Your personal experience with your contraception

[Hilolilo]

Hello I’m currently looking into contraception because of a recent scare I had! I’m completely baffled however after reading about each method on the NHS site. All the methods seem risky/unpleasant
I realise everyone has different experiences of contraception so I’d love to know the pros and cons of the contraception you ladies use from your perspective.

The combined pill from age 18 to coming off to TTC then again after had first two children. Talked into Mirena after DC3. Nightmare. Perforated my uterus and I needed emergency surgery and it hurt like hell. Condoms after that until DH had the snip. Bliss!

Depo injection for 13 years, really suited me and only about ten periods in the whole of that time.

Doctor said implant would be the same. It wasn't for me. Really bad pmt, weight gain and in the second year the bleeding increased until I was bleeding for twenty days every month. I know I had missed a load of periods but I really didn't need to make them all up! I had it taken out.

Now back on injection and again it just suits me.

Condoms (with first BF, aged 19). One broke, I got MAP but my period didn't come until it was actually 9 weeks late - extremely heavy & prolonged bleeding... fairly certain it was in fact a miscarriage. I never sought medical help as I was by then at Uni & unsupported, didn't realise the situation as I wasn't keeping track of my cycle & it wasn't until it was happening that I realised I'd gone almost a whole term without a period.

Combined pill (aged 22) I was on it for 3 weeks, in fact to clear up my dreadful acne. It triggered a migraine so bad my then BF called 999 as it looked like I was having a stroke. I was obviously told to come off the pill immediately. I am now 38 & still get the migraines, & cannot work as they are now absolutely dreadful.

Mini pill (early to mid 20s) didn't affect me particularly badly, but due to the migraines I was starting to get memory loss & I was dreadfully afraid I'd miss one. Came off it.

Implanon implant in arm (mid 20s?) Worked ok, but continual light bleeding for about the first 6 months. Put on weight. Didn't renew it when it ran out, as we wanted to have a baby. Couldn't conceive for nearly 3 years after removal, don't know why. No formal infertility diagnosis.

Hormonal coil (early 30s - post birth) made me moody, killed my libido, regained weight I'd fought to lose after giving birth, skin problems became worse. Many issues, all were denied by the doctor as the hormones apparently all stay in the area of the uterus... load of bollocks. I had it removed after 18 months as I was losing the will to live.

Copper coil (after the hormonal one) dreadful, dreadful joint pain. To the point I could barely walk some days, people at work were asking what was wrong, I lost weight as I was in so much pain. I got pregnant with it in anyway & miscarried. Removed it myself, as i was worried the GP wouldn't, & there was a long time to wait just to get seen. The joint pain started to reduce in less than 2 days, & was completely gone in a week.

DH has said he'll get a vasectomy as soon as he's old enough to be considered. Given my history, I don't get hassled by the doctor to go on the pill etc every time I visit. They'd get short shrift from me if they did! I'd happily get sterilised rather than DH, TBH, as the medication I'm on to control the migraines causes birth defects so we can't really have any more DCs anyway.

Microgynon in my 20s - no big deal, no issues, no dramas

Implant briefly but left me with continuous breakthrough bleeding/spotting which didn't settle.

Copper coil after DC1 - uncomfortable going in but no big deal, but very heavy periods.

Mirena coil after DC2 - uncomfortable going in again, but this time incredibly light periods. I wish I'd had this way back in my early 20s! Highly recommended.

Combined pill up to 40's and then mini pill until menopause. When I was about 50, dp wondered if he should have a vasectomy

I had the implant for the 3 years you're required to keep it in for - made my anxiety 1000x worse than normal. Was always quite bubbly and confident, yet that just made me a horrible wreck the whole time AND gained weight. Very odd periods, too.

Recently had 2 children very close together and went on the pill 3 weeks after the birth of my 2nd. It made me horribly irrational. Every. Single. Day. I was absolutely awful. 1/10, would not recommend 😂

But seriously, I've only ever been on those two and seriously effected my anxiety. Might get my tubes tied (although I'm only 24)

Have a look at the symptothermal method.

Combined pill from 15-20. Mini pill from 20-22. Neither agreed with me at all.

Condoms ever since. I’m early 40s and long married. Two D.C. (planned).

Hate the idea of a copper coil and can’t take hormonal contraception for health reasons. Hoping DH will get the snip at some stage soon!

Combined pill from 18 to 35 with breaks to have babies. No side effects. When breastfeeding I took the progesterone only pill.

Depo injection for the last 15 years, no periods and no side effects.

The pill - microgynon made me massively angry/weepy all the time, marvelon gave me awful thrush, cilest was great but I kept forgetting to take it

Implanon/Nexplanon - first one was great after the initial dodgy periods, second one I bled constantly for weeks and weeks on end and the GP took it out in the end as I was becoming anaemic

Mirena coil - current method, placed 12 weeks after twin birth, didn’t feel a thing (probably due to twin birth ) I get no side effects such as headaches, hormonal break outs, cramping etc as I did with all other forms or when not using anything, no periods now for almost 2.5 years and I’ll have it replaced when it runs out in 2.5 years.

Took the pill from being a teenager until I was ready to TTC DC1: no problems, remembered to take it, no side effects, liked knowing when a period would happen (have PCOS and very irregular periods so this was a nice change) and being able to run packs together sometimes to avoid a period. Went back on it between DC. After DC2 DH suggested it was suppressing my sex drive which was causing issues between us, so came off it.
Then used condoms which neither of us really liked.
Have had a copper coil for almost a year and am happy with it. It wasn't terribly painful having it put in (I reasoned it was a lot less painful than labour which could be the alternative), periods heavier for few months but that seems to have improved, don't need to think about contraception at all. The main issue was finding somewhere to get it put in, because my GP surgery doesn't do it and, despite living in a major city, appointments at the sexual health centres are very hard to get.

Microgynon I found fine.

Changed to Dianette to help with bad skin, which worked! Unfortunately it came with the worst mood swings, anxiety and making me generally over-emotional so I stopped.

Then changed to Yasmin which was fine but did zap my sex drive.

About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted a break from hormonal contraception and DH and I are happily using condoms.

Never had an unwanted pregnancy or even a "scare" with any of these methods in the 10 years they span

Microgynon - was great and suited me well until I started getting headaches and had to stop

Cerezette - moved to this and was fine, no periods at all and worked well

Had baby 1 and went back onto cerezette and got almost constant periods. Then had baby 2 and went back to cerezette after but my sex drive went.

Condoms - moved onto condoms and came off cerezette due to lack to sex drive and fell pregnant with baby 3

Had baby 3 and resumed with condoms and cerezette combined.

Mirena coil - had the coil put in in January and had on/off sporadic periods since where I get very lightly bleeding about once a week, sometimes a couple of times a week. Have put 2 stone on and totally lost my sex drive. Haven't had sex since before I had it put in. Feel shit.

Contraception is shit. Apart from when it works. Some people are lucky from what I've read. I dont want more permanent contraception because neither of us are fully happy with the idea of no more children. We're fairly decided but you never know what the future holds.

I'm sterilised, it's amazing best thing I ever did but problematic if you want/ may want a baby in the future 🤷🏻‍♀️😆. Otherwise condoms were the best I found.

Pill caused issues with BP, mini pill I bled all the time, copper coil bled all the time pain during sex and then recurring thrush.

As others have said though we are all different so don't be put off by me.

Microgynon I found fine.

It made me sick 🤦🏻‍♀️. I'm not being helpful at all on this thread - time to leave

Microgynon - worked but made me fat and grumpy.
Mirena - horrific pain almost constantly for months on end....but did work!

Condoms - had two fail.

Best method was withdrawal/rhythm with trustworthy husband and clockwork periods for 7yrs!

Rhythm method.

@Teateaandmoretea it's crazy how all our bodies react differently to the hormones isn't it! There's not really any way for OP to know what will work for her until she tries I suppose, everyone on this thread's experiences have been so varied.

Microgynon in my late teens early 20s.
Condoms - fine until 1 broke and MAP didnt work I would never use Condoms again after that experience.
Implanon for 3 years was fine.
Pregnant x2
Copper coil
Pregnant x2
Tubes tied after DC3. Best thing ever!!

I was on the pill from 16-18. Microgynon first, which was horrendous for me and made me have terrible mood swings and depression. I went on Cilest which was great, but I started having sex and was very forgetful with taking the pill so I tried the implant.

Implant caused me to bleed continuously for 6 months, my hair fell out and went very thin and my skin was terrible. I got the copper coil at 18 and had it in for 2 years. It was taken out TTC and I got a positive pregnancy test 2 weeks later. Had my two DC and got another copper coil at 4 weeks post birth. I’ve had this in for around 15 months now.

I absolutely love the copper coil! Natural cycles, no hormones, no side effects for me and I like tracking my cycles.

Insertion was fine too. Even pre-children. The worst thing about it is the speculum and the actual insertion into the uterus just feels like a very sharp period pain.

I absolutely love the copper coil! Natural cycles, no hormones, no side effects for me and I like tracking my cycles.

My mother and SIL both swore by copper coil. My mother got it in the early 70s pre-kids. I was convinced it was going to be the answer 🤣

Microgynon pill from 21 (wasn't sexuallu active before then) - seemed to be OK for me, got painless periods with very little bleeding in between packs. Didn't notice any side effects (but then I have no sex drive anyway, lol)

After DC2, when I was 33, changed over to implant which, I'll admit, most of my friends who've tried have had irregular bleeding and it's generally not agreed with them. It's been great for me, hardly any bleeding ever, although 2nd one started irregular bleeding a month or two before it was due out, so replaced it early.

There is a reason we all called Microgynon Micropsycho....took that at uni age until I realised how mental it was making me. Then a gap, then Cileste and variants thereof for nigh on 20 years. Now 43 and using withdrawal / blow jobs / non PIV sex. I know that sounds flippant but I am not at all fertile and am comfortable with the small risk of pregnancy. Have heard far too many coil horror stories to risk it, and I'm just done with messing my hormones around.