Contraception: The Poll

My pain is less of a pain and more of a presence--I feel two long ovals embedded on either side of my coccyx.

we love you Kenan, but "use a heating pad/hot pack" is menstruation 101.
I have a Mirena and no cramps.

lol Kate.

I never took menstruation 101! And Laurel said she'd never had cramps before.

One day a kid was called up to the front of class for show and tell. He drew a period on the blackboard.

"What's that, Jonny?"
"I don't know, but when my sister missed one Mom fainted, Sister left town, and Dad beat up the boy next door."q

BTW, I've always been bothered by the "If men had periods, they would brag about how long, painful, and heavy they were" thing. I mean, I can't think of any male-specific non-sexual bodily functions that men brag about.

are there any male-specific non-sexual bodily functions?

golf injuries?

Enlarged prostate.

Maybe that is actually sexual, in a way, but it's not sexy.

Which illustrates what I was talking about.

Not literally, I thank the stars.

Right. There's only one part of the male anatomy that's sexy (and useful) when it's swollen.

My nipples wish to argue slightly with you.

Worst menstruation euphemism I've heard recently: Shark Week

Oh, I like that one.

My nipples wish to argue slightly with you.

This is a memorable mental image.

Haha whatever pill I was on for the past 2.5 years is the one the new ob/gyn says is #1 culprit of all the bc pills to be a libido-killer. That's...awesome. (FWIW it was Desogen, I am now on Loestrin, which she says "gives you the most free T," one of those women who is on such good terms w/testosterone that she has a nickname for it.)

:-)

I've suspected for years that I have a slight testosterone imbalance--I have a low-pitched voice, I'm hairy, I have a large rib cage and broad shoulders, and I have a high sex drive.

One of the many pills I have tried made my hair start falling out and I still didn't have any sex drive. Damn you, testosterone.

Too bad it was the only one which didn't have any other side effects.

(on another brand now, got my hair and my migraines back pretty swiftly)

Already noticing a difference & enjoying my hormone-free life, btw. We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

my brother (28 and owner of one adorable yet surprise kid) has just told me that the withdrawal method works

i just

If you got good control, it can be pretty effective! Planned Parenthood sez:
Of every 100 women whose partners use withdrawal, 4 will become pregnant each year if they always do it correctly.

but then there's the always do it correctly caveat...

aside from the accuracy of that, and the stipulation that you got to do it right, you cant flush bedsheets down the toilet

Successfully used the withdrawal method for several years. (I had a bad reaction to the pill; my boyfriend always went soft as soon as he put a condom on; we knew we eventually wanted a kid so if I got pregnant it wouldn't be the end of the world.) As soon as we decided the time was right for a child, we stopped and I immediately got pregnant. (Went on to have several miscarriages but that's another story.)

withdrawal never failed me, but Rx birth control did

guys pls dont encourage him

I discovered my plan covers IUDs! I feel like I won the uterus lottery!

my plan = my insurance plan obv

:D

Confirm that they cover the actual device and not just the insertion.

Yeah maybe I should call again, the benefits hotline guy did not seem to know very many details. "Any IDU?" "Yeah, all of them...I guess.."

he even answered affirmative to a question about Intraduterine Uvices, very sketchy

lol

My experience and tips from upthread:

My first visit for an IUD insertion was a fail because I learned when I got there my insurance covered medication, but not "devices". So, unless I ponied up $1500, I was SOL.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:30 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Took me another 2+ years before I head good enough health insurance coverage to get the IUD.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:31 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark

Ask your doc or np for some misoprostol to insert vaginally the night before. It will "soften" your cervix and hopefully make it easier to insert. Also ask for some vicodin and valium to take beforehand.

― kate78, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:01 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark

Ask your doc or np for some misoprostol to insert vaginally the night before. It will "soften" your cervix and hopefully make it easier to insert.

thinks: ****aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!****

I was really lucky in that my insurance covered both device and insertion right off the bat.

I actually hadn't planned on getting on the day I wound up getting mine so I didn't have any misoprostol, valium, or painkillers. The NP did give me 800mg of ibuprofen and we waited about 20 mins after that to start. IIRC she also gave a cervical anesthetic which prob helped a bit but it all went smoothly and was over really quickly. The sounding hurt more than the actual insertion for me but it was all bearable. NP later told me that I was "a bleeder" and I was thankful she didn't mention that at the time.

seriously, so much blood.

I wound up working with that NP at her family clinic a couple months later and observed a bunch of insertions that she did there. I probably wouldn't have been so gung ho about getting mine sans sedatives/painkillers had I seen those before. I never would have thought people bled that much. That actually how she wound up telling me - after one insertion I asked if it was normal to bleed that much and she was like, "Oh that? That was nothing! You bled a ton more." O_O

"family clinic" = "family planning clinic"

Ha I have been having a lot of dreams lately that are just about having cartoonishly heavy menstruation. Maybe my subconscious is prepping me.

sorry for....dream tmi?

I probably assisted in several hundred insertions before mine but it is a whole different story when it's you in the stirrups.

Don't get scared off, Abbs, it's awesome.

Seconded. Totally worth it and if you follow Kate's advice and prep beforehand it'll just be that much easier. :)

Naw I am not worried! Thanks for the encouragement tho.

I have been without birth control for a couple months now due to...boring stuff...and it will be v nice not to live in fear of OH SHIT A BABY.

I loooooove mine even though I don't need it anymore; I'm keeping that prize-catch right where it is since it's good for 10 years!

Insertion was a total, total bitch for me, but then I pretty much have never had cramps (I have, but rly mildly and briefly so compared to normal people, I basically haven't) so it's possible I just wasn't prepared for anything to hurt so much in that place.

Get the mistoprostol/whatever-the-generic-brand-is right away if you haven't had kids yet, you all probs remember I had to try three times and I was miserable. Pressures/failure of rel'ship also partly to blame, though.

Once it's in there, life becomes SO MUCH EASIER!!! Periods still kinda wacky but I'm getting the hang of it.

I got the Mirena because I was betting on my periods tapering off after awhile. Oh-ho, not so! They are now startlingly regular. Like, every 4th Sunday at 9:15PM regular.

Oh shit, really? :/ Do you get cramps?