Contraception.... Not sure what to do :(

[Bellyrub1980]

My head is all over the place at the moment. I have a GP appointment but not till the 27th.

I have a 1 year old and have had PND for the last 9 months. I'm taking sertraline.

I take cerelle as contraception but due to my morning routine being up in the air over the last few weeks (house renovations and needing to shower at neighbours!!) I have taken the pill late on more than one occasion.

I'm now terrified of becoming/being pregnant. Partly because I'm taking sertraline and there are some risks associated with that. And partly because I don't think I could cope with another baby and PND again. To be honest, I still have PND now and I'm not entirely sure the sertraline has helped me that much.

I don't have periods with cerelle so no way of telling if I'm pregnant until I take a test, which I'm likely to be too early for anyway.

I'm thinking about switching to the copper coil but have read that it isn't that effective either.

Sorry for rambling, not really thinking straight.

Can anyone bash some sense into me?

[Bellyrub1980]

Maybe I should take emergency contraception?

[scaevola]

All contraception has a fail rate. But you're likely to be at lower risk with a coil than with a pill you are not taking at the right time.

In case you don't have one handy, here's the patient information leaflet for cerelle which includes late pill info.

If you have had otherwise unprotected sex in the times they say are at risk, and you are within the timeframe for either MAP or coil as emergency contraception, then yes it sounds like you should get one of them.

And double up with condoms until you work out a form of contraception which suits you better.

[MyNameIsSuz]

I was on that pill when ds was small and found it tricky for the same reasons - when you have babies you get up when you have to, which isn't necessarily the same time every day. I went on the depo injection instead as it just needed an appointment every three months and nothing to remember in between. Could that work?

[dementedpixie]

Have you been more than 12 hours late with the pill? Cerelle has a 12 hour window to take it unlike others that have only 3 hours

[PollyPerky]

Is there a reason why you have posted in the Meno forum and not General Health or Family Planning? Are you menopausal?

The coil is supposed to be 97% effective. I had a friend who doubled up with condoms when she was ovulating.

How old are you? if you are late 40s then the copper coil might be enough but what about the Mirena coil or the combined pill?

[Bellyrub1980]

Firstly, I must apologise for posting in the menopause forum. That wasn't intentional!! (I blame my fat thumbs!!) But thank you for all the replies, even though my question was completely off topic!

I'm 35 and I don't think I'm menopausal yet. But since I'm not having periods it's pretty difficult to know what's going on!

I'm thinking more clearly today...

The reason for the copper coil as apposed to marina is that I'm partly wondering if my PND was exacerbated by taking cerelle. It started at the same sort of time, but I had to stick with it for breast feeding. Now I'm no longer breast feeding and it's a year post labour the GP said I could go 'hormone free' with the copper coil and this might help level out my anxiety/depression.

Like a PP said, surely this will be more reliable that a pill taken sporadically by a scatterbrained mum.

I would feel slightly more comfortable with the idea of becoming pregnant if I wasn't taking sertraline.

[Bellyrub1980]

Admin, please feel free to move this to family planning!!

[VestalVirgin]

Is there a reason why you can't use condoms? If you are already coping with depression, I think something less invasive would be the best.
Also, condoms would have the advantage that you can check if the condom has broken if/when you have anxiety about a possible contraception fail.