Maybe this belongs more in the "Avoiding Family & Parenting" category, but as that doesn't exist, I'm putting it here.

Just wondering if anyone has had a great experience with a certain method of contraception. I am fed up with taking a COCP because I get so paranoid about missing pills, or even taking them several hours after the time that I'm supposed to take them. I'm interesting in trying something else, and was curious to know what others have tried/like.

Nuvaring!

You put a sticker on the calendar and forget about it. I have such a crazy schedule there's no way I'd remember to take a pill anymore. I switched in med school, and wouldn't go back. I use 2 rings back to back for 8 weeks, so less periods, and much lighter for that matter.

I second Popcorn - Nuvaring is awesome! Once it was in I'd forget it was there - you can't feel it at all if it's in right (though I would take it out for sex since my husband didn't like it, but you don't have to do that and if it's not out for more than a couple hours it's not a problem). I would also use 2 back to back. So convenient - way better than the pill and better than the patch, since it's less frequent and you don't have sticky stuff stuck on your skin. Only downside was that it was tier 2 or 3 for my insurance company so the copay was higher ($20 or 30 instead of $10). I stopped using it a few months before trying to get pregnant and we did just fine! (DD is 7 months old now

Mirena!!! It's been almost 2 years and I have not had a single period woohooo. I never even think of birth control/pregnancy risk. It's just one more thing off my mind. I LOVE IT.

mirena iud. I had mine placed postpartum. set it and forget it !

BabyE and mai tai - I've heard mixed opinions about using the mirena in nulliparous women. I guess you've both had kids so you can't speak to that. Anyone without kids have any experience with it?

The patch worked great for me!

I used nuvaring - I really liked it. I never took it out for sex (husband said he noticed it sometimes but didn't mind it), and it was really nice to only think about it once a month instead of every day. Also, it's a lower hormone dose than most pills (according to my doctor - haven't actually looked into that myself).

I have paragard and i have never been pregnant.
it works extremely well for me. There is no longer of an issue with childless women and IUD.
My period has actually shortened by about half a day compared to before. There is slight increase in cramps from none (less than 15 minutes total every month) before to a little (random cramps lasting 5-10 minutes here and there, 3 days a month), but occasional ibprofene and hot bubble bath deals with it. I get the cramps during ovulation, not before my period anymore, I thought that was interesting.
However, I always had very regular period and minimal cramps. I think people with bad cramps normally and a lot of bleeding is not recommended for this method?
Mine was paid for by California FamilyPACT, so it was completely free for me since I am a student and have no income. I got it from Planned Parenthood, the one which I used to work at. They gave me an appointment card to come back in like 2019.

I do not have reservation with IUD like many American women do since my mom has had an IUD since I was born. Almost all Chinese women use IUD. The pills made me majorly bitchy and crazy hungry like i was smoking pot every day. and SUPER pimply! (that was the deal breaker) I was fed up with it after 3 months. I also have a perpetual fear for hormones. I don't eat pork with estrogen why should I eat estrogen...
My boyfriend says the string pokes him sometimes....I think I can get it cut down more.. but.. honestly, i just don't care that he gets poked a little.
I think BC you really just need to try. It's hard to say. I was so scared after I got IUD inserted because I had such a perfect cycle every month, and there are obviously people who had horro stories.. The up side is i got it for free, so it's not really a loss to me if it really didn't work out.
That's all of my two cents.

I get bad cramps usually, baaaad make-you-cry cramps. None of that since the Mirena since I don't get periods anymore! I get very mild cramping here and there but nothing like periods. I do think that the Paragard increases cramp and usually increases bleeding too, but the Mirena doesn't because of the hormomes it releases.

the nice thing about the mirena vs. paragard is that you have little/ no bleeding with mirena, but more bleeding with the copper iud.

lol. . . "i just don't care that he gets poked a little"

my hubby can feel the string, but it doesn't bother him enough to stop having sex!

Another happy Mirena customer. Inserted 3 weeks before starting med school, to be removed summer after intern year. No worries. No periods. No stress. Apparently (according to my obgyn lectures) there is a slightly increased risk of expulsion of Mirena with nulliparous women, and it's still not recommended for women with multiple partners, d/t their increased risk of STI's in general that can progress into PID d/t the foreign body in the uterus. Anyway, though, I highly recommend it to anyone who's busy... I can hardly remember to take my other meds while on call, can't imagine having to remember a pill or bring tampons

i'm just a hormone phobe...
also the disadv from paragard is pretty minimal for me personally.
so i'm very happy with paragard.

I have had both the Mirena and paragard. Also have used OCP. Of all of them, I LOVED the Mirena for convenience and lack of periods. Paragard was convenient but periods were bad. OCP is just plain inconvenient and I'm always worried that I didn't take it early/late enough & if I forget, panic.

Thanks for these posts my hubs and I are starting to figure out what birth control to use now that my newbie is 5 months old. I used to be on the pill but had bad migraines with them. I also used the shot once (the one that lasts three months with little to no periods). BAD, BAD, BAD side effect... I had a period for 99 straight days instead of having little to no period at all. These postings really help those of us trying to figure out where to go from having babies to wanting some time off.

Vasectomy!!!

We are actually doing natural family planning with condoms during the 'dangerous' times. Has worked well for us for 6 years-all kids were planned (#1 was a conscious decision at the last minute not to be safe!) But we also don't care if we have another pregnancy. Not sure yet if we will actively try, but if it were to happen that would be ok. I used OCP's and had side effects to various ones, and the sponge in the past before it was pulled and brought back. Have thought about Nuva Ring but don't want the systemic hormone. DH says he will get fixed, but balks when I press him on it....he wants me to get an IUD, I say i have had enough done down there-it is his turn!

Husband got snipped, best thing we ever did. It is so great to NOT worry about getting pregnant. And no rubber barrier between us (I am latex allergic to boot so that was a REALLY bad experience), no pill side effects, hassles, etc. We had problems with just about every form of contraception we tried so landed up using the good ol' fashioned withdrawal method for years, which is how we landed up starting our family in the first place...

Docmomof3-men are wimps!

We used natural family planning (+condoms) for 4 years and it worked very well--for avoiding conception and planning it. We got pregnant the first try both times.

Now that residency is looming....an IUD sounds awfully convenient. Does anyone's partner NOT feel the strings? I'd rather use paragard (I'm a hormone-phobe, too), but the horror stories of the awful periods are freaking me out (I get bad cramps + bleeding to begin with).

Sorry if TMI! I'm blushing!

Husband doesn't feel strings here!
Don't do Paragard if you have bad periods to begin with. Mirena rocks!

I <heart> mirena, and no complaints from hubby...

non-latex condoms work best for me, although depending on where you live, you may have to order them online, not all stores carry them.

Just a note on natural family planning, I was using that method with condoms as well to avoid pregnancy since I originally never wanted children until I was finished with med school. (Got off the pill due to migraines.) The doctor told me he had several patients who had tremendous success on the program. Now I am the proud parent of two. The conversation went like this with my husband, "Ummmmmm....Honey, I took a pregnancy test and I think I failed or passed depending on how you view it."

It is like that old joke goes;
You know what they call those who use natural family planning and the pull and pray method....

PARENTS!

Oh yeah! The "natural methods" actually worked for us for four years. By then we were pretty much ready to start our family anyway. Or rather, I was ready, hubby had an adjustment. But that is why pregnancy lasts nine months, isn't it?
Just want to repeat again how happy I am to have the fear of getting pregnant gone. It is so hard for young women, I remember feeling so happy each time I got my period. Not that I did not want kids, just that I was in Medical School and Residency and needed to concentrate on that. By the time it happened, the bulk of my training was done and it was ok...
BTW, my hubby was real sore for a while after but now he is glad he did it. It was his choice, I never brought it up.

Leina-yeah, we wouldn't be doing NFP if we weren't ok with the possibility of another child. Although if the woman is regular and it is used 'correctly' it can be very effective...and I figure, since I deliver babies for a living and talk to people about fertility, I am probably the best case scenario in terms of monitoring fertility signs. The book Taking Charge of Your Fertiliy has been very helpful as well....

i have a paragard. the periods are heavier but don't have much cramping. my partner could feel the string in the beginning, but my obgyn adjusted it by wrapping it lightly around my cervix. that seemed to do the trick. a word of caution, both types of iuds predispose you to an increased chance of bv..which is very unpleasant...

thanks everyone for your great replies! I had considered NuvaRing, but I thought if I don't want to take the COCP anyway then maybe I should go ahead for a progesterone only method (no particular reason--I'm at low risk for complications of estrogen since I'm a non-smoker and under 35). I also wasn't so sure about an IUD or Mirena, mostly because I didn't like the idea of something being inserted into my cervix! (Again, not completely logical--just sounds painful!) So, I opted for Implanon, and so far so good. I'm hoping that I don't have too much bleeding with it, so fingers crossed! Thanks again everyone for all your advice.

One more thought while we're on the subject (not that this is at all relevant for me right now, but I was wondering about it)--what did you ladies use for contraception while breastfeeding? I know that protesterone-only methods are deemed to be safe during breastfeeding but it's also known that some of the progesterone does pass into breast milk. Soo..did/do you all just accept that progesterone is okay and go with it? I'm not sure I like the idea of any artificial hormone crossing into my breastmilk...but maybe I'll change my mind when I get there. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I'm breastfeeding and on the progesterone-only pill. What my midwife told me is that, while progesterone can theoretically pass into the breast milk, the actual quantities are negligible. But if you're completely uncomfortable with the idea, you could just use a barrier method while nursing. Nursing itself decreases your fertility substantially, though of course you can't rely on that alone as you ovulate before your first menstruation, and that's how many women end up with a second baby far sooner than they had hoped!

Uh, abstinence while nursing LOL! I didn't want anyone else touching me after nursing a baby all day and night!!!! Plus I had NO desire-those lactation hormones hit me hard...

I'm with docmom- who needs birth control while breastfeeding?? I had the mirena IUD, however, just in case, because I am a fertility goddess, apparently.

Yep! No sleep, no love. Sorry buddy.

Yeah, I neglected to mention that part - sex-life postpartum hasn't exactly been jumping

I'm going to revive this thread with a question. My daughter just turned one and is still breastfeeding. I am on the progesterone only pill and have not gotten my period yet! (Yes, I'm sure I'm not pregnant). I have an appointment for my annual exam next month, and I'm strongly considering getting the Mirena so I can stop worrying about taking the pill on time. Does anyone know if getting the Mirena will affect when I start getting my period again? It's been 21 months since I've bleed (well, other than postpartum) and while I know it will happen again eventually, if I get the Mirena and then start getting my period again I'll have a hard time not blaming the IUD insertion. Should I just wait until my period resumes on its own, or is that silly? I know generally the Mirena causes lighter, fewer periods (even none sometimes), but I'm not sure what happens when breastfeeding women take it before they start ovulating again.

I haven't had a period since my almost 3 yo was born. I got the Mirena maybe when she was 5-6 months old, definitely was still breastfeeding tons and not ovulating. I love it! I don't even remember what periods were like!