Birth Control Issues

Have you tried to NuvaRing? I have heard great things about it but never tried it myself... It is a chemical thing still, but I have heard from friends that they haven't had as many problems with it as they have other things.

R.,

My friend Hope (from Boise) did natural family planning for several years successfully. They recently decided to stop and have kids, and their daughter was born recently. I asked her about your question, and here is what she said:

Tell her that information on Natural Family Planning is at the Couple to Couple League website. If she has particular questions, give her my
email and I would be happy to talk with her and/or hook her up with teachers in the area.

Let me know if you want her email. You can email me direct at ____@____.com this helps.
-S. Doering

Yay! I'm so glad you asked! My husband and I have been practicing Natural Family Planning for a year and a half now with no scares, no problems, no cost, no side effects. Its wonderful! All you need to know about it can be found in the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. There is also a group on ivillage started by the author that can offer support and has a place for you to chart everything. You will be so much healthier in the long run if you use natural birth control!

I have had friends take wild yam, from their health food store. I don't know much about it, but it's something you could search out yourself and see if it would work for you. One of them got pregnant when she forgot to use it for two days, but that happens with the pill too.

I hope that gives you something to look into!

My husband and I got married in the Catholic church and part of our premarital classes was to go through a Natural Family Planning course. You have to be very disciplined and follow the rules for it to work. They taught us the Billings Ovulation Method and you can find all the info online on how it works and the tools you need. It is basically just charting your cycle and knowing when you are ovulating and avoiding sex during that period of time. We used it but became lazy and got pregnant with our daughter 2 years ago. After I had her I didn't go back to officially charting but had an idea of when I was ovulating, but because of that ended up pregnant again. So you really have to be vigilant about following the rules and not have sex when you are ovulating, otherwise use a condom. Hope that gives you an alternative to medication that you can use. Good luck.

I have the exact same problems as you have with birth control. My husband and I have been using condoms all through our relationship. We also use Natural Family Planning, which any Catholic parish (whether you're Catholic or not) can help you with. My parents have used NFP for 30 years, and never had anything unexpected happen. Good luck! I know how hard it is to find birth control without the synthetic hormones. :)

My husband and I used Natural Family Planning until we were ready to have a child, now 6 months. That worked for us. It was kind of frusterating at first learning how it works, but once we got the hang of it, it was not so bad. Feel free to email if you have more specific questions. I am sure you can also research on the internet as well. Good Luck

I Too am into natural family planing, I bought the book "Taking Charge of your Fertility" and I use fertilityfriends.com for charting and detecting Ovulation and my fertile period, although I'm doing it to get pregnant now, I will use it for prevention too.
Good luck finding something that works for you.

Me and my husband have used condoms faithfully for year. I would say about 5 years for sure. I've NEVER had one break. If you use a condoms proper.... which yes there is a proper way. You can get directions off planned parenthood's site then the odds of breakage are very very small.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/birth-control-pregnancy/...

Here is the link. You can read all the stats there... But me and my husband have used 1000's of them with no breaking ever. Ironically enough I got pregnant both times by accident on the pill. Go figure.

Hi R.,

I feel your pain. I went on the "mini pill" after the birth of my son, and had a constant period for 5 months...constant bleeding every day. It was horrible. I hate the pill. So I went off it, and I found out from one of my friends the the spermacide foam works great, so I tried it. It's been wonderful. Really easy, inexpensive and works great! You can find it at any drugstore. I've heard that it's not as effective as some of the other methods, but I"m not sure about the exact percent. You might want to check that out if you are really concerned about getting pregnant again soon. I was still nursing, so I had the extra protection from that. Good luck!

T.

I highly recommend the Fertility Awareness Method of birth control. It is completely natural, because instead of relying on a chemical to avoid getting pregnant, you pay attention to your body's own fertility cues. Basically, you take your basal body tempurature in the morning (which takes a matter of seconds if you get a digital thermometer), and then you check your cervical fluid. When your temperature and cervical fluid show you are fertile, you either avoid sex or use a barrier method (condom). Not only is this method of birth control completely free, completely reliable if you monitor your body's cues daily, but it is also a great way to learn a little more about how your body works! There are 2 resources for using this Method, first the book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler; second a website were you can keep track of your cycle information: www.fertilityfriend.com. I hope you look into this method!

There is a method called Natural Family Planning. Here is a website that gives you more information about it. http://www.americanpregnancy.org/preventingpregnancy/fert...
It can be very effective, the is a couple of different methods and one can choose which best fits them. There are also classes that are offered too....

R- have you given any thought to the nuva ring? it's very easy to use. the only real draw back is the cost. have you talked to your OB provider about different new options? if you have any questions about using the ring i'd be happy to answer.
M.

Hi R.,

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your issues with birth control. I used to be on the pill when I was a teenager (not so squeaky clean when it comes to my past...) and it was very difficult, bleeding, emotionally out of control, painful cramping, etc. and know that it can be frustrating finding something that works for you.

I am a stay at home mom of two children, have been married for 5 years to a wonderful husband. Before we got married, we were required to take a class that covered natural family planning, a method of birth control where you chart your body temperature and mucus to determine when you will ovulate. I thought it was silly since I just planned on doing what everyone else did: go on the pill. In retrospect, my husband and I are so thankful we took it!

I don't have any chemicals in my body altering my moods, weight, etc. I just take my temperature every morning at the same time, and record the type of mucus I have. We were able to plan both of my pregnancies and successfully avoid another one until I am ready. Although I have to use this method because I am Catholic, I would anyway since I feel great without extra hormones (I'm hormonal enough, thanks) and it's easy once you are familiar with your body's natural signs throughout the month. The only difficult thing about natural family planning is that while I am in the 'fertile phase', or between when my body starts to produce mucus until after the temperature spike that shows ovulation is over, we have to abstain. The upsides: my husband and I have grown closer out of a mutual respect for my body and when ovulation has passed, it's a honeymoon all over again. This may or may not pertain to your beliefs, but I find peace in planning my family naturally and prayerfully!

For more info you can check out www.ccli.org and find a teaching couple near you... You can also email me if you have any questions!

Not all birth control is 100 percent effective. A neighbor of mine got pregnent while on birthcontrol twice, and again after she got her tubes tied. Everyone is differant. My husband and I use condoms. I was more emotional and crazy on birth control, than I was when I was pregnant. I think rubbers are the most natural until we decide on having a second child. When we are done having kids, we plan on having his tubes tied. Until then, they have a wide variety of condoms out there!

Hi R.,

I'm not surprised about the problems you're having with taking hormones. I'm a registered nurse and my husband and I teach the sympto-thermal method of natural family planning. There is also the Hilgers method which is charting mucus only. Both are very good and of course, natural. We've been married for 13 + years and have always used natural family planning to space our births. Our children are 12, 9, 5, and 8 months.

The symtpo-thermal method is charting your mucus and basil body temperatures. The class we teach is a 4 month series, once a month, this way you can chart for a month and then we can review your cycle. The are lots of teachers throughout the Omaha and Lincoln area. If you would like I can also recommend some good physicians who know these methods and respect your decision not to use anything artificial. For more info on NFP go to www.ccl.org.

This method does work and it feels very empowering to know and understand your own body!

Hello- I recently switched to YAZ pill. I love it! I know you said you hate pills but, this one really is different. It helps control my "emotions" to the point that I no longer have to be on an antidepressant. I am very excited. Periods are only two-three days long too!

Hi R., how long ago were you on the IUD? They have perfected it (so to speak) and they aren't as bad as they used to be. Plus, if you are on one that doesn't release hormones (i.e: copper IUD) then you don't have that factor to worry about. I would speak with your OB, there is a new pill that was recently released, i don't remember what it's called but I saw it in some "female" magazine like redbook or something, you may want to do a little research. Good luck!
D.

I have used Natural Family Planning successfully for 7 years. I have been able to conceive 3 times when we wanted to and avoid pregnancy the rest of the time!!

Here is a link to an organization that teaches a class on NFP, you do not have to be affiliated with a specific chuch, anyone can attend the class and get the materials. It's awesome, and most people learning about NFP have used contraceptives for years so you won't feel "alone".

click on learn/teach for class info http://www.ccli.org/

There are instructors in Fargo/Moorhead and surrounding areas too.

My obgyn did not prescribe the pill (due to religious beliefs, I think) but was very into Natural Family Planning. Talk to your doctor and reseach online to see if this method would work for you. It involves knowing your cycle and when you can actually become pregnant, so you can avoid intercourse on those days. My husband and I used this method for a couple years and it worked great for us.
I have also seen advertisements for a new birth control pill called Yaz that is supposed to help with emotional and physical pms symptoms. I don't know if that might make a difference, even though you said you have tried many different pills. The commercial makes it sound great though :o)
Good luck.

Yes there is sonething. It's called Natural Family Planning. It is where you keep track of when you are ovulating and not ovulating. It helps you not to get pregnant or if you want to concieve. The Catholic church usually offers classes on this. I didn't take a class due knew how to check if I was ovulating. I was on no birth control except Natural Family Planning for almost 2 years before we concieved our twins. Which we got pregnant on the first month of trying. So I would suggest checking into this as an alternative to pills or something more drastic. Hope this helps.

Fertility Awareness Method. My husband and I have used it since, well, always. We have two children and one on the way and all of them were planned to the day, literally, I knew when I was ovulating and said we have to have sex on this day and we did and we got pregnant. You find out when you are ovulating, and you just don't have sex on those days. It doesn't get any easier than that. Your ob-gyn can explain it to you in better detail and tell you if this method can work for you, but it works great for me. We use it because I had horrible side effects to other birth control methods and we never used condoms. Hope this helps.

Hello R.!
There is hope! I have a national bestselling book titled "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" that has helped our family and other friends of mine to not have to use hormone based birth control. The subtitle is "The definitive guide to natural birth control, pregnancy achievement, and reproductive health" written by Toni Weschler, MPH. It details all of the approaches in what to do to know when you are ovulating so that you can avoid pregnancy. I hope this helps!
Gwyne

Have you looked into the rythum method?