Birth Control: Advice and Anecdotes

After that I went for an IUD and the gyney managed to shove it through the back of my uterus which was the most painful and unpleasant thing I've ever experienced.

The pill makes me a totally grumpy bitch.

Depo-provera made me gain humungous weight.

Condoms are very unpleasant in sensation - I'd rather just not bother with sex than do it with a condom, and I'm often allergic to the lubricant.

My periods are somewhat irregular so rhythm method is not reliable.

I opt for him withdrawing and avoiding penetration except for just before & after, or during, my period - times when it's pretty much safe.

Had the IUD inserted today unexpectedly (!!!) Went for a second colposcopy (following possibly abnormal pap) under the impression they would need to send a sample off somewhere for testing, and wouldn't try Mirena till that was all confirmed to be ok. But they said if everything looked ok (which it did, apparently) then no need to send another sample off, so we could go ahead and insert the Mirena. It was a 'slow day' for them, lol. Anyway, this was with the specialist insertion lady rather than the doc who couldn't get it in last time, so I went for it. (Also, the specialist's daughter was in to observe procedures as some kind of component of a nursing course, so at least I got to feel useful). I hadn't taken any painkillers beforehand of course, and fucking hell. It was five times more painful than last time and I thought I was going to pass out. But I didn't, and I was fine in about 3 minutes.

I've been told to expect three months of bleeding, but that it should be 'light spotting'. We'll see :/

that all sounds terrible; my gal has had to deal with a lot of these problems too. i am appalled (though not surprised) how often severely abnormal menstrual cycles are generally taken with a shrug by most obgyns.

I would say expecting 3-5 months of spotting when starting Depo or Mirena is pretty accurate.

Carl: I doubt the small amount of prog. in the Mirena would do anything pro or con re: perimenopause. A drop in the hormonal bucket.

Justine: It'll probably be easier to get an IUD than a tubal, especially if you don't have kids because what if your fickle ladybrain changes it's mind? A lot of providers (even feminist lady docs and NPs!) still won't sterilize women who don't have kids. Also easier just in terms of scheduling and getting it inserted.

And an IUD is pretty damn near as effective as a tubal.

i already have mirena, but i was wondering if i should just get the TL since i'm almost 36 and we definitely do not want kids. but since it's not 100% guaranteed i was thinking maybe it wasn't worth it but wanted an expert opinion!

3 months of bleeding jfc

i'd be in a darkened room by the third WEEK, forget months

hats off to all you lady soldiers & your bleeding ladyparts *salutes*

TMI TMI TMI! Sooooooooooooooooooo I'm about 90% sure that I "spontaneously expelled" this IUD. Last Tuesday I could feel the strings and they seemed to be hanging low but I attributed that to having my period (and the attendant low cervical position) and went about my bleeding business (har har). Then yesterday morning I had a particularly... clotty feeling toilet experience and noticed a suspiciously t-shaped clot. I checked in the shower and... no strings. And the bleeding stopped.

I'm calling the doc tomorrow and I'll ask about the likelihood of it happening again but between the nonstop bleeding and the fact that it just fell the hell out, I don't know if I'm going to get another one.

Holy shit! Bizarre but. . . I guess stop to bleeding is a plus???

yiiikes

Yeah, I'm not unhappy about this turn of events, I have to admit. I was going to ride it out but now that it's gone I'm like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Whoa! Interesting. Begone, very inconvenient device.

I've had no cramping and no bleeding BUT it's because I'm finishing a pack of pills. Bet it all kicks off after that.

Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!

Expulsion isn't all that uncommon, right? In the first couple months anyway.

yeah, I think that's the highest-risk time?

Per the admittedly cursory google search I did to make sure I didn't need emergency care, it seems like it's not super common (one website put the statistic at 2-5%) but definitely not unheard of. There was a convo on IUD Divas about it, and one woman had IUDs reinstalled THREE TIMES and she expelled all three of them. I definitely would have stopped after two.

Did you actually see the IUD? Like wash off the clot and find the hardware?

Sorry maybe that's gross but that's what I would've done and since it didn't sound like it I'm wondering if it was actually expelled. I feel like it would be pretty obvious? That said, I've heard of women expelling them and not noticing. I just can't imagine how that happens.

And I'm not saying you didn't expel it but just wondering if you're 100% sure.

"wash off the clot and find the hardware" = the least popular country line dance move

LOL

Yes that's totally gross but also a PVMIC and I sincerely love you for it. I didn't visually confirm beyond the suspicious t-shape of the clot in question. I'd say I'm about 90% sure that I expelled it but that's based on circumstantial evidence.

I could have potentially not noticed if I hadn't glanced in the toilet as I was getting up. It's been such a shitshow (so to speak) with all the bleeding that I could have easily attributed the sudden cessation of bleeding to the general downstairs weirdness that's been going on since I got the thing inserted.

lol I asked to see the one I partially expelled after the doc removed it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with yours. I feel so bad any time someone does because I've had such a relatively easy time with mine. It'll be interesting to hear what the doc says!

Aw thanks. I'm a little surprised since the first time around, I don't recall having any problems at all. I must have had an initial run of bleeding but I can't remember at all, and eventually my period just went away entirely.

Also thank you for reminding me to call the doc. I have an apt. tomorrow morning at 9.

Didn't IO post a while back about expelling hers like three times?

I think it just took her three times to get the insertion completed successfully ("just" like that's a walk in the park), not that she expelled it.

Yeah the first time was my non-dilated cervix's fault and a tipped uterus, apparently. Once I got the right drugs to get it in, I was fine.

Sorry about everything, carl.

1. NP is certain the IUD is gone but wants me to schedule an ultrasound to be safe, which sure. Fine.
2. I experienced an abnormal amount of bleeding.
3. If you expel a Mirena w/in 90 days of insertion they'll replace it for free.
4. If you expel one there's an increased chance of expelling another.
5. I couldn't talk them into an elective hysterectomy. :|
6. The nurse and both NPs I saw would have fished the suspicious clot out of the toilet and confirmed it was the IUD so E, you are in good company.

7. The NP went up into my cervix with a cytobrush to see if there was anything lodged in there and now my cervix hurts and that is upsetting to me.

Oh God, carl, you have really had maximum hassle from this thing :/

ikr??? I have discussed the situation with my partner and we have agreed that I will not be taking advantage of the Mirena 90 day reinstallation offer.

No, I thought you might politely decline that kind offer.

Meanwhile, my three-month (or whatever) stint of bleeding has begun even though I'm still finishing a pill pack.

5. I couldn't talk them into an elective hysterectomy. :|
i understand why but this is messed up

ugh anything in & around the cervix area is the worst, sending hugs to u carl

"Women Don't Need to Have Periods"

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/no-periods/403894/

*wistful sigh*

That's interesting about breakthrough bleeding being incorporated into BCPs because women wanted it. I always assumed it was some paternalistic thing on the part of the developers.

I remember reading somewhere that women now have way more periods than women used to because in ye olden times women spent the majority of their reproductive years either pregnant or breastfeeding (which for a large majority of women stops them from getting their periods) so that you can sort of view the way women get their periods now as "unnatural".

I've never minded mine tbh. I actually kind of like it because it reminds me of what I'm (presumably) capable of and that's pretty fucking amazing to think about. Also, I think I have it pretty easy in terms of pain and duration etc.

I like it bc it reminds me that I'm not pregnant.

Here's a q: Can long term use of bc pills/hormonal bc cause the growth of or exacerbate ovarian cysts?

no -- given that increased gonadotropin stimulation is thought to contribute to the development of ovarian cysts, and given that oral contraceptives work to block the secretion of gonadotropins from the pituitary, if anything the use of OCs should be beneficial in people with cysts. in fact OCs are first-line therapy for people with PCOS

that article kate posted was pretty good for the most part btw

thank you for the thorough and informative answer!

i read about half of this before i had to nope out due to omfg it reminds me of something from a cronenberg movie
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/07/26/essure/?utm_term=.63970eddcc94

I got to 'There, the inserts, which do not contain or release hormones, help generate scar tissue that blocks the tubes.' and thought 'hmm sounds reliable' :/

Other factors might also have influenced doctors’ enthusiasm for Essure. For one thing, it takes less time to implant the device than to perform tubal ligation surgery in a hospital. Then there are the reimbursement rates. In 2011 documents created by Conceptus for its sales team, the company estimated that a doctor who inserted 60 Essure devices a year would net $66,747.78, or slightly more than $1,100 per device. By contrast, a physician is reimbursed about $510 by private insurance for surgical sterilization in a hospital, according to Amino, a company that uses U.S. insurance claims data to help consumers estimate health-care costs.

Barbara Levy, vice president of health policy at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a former consultant to Conceptus, says the higher reimbursement rate is meant to cover office overhead and the equipment necessary to insert Essure, not to serve as an incentive for doctors to recommend Essure over tubal ligation. But Robinson argues that the rate does present an incentive, “and it’s supposed to.” He believes that the idea behind the Essure reimbursement rate is to steer doctors away from the more costly hospital-based procedure.

The problem with a procedure that reimburses well, Robinson contends, “is that everybody jumps onboard: ‘Oh, I’m going to do Essures and I’m going to pay my kids’ college tuition.’ ” But Essure isn’t appropriate for every woman, he says, and should be inserted only by doctors who understand and can manage the risks.

Like many of the women I spoke to, Angie Firmalino, 45, says that her doctor recommended Essure. Shortly after her 2009 procedure, which she says was excruciating, the Tannersville, N.Y., woman began having constant bleeding and pain. She developed joint problems that she attributes to an autoimmune response and had to have surgery to remove the coils. The operation left fragments behind and resulted in a hysterectomy. She’s still dealing with chronic pain, muscle weakness and blood circulation problems, which she also thinks are autoimmune related.

In 2011, Firmalino decided to start a group on Facebook to share her experiences with female friends. Then, strangers started requesting to join and “telling their horror stories, some worse than mine,” she says. Soon the Essure Problems group had hundreds, then thousands of women. They wrote graphic descriptions of their pain and blood loss, fatigue and weight gain; they posted pictures of their thinning hair and bloated bellies that could be mistaken for marking the weeks of pregnancy. And they shared the stranger symptoms: joint pain, sudden muscle weakness, skin rashes. “That’s when the talk started about what is this device made out of?” Firmalino says. “Then we discovered there’s nickel in the device. None of us knew.”

did not know there was nickel in it
did not ask women if they were allergic to nickel
bodily horror follows

even shitty Etsy sellers tell you when their jewellery contains nickel ffs

seriously
why does it take investigative reporting to find out that these fallopian-tube hosted coils of pain aren't working the way they are supposed to?! "i could pay my kid's tuition with this" not a good answer.

god... horrific

corrosive coils of horror

tooth decay? what the ever-loving hell

when I was partway into the article I was thinking it sounded similar to some of the male contraception options that are being tested that involve plugging up the vas deferens, but those are more of a rubber type of substance and not NICKEL wtf

Cybersex for the win I guess