Help me choose contraception

I have had the Implanon before, and long storyt short, periods all over the place, too long and I had massive depression.

My DF doesn't really like to use condoms, preferring to pull-out. This scares me, as we've had a pregnancy scare before (ended up being a late period).

I have been on the pill before, but am scared about depression again. I can handle taking something every day, as I force myself to remember, "if you forget, you get pregnant". I am not ready for another baby yet, we're getting married and I want to wait 1-2 years to try.

I have a diaphragm, and that was ok, except DF can be a bit athletic and can dislodge it. I have recently been told after an ultrasound that I have a retroverted uterus.

Would an IUD work? What about Mirena? I have had heavy periods when I was a teenager, my mother had endo, so the doc put me on the pill in case I had endo too. It helped, but I still got really bad period pain, so I was put on the lowest dose available.

There are natural methods but I don't trust it, as I relied on that before and DD came along (I did mess up, but that's my point, it was my only method).

What does everyone think?

i have been looking into this as well.
As far as i can see the mirena is hormonal also.
You will needto look at the copper IUD and you need a qual ob that can insert it (ie referral needed).
I did some reading up and i am nervous about having it up there.... so we are now discussing sterilisation :) ....

Sterilisation is a good option, but I really want to have one or two more children. More likely to just have one.

Wow, sterilisation really ?

No its not what I am considering, far from it! PinkPalace is thinking of it.

What I meant, that to prevent pregnancy, sterilisation is a good option, but as I want to have more children, I am not considering it.

Fair enough! Goodluck i hope you find something that suits your needs.

I guess it's all a matter of what you feel is best for you, i know i personally would never even consider sterilisation but thats just me!

Hi Echidna,

I'm another implonon non-success story. After it was removed I looked into natural alternatives. Started with a babycomp and that led into charting, billings and Francesca Naish's books etc. I would definitely recommend this way as I feel so much aware and any moods have reasons now .. however it is involved, but kind of addictive. The babycomp is great for ease but it is limiting in the number of days allowed, that's why other methods were looked into . We've managed close to two years with no scares so its worked for me..are you a coffee drinker? that's probably helped us for a while as well

I can't stand coffee. Another reason why I am not going down the natural methods road is because I have a toddler, and am constantly taking her to and from the meeting point with her father. I sleep odd hours and am just not ready to be that completely focused on every little thing my body is doing. It may also affect the intimacy between my DF and I.

Does anyone have any info on IUDs?

I am sad that women on this site are always the ones looking after contraception, because their partners don't like condoms.

Good l;uck finding a solution that works for you,

I also dont do well with hormonal contraception. I religiously temped and learned the Billings method, but these are not failsafe and I ended up telling DH that I had done the contraception for our entire marriage, and if he didn't want to get UTD it was either condom or abstinence. We always used condoms in conjunction with NFP, and were able to make the concious decision to TTC #3. TBH DH was happier to wear a condom and actually get some than to have me on hormones and have no libido.

Once this baby is born we will do NFP and condoms again until DH can get a Vasectomy, as 3 is it for us. My midwife has told us that DH will not be given a VS until he is at least 25, no matter what. I am lucky though that quite a bit of that year DH is likely to be away, as he is due to be deployed either late this year or early next year, so abstinence will be easy during that time :lol: and you can't get pregnant over the phone ;)

iv had the mirena put in a week fri just gone...not sure how effective it is but im still in pain.
tried many pills and i had bleeding for 12 weeks straight (had no effect)
had the depo injection and i was bleeding on that...if this doesnt work im not sure what to do.
xxxx

I picked up my depo needle yesterday, now just off to the doc to get my jab. Have you thought about that? I don't know anything about the mirena sorry!

I'm less inclined to get the needle because I had a bad experience with implanon. The good thing was I could get it removed, but I can't make the hormones go away on depo. Plus I am concerned about whether it will affect my fertility later on.

Man, I seem to be knocking back everything. Argh, I should just make an appt with the doc to try a different pill. Thanks for all of your help.

Echina
I was on microgynon for a few years with the same issue as you - implanon was nasty and had it out and i got terrible migraines from normal pills.

The microgynon is a very low dose pill - and it is a constant dose (ie doesnt mimic your cycle by increasing and decreasing the estrogen/progesterone levels.

But yo uhave to be very careful you dont miss it as it is low dose you need to be diligent so you are protected against pregnancy!!! :)

It was fine (dont think i can use it while BF) but the only thing i didnt like was the low libido due to the static hormones.

But i didnt get any migraines, acne, mood swings on it and my periods werent bad either :)

Ask Dr is Diane might be suitable (Juliette is generic I think). I took this years ago and it was the most tolerable pill out of all of them. Good luck

I had a Mirena fitted in December 2006. I'm probably having it removed to TTC this summer, though we're not certain yet.

I had bleeding for about a week after it was fitted (had it fitted on day 6 of my cycle, but my period had stopped the day before), then intermittent spotting for almost a year. That was annoying, i'm not going to lie, but it WAS getting a tiny bit better every month (started off having spotting for 18-23 days when AF was due, it slowly got less and less with every month) and by December 2007 i was having 2 days of spotting when i ovulated and 7 days of spotting as AF. I am on my heaviest AF day today and i'm wearing a 3-thickness homemade cotton liner which is barely marked. We DTD last night with no mess.

I LOVE my Mirena, and i am so glad i got it. I don't know what i'll do after #2 because we think we want #3 quite quickly afterwards, but we shall see. I'll certainly be having Mirena fitted continuously rather than being sterilised once i'm finished having babies.

Feel free to ask questions.

Bx

I have been on Levlen ED and later Microgynon 20, and my doctor wants me to try the Mirena or try a different pill, one that is on PBS, as I was paying something like $35 for each prescription. I don't mind taking the pill. I went off it recently because I tried skipping a period as I was moving and I didn't want the moodiness or cramps, but I ended up getting AF anyway. I was afraid to rely on it in case I got pregnant. Perhaps I can give the Mirena a go. If its not working out, I can get it removed. What do you think?

If you do get Mirena, unless you have terrible symptoms (depression etc.) DO try to give it a go for at least a good few months. There were several occasions in the first year when i got so sick of the endless spotting i seriously considered getting it taken out, but in the absence of anything else that is as effective we ended up waiting it out and i'm SO SO glad i stuck with it. It might feel like a rip to spend a whole year with the annoying bleeding going on, but for me the following year of normality without ever having to worry about pregnancy made it more than worthwhile.

I have been on Microgynon (was fine, but i had high BP due to weight gain and came off it), the minipill (VERY irregular on it - first period was 27 days late and i was PETRIFIED i was PG - DD was only 5 months old!), depo (had two shots (so 6 months officially "on" it, bled constantly for nearly 9 months, terribly depressed, no sex drive, gained nearly 6kgs) and Mirena. I have gained weight since having it fitted but it is 6kg over 2 years and i KNOW that my diet and exercise of late has been far more of a factor because the first year i was training for a half marathon and only gained 1.8kg which was probably muscle. And i'm able to lose weight too, so it's not having a massive impact in that way.

Bx

I recently saw my doctor and asked about contraception. Because I have a history of depression, Implanon is out for me, and she is reluctant to put me on the pill for the same reason. I have a retroverted uterus and she said that I cannot have an IUD, because the insertion could mean the IUD could break through my uterine wall. She suggested the Depo injection, but I am reluctant, as I don't want any secondary infertility from it, and I don't want any depression side effect, that could take quite a lot of effort to tackle. I am going to research more now.

Have you considered Billings ovulation method echidna? No hormones or pills and about 94-96% effective if done properly. Google "Billings Method" for more info.

Bx

Currently I am on antidepressants for depression, so I would find a natural method to be more unreliable. I just don't have enough patience or trust in it to work. I am terrified that if I rely on it, and it fails, that I and my DF might not be able to cope with a new baby. My two year old is hard enough. Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to google more about Depo, to see if it might be ok for me.

I have depression (I'm on moclobemide aka Aurorix 600mg/day) and have been on the pill (it made me throw up for 10hours straight a day, took ages for the doctor to figure that one out, and ended up getting pregnant and miscarriaging), I have been on Depo, the first time it didn't seem to effect me too much, but then I was on 1200mg then so maybe it didn't have the chance. I went off it and got pregnant with DS within 6 months. Unfortunately taking it for 5 years caused some bone density loss, which is reversable after the injection wears off, but the dentist thinks it may have affected my teeth that were already damaged when I was sick from the pill. I didn't know this at the time, but would explain why I just just spent a lot of time at the dentist lately and him saying that it wasn't a recent problem, but something that had happened a while ago and I was too scared to see anyone about. I was put on the mini pill after DS was born, and was fine with that. I just had to remember to take it which was harder to remember some days than others. I tried going back on Depo, but it caused huge mood swings and I felt like a psycho for a while last year lol. So now I am on Yaz, as it is a low dose pill. I don't know that I want to try implanon even though it is cheaper, I'm worried how it will affect me. So far I have been on yaz for 2 months and haven't noticed any sicknes, migraines or mood problems, my libido has even remained the same as before I started taking it (I wasn't on anything for a while).

Sorry, just thought I would share.. I hope you find something that works for you.

Perhaps because I am already on antidepressants, any depression from Depo can be more easily treated? Does anyone know anything more about fertility after Depo?