing, for me. I don’t know. I just hope my doctor does.
I hope Implanon is available where I’m at. It sounds lovely. The Planned Parenthood site hasn’t been updated since 2006 and it says Implanon’s not available yet. But if someone here says it is, then I should ask about that. I’m not afraid of needles and I can handle pain. It’s the emotional chaos that gets me.
If you’re using condoms religiously (heh), why not just ask your doctor about some hormone cream to combat your PMS? I watched a PBS show on menopause, and the lady doing the show described a “dusting” of hormones - just enough of what you’re missing to balance you out. Condoms kind of get a bad reputation in the birth control arena, but they are very effective when used properly. You can also throw some rhythm method in there to increase your odds.
Whoo boy, I tried just about everything.
I loved depo while I was on it, but did gain a ton of weight and all. I loved the security and the amenorrhea, also the convenience!
I thought the Nuva Ring was good, hormonally speaking, but it gave me yeast infections. I’d never had a yeast infection in my life and had one practically every other month on the Nuva Ring. Otherwise, good. I liked that it eased me back into menstruation, and I liked the light estrogen load. Estrogen makes me seriously barfy, and this only made me a little barfy for the first few weeks.
If I were in a position now to want long-term birth control, I would definitely consider a Mirena IUD. There’s a 90% reduction in menstrual bleeding (squee!) and it’s very, very effective. The Paragard is non-hormonal, which some women dig, but you can expect heavier cramping and bleeding with periods.
Good luck, it can be really difficult to find something that works perfectly for you.
Oh, also, call your local PP and ask about Implanon directly–it’s been available at my clinic for almost a year!
Have any of you with the Mirena experienced weight gain? I was on the ortho tri cyclin pill for a while and it made me feel like I was starving every second of the day. I didn’t gain much weight but I was always hungry. I’m on a different pill now that doesn’t do that to me, but I want to get an IUD. However, if it’s the same type of hormones in the IUD as in the ortho I don’t know whether I should risk it.
I just wanted to be clear that I can’t report back on any Implanon side effects yet, since I’ve only had it for 2 weeks and it’s going to take a while for the Depo to get out of my system.
It is available in the states, and their web page says there are three providers in Ann Arbor (all affiliated with the University, I think).
I respond well to hormonal BC, but it’s difficult to say whether or not they’ve contributed to my weight gain. I’m a big girl who’s pretty much gained steadily since birth, how’m I going to blame the BC for a particular part of it for sure? I can say that it’s a lot easier for me to lose weight thru diet and exercise when not on hormonal BC, that much I’m sure of. I first went on the pill at 14, my mother actually pushed for it since my PMS was killer.
The pill worked just fine for me, except for the remembering to take it regularly. I had weird work hours for years and that completely screwed me up with the pill, even a round of anti-biotics was hard to take correctly when your hours are constantly changing.
Loved Depo, completely stopped having periods after the second month of the first shot, went 2 years the first time and a little over 1 year the second round I used it. My doc’s office wanted to be all picky about actually scheduling an appointment for each shot (c’mon, it takes 2 seconds!) and since I only have four sick/personal days annually available, I chose not to use each one just to visit the gyno.
I’ve had my Mirena a year and a half now, and love it. Slight cramping the first few days as my body adjusted to the strange foreign object, but nothing a couple of tylenol couldn’t handle. Weird light spotting the first six weeks, then zero period noise since then. No detectable mood swings, and the only negative side effect is that after particularly vigorous happy nekkid time sometimes I cramp for an hour or two. Totally not anywhere near the level of being a deal-breaker, but in the interests of full disclosure and all.
I have terrible migraines (Migraine Botox is the magic cure, BTW), so I had to go hormone-free. I’ve had the Paraguard (non-hormone) IUD for quite a while, and I love it.
I am childless, but had an unplanned pregnancy (on low-dose BCPs), so that’s how I got by the restriction about not putting it in women who haven’t had a child. My understanding is that the (one) reason for that restriction is that in the very rare case when someone does get pregnant and and actually retains the pregnancy, the baby+IUD combination can be very, very bad.
One of the ways that the IUD works is by making the uterus an unfriendly place for implantation, I believe. I’ve had the same experience that someone else mentioned - late period, positive pregnancy test, then heavy period. I think it’s supposed to work that way, but it is disconcerting, to say the least.
Anyway, I can’t say enough positive things about the IUD experience (despite the paragraph above). There is nothing to think about, nothing to deal with. No scars on your arm. Years and years and years before you have to think about birth control again. Easily removable if you change your mind. (Other than the wandering, of which I had never heard a personal story before now).
I’m tired, so I don’t think I’m being eloquent. I hope you get the right thing for you. This has been great for me.
This is actually what bothers me the most. It’s not a moral issue or anything, but it is damn disconcerting to get a positive pregnancy test (or three), and then get your period two days later. Now that I’ve known others to have the same experience, I’m strongly considering having mine removed. You’re the third person who’s told me they’ve had this same situation, and honestly - it just doesn’t sit well with me. Even if it’s not a ‘listed’ side effect of an IUD, obviously, there are people that it happens to, and maybe it’s particular women who are more susceptible to it.
:eek: um. I…um. That’s now reason #267 why I’m not sure about having kids.
I just popped in to say that I was one of those who had a severe reaction to Depo. My period disappeared completely, after a very light one the first month, and the first dose was great. Downhill from there, though. After that, it started messing with my head. At the time, I was in my last year of college, and I thought my problem was mostly school related stress, but it kept getting progressively worse–mood swings, felt like I had constant PMS, craving unhealthy food, weight gain (obviously), trouble sleeping–some of it was stress, but I noticed an improvement a few months after I stopped taking it.
I’m definitley not trying to get you to not try it–but it seems to be one of those methods that works great for about half and is horrible for the other half. I wish I’d monitored myself more carefully at the time, and stopped taking it immediately after I noticed any weird symptoms.
