Condoms as contraception

In my experience the problems with condoms are mostly about misuse, including thinking it’s ok just once and not bothering. Obviously it can fail if it splits though. I think it’s brilliant not being on hormonal contraception because my libido is strongly linked to my natural cycle.

Only condoms for 30+ years - no issues, no problems, no hormones, no unplanned children

off the pill*

Thanks everyone for letting me know, the sound promising if used correctly, I've been on the pill now 3 days and the nausea is completely gone... interesting & I've been using condoms ever since.. I'm trusting 🤞🏼

I'm late 30s. Never been pregnant, only ever used condoms. Have never been on any type of pill or implant.

Used condoms for years and none of my partners pulled out during climax. You just have to make sure your partner pulls out correctly after.

I tried three different pills and had problems with all three. So DH and I used condoms for 10 years. No pregnancies. We came off to conceive our two boys and we'll be using them again (when I get my sex drive back 😅) until DH gets the snip next summer.

been using just condoms for 15 years and never had any issues - stopped using them both times i wanted to get pregnant and my husband will get the snip after this baby is born!

I had the worst anxiety, weight gain, migraines, bleeding with all forms of hormonal birth control - i will never take any again

I’ve been using them as contraception for 27 years now. No issues.

When TTC I got pregnant very quickly and easily, so the non-pregnancy is really about the condoms, not my and DH’s fertility.

I tried hormonal contraception and was a fucking monster on it; extremely irritable. Copper doesn’t work for me because of the fibroids.

The only downside of condoms is that sex is better without them. And of course you have to trust yourself that you’ll use them properly in the heat of the moment.

Used them for years without any issues (touch wood!)

You can get a coil / IUD without hormones if you don't want hormonal contraception.

I would never take hormonal contraception again tbh.

we use condoms and track periods so i know when i'm ovulating, its only approx a week window when you're actually fertile too. i'm 33 and never had any 'scares'. Only fell pregnant when actively trying to.

We've used them for years with no unplanned pregnancies. I hate hormonal contraceptives.

Yes we use condoms & never an issue! Also fell pregnant very quickly when we stopped using them to ttc.

yeah, we used them until one drunken night we decided it would be ok without "just once", I thought I had just finished my period but was obviously longer than I thought, a few weeks later I started throwing up and couldn't work out why! youngest DD is the result! 😅

18 years use here, we've never used anything else, never been on any kind of hormonal contraception. When you're used to using them and both fully on board with it then using them becomes just an automatic part of the experience and so in our experience you don't forget when drunk, etc.

I like that there's no waddle to the loo for me afterwards that I've heard about. I suppose I don't know what I'm missing but so many of my friends have had serious problems with hormonal contraception; weight gain, lack of libido, bleeding between periods etc and had to chop and change and argue with doctors to have things removed it's always seemed like way more hassle than its worth to me.

I'm 36 now and never had any problems with low libido or arousal etc, no loss of attraction to my partner or ick, my periods are quite short and easy to deal with and I don't experience bad pmt or hormonal mood swings so I'm not keen to change anything.

I think it will be condoms all the way down for us. I think my partner would probably have a vasectomy if I asked but I've read about the relatively high risk of post vasectomy pain syndrome and I wouldn't want him to risk that when we are perfectly happy with the current arrangement.

I've always found them reliable, when used correctly.

Condoms are quite reliable generally

We used condoms for 10 years, no unplanned pregnancies. On one occasion a condom split but we realised and changed it.

A couple of years ago I started feeling more and more anxious about only relying on condoms. I asked my GP for female sterilisation as I have medical reasons for not wanting hormonal and religious reasons for not wanting to use a method where an embryo could be created. However, I was told no as it’s too expensive and the copper coil is an option that is non hormonal and prevents fertilisation (mostly)..

My husband has been on a very long waiting list for a vesectomy (still waiting). In the meantime, I accepted the option of the copper coil.I don’t like the side effects of longer and heavier periods and I will have it removed after DH has the snip. However, I’m grateful tor the extra protection it provides (we still use condoms as well) and I’m less anxious.

As long as your DH is buying one's that actually fit him properly (one size does not fit all!) a split or it slipping down will be rare like other posters have already said.

16 years and 11 months ago me and DP started dating, and used exclusively condoms for contraception.

Next Sunday my DD is turning 16.

We personally wouldn't use condoms alone for contraception again, even though we probably were just very unlucky (well, as we thought at the time, now I consider us lucky to have our daughter)

That's not the condom failing, that's you not using it correctly 😂

It's really much better to learn how to read the sins for fertility yourself. Apps like Flo are really helpful in some ways, but if all you are doing is tracking period days, they won't necessarily be accurate. Ovulation can sometimes happen outside of the expected times.

There are lots of methods but for use with condoms something simple is probably fine.

I've used them along with charting, and it was fine.

But it's important to realize that they really aren't 98% effective, that's in a lab environment. So unless you are having sex under supervision in a lab, it's more like 85% effective.

I got the snip as we're done after having two and always hated everything about condoms - the lack of sensation for me, the smell, just, no. Would sooner get the snip twice (if it did fail, waiting for the tests), then wear condoms.