Contraception: The Poll

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/The_More_You_Know.jpg

My gf got an IUD despite never having kids (and stating that she never wanted any) because she was still smoking cigarettes in her mid-30's and on the pill and her OBGYN figured it was the better risk, health-wise.

^^^xp non-ironic, btw

apparently scalpel-free vasectomy will run you $400-$700 sans insurance
mirena is $586 and not permanent, still hormonal and possibly painful.

hm.

I wonder what the scalpel-free method consists of? I had mine done in the dark ages (1990) -- felt like the dr. was sawing at my nads with a piece of chert.

this is all so horrible

...

chert?

this is all so horrible
you mean, like the fact that people have to endure pain to gain control of their reproductive faculties?
yes, that is horrible.

yes, sarcasto, thats exactly what i mean

Yeah, SARCASTO. Serisly, she's like the most earnest person in Chicago. Probably in Illinois.

A. Manda, there are non-hormonal IUDs too; ParaGuard is one. I think more are available in Europe than here.

In Europe there's a "frameless" IUD called GyneFix that isn't T-shaped: more info here.

And an account of having it "anchored" into the uterus here:

ah geez
now i'm embarrassed. i would just like to know what i want (or, what we want) before we go to the doc. our insurance plan doesn't cover anything that doesn't involve getting hit by a bus/chronic condish.

Really Europe is about eight million miles ahead of us, in this arena. There are multiple copper-only IUD avail in England, and even more in Belgium where the inventor of the GyneFix lives. Also I think the non-hormonal ones last longer, I've been seeing ten years as a ballpark. Which is like forever in terms of fertility when you're already in yr 30s, basically.

awww...im just messin'. contraception does make me queasy though.

It's repugnant to me that American women are going overseas and paying the $500 insertion/doctor's fee out of pocket rather than limit themselves to USian options (and either no healthcare or plans that don't cover fertility planning anyway, which is...beyond, just beyond).

everything said above is true. Mirena is low-hormone and most women like it for the period control. The copper kind has no hormone.

I have had no children and it hurt like hell when it was inserted. The contraction I felt I thought could be similar to birth contractions. It felt like a hand reached inside me and balled up all my lady parts. But that only lasted for about 20 seconds and then I felt like I had been kicked in the nuts for the rest of the day. (I love how all of my descriptions of pain are based on things I've never actually felt). Fine the next day, not bleeding, nada.

My insurance covered it but I noticed on the bill it was $500-something for the device and $500-something for the insertion. My doctor said I could keep it for 5 years.

Susan, did the doc prescribe (or recommend) any kind of muscle relaxant or painkillers? I mean hit me with some Klonopin or I'm coming in on Valium.

She gave me a "cervix softener" to take six hours beforehand which was supposed to help. Besides that, she just recommended ibuprofen. I was much more anxious about it than I should have been. A few moments for five years of no worries is a good trade-off.

i agree that this doesn't sound SO bad, but compare to no-scalpel vasectomy
read here
it involves some freezing and some pinching.

ok, and some cauterizing

Laurel this is OT but is Klonopin better than valium in your opinion. The last time I took valium was probably 6 years ago and it felt GOOD but my doc recently prescribed Klonopin for panic attacks and it makes me feel like shite.

I love klonipin over xanax, valium and atavin.

what dose?

teensy, can't even remember. Mine is just mild anxiety though. I didn't really like valium b/c it made me feel stoned. Klonpin just takes the edge off. Isn't ativan more fast-acting and better for attacks?

but i like the stoned

I have never taken either/any. I used to have a friend who was prescribed Klonopin for anxiety attacks and he was a big person but whatever dose his doc recommended, it made him S-P-A-C-E-Y. Like, scarily spacey. Like high and about to pass out. I would not like to be that way.

when my bf was researching IUDs for me, he read some stuff about how even the non-hormonal ones (copper) can have weird side effects, like decreased libido (anecdotal evidence). the copper ones can also cause severe period pain/heavier periods.

They do say that about heavier periods, mine's quite light so that wouldn't be a big concern for me. More importantly some people are allergic to COPPER -- and I'm not sure if you'd be likely to know that before going in. You could see an allergist, I guess. Or eat a penny.

Read that as eat a pussy, had to come back and re-read. Nice!

A fair alternative to contraception, but not precisely interchangeable.

It all comes back to C on Ts

That worked out really well for you, did it?

I have had a Paragard IUD for two years (copper non-hormonal) and I fucking love it.

Pretty much everything Laurel has said in answer to people's IUD questions is 100% OTM. The having to have had babies first thing is BS and pisses me off that the Mirena commercial says that. Yes, nuliparous women are more likely to expel but the risk of expulsion is not that much greater. The my cramps hurt more for about 6 months after insertion and have now leveled off but I do get cramps mid-cycle which I've never done before. It's nothing that some Advil can't solve.

Re insertion: I didn't know I was going to have one inserted until about an hour before my procedure. My NP gave me 800 mg ibuprofen and made me wait 30 mins. I did get a cervical anesthetic which def helped some. It still hurt as hell but as Susan said it was very quick and TOTALLY worth it.

I haven't spent a single second thinking about BC in over two years (my own - I think about others for a living lol) and the whole thing cost me $50 thanks to my insurance.

I <3 my IUD.

hey ENBB, what's your job?

no option for "anal only"?

nuliparous

I love this word.

seriously (XP)

yeah, why not just find a nice bottom and settle down then? way less hassle.

Roxy - I'm in my last semester of MA program in Women's Health and I'm concentrating in sexual and reproductive health of young women. I used to work in a family planning clinic and am now interning at an organization that provides sex ed program TA and runs support programs for pregnant and parenting teens.

What about you?

That's awesome! I'm no longer in the field, but I worked as assistant director of a women's clinic from 2000-2005. Best job I ever had.

jw, "anal" is a situation that requires no contraception, not a mode of contraception itself

haha "anal"

i meant "anal only"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I always thought it would be cool if somehow IUDs came in custom shapes and so when you got an x-ray it would be 'whoa cool 45-adapter in your inguinal region.'

jw, "anal" is a situation that requires no contraception, not a mode of contraception itself

tell that to millions of apocryphal Catholic teenage girls

xpost, haha. I think I'd opt for a pair of crossed knitting needles.

i would have a cupcake

thats probably another reason they do it! xxpost

Abbots: Awesome only if the custom-shaped IUD could be scientificologically beamed into my uterus rather than inserted the normal way.

Yeah, therein lies the rub: getting a rad shape into one's cervix. Unlikely.