Experience with diaphragm?

[Goosethemoose]

Hi, I’m rapidly running out of options for contraception. Has anyone tried the diaphragm and had a successful experience over the long term?

I used to use one but combined with condoms.

I've used a Caya diaphragm for the past 5yrs combined with fertility tracker apps for extra effectiveness and it works well for us. Easy to use, affordable, effective, and living hormone free is amazing. Be sure to use Caya's own gel though, stay the heck away from anything containing Nonoxynol-9... Nasty stuff.

There was one "blip" (my lovely DD 😂) which was not Caya's fault at all - I didn't log my temperatures in Natural Cycles for a while and the app boldly proclaimed it was a green day on CD 13.. And I actually believed it / didn't use the Caya...
So do be cautious if you choose to use fertility trackers alongside Caya: take them with a pinch of salt if you haven't entered your temperature data consistently enough, be extra cautious around your predicted ovulation window anyway and consider how predictable your cycle is / bulletproof you need your contraceptive method to be. For us, our DD was very much wanted, for others a surprise could be terrible news, so 86- 92% effective may not be sufficient. That said, forgetting the pill once a month, or taking the mini pill a few hours late (as I regularly did) leaves you at about the same % so.. horses for courses. Also worth nothing, diaphragms offer no STD protection of course.

TL;DR: very happy with mine.

That’s really helpful- so just to be clear, you trusted the tracker and didn’t use the Caya, and that resulted in pregnancy? (Congratulations on your DD!)

I would absolutely use the diaphragm every time, and potentially tracking on top - but certainly not instead. The failure rate does feel high to me, even with that caveat, however.

Why did you get Caya? Did you get a professional fitting as well? I’m nervous of relying on something off Amazon as my contraceptive tbh!

Amazon?! Don't you need to go and get fitted for the correct size? I certainly did (30 year ago!)

I used one for a few years, no accidents! I binned it in the end as I suspected it wasn't helping my recurrent thrush but would consider getting another one, definitely.

Also intrigued by the amazon thing..! I got mine from a family planning clinic.

I used to use the wonderful Reflexions diaphragm (sadly discontinued), which did did have to be fitted. I used it in conjunction with the Persona contraceptive device (also discontinued!), which involved weeing onto test sticks several days each month, to identify fertile days. I really enjoyed being in control of, and in touch with, my fertility, and it worked very well for us.

I now use the Caya diaphragm, purchased from Amazon, with the Caya contraceptive gel. It's true that you don't have to have it fitted - it's one size fits (almost) all. There are certain caveats, and if your BMI is very low or very high, I don't think its recommended. The Caya has been fine for us; it's easy to use and fairly comfortable. I havent got pregnant on it, although I must add that I'm perimenopausal so fairly unlikely to get pregnant at this stage anyway.

Yes, the Caya was not used that fateful day, and cannot be held accountable for my questionable decisions.. 😄 (Quite how someone who got knocked up after relying on Natural Cycles of all things thinks she is qualified to give any sort of advice on preventing pregnancy I'm not sure..🤔😄.. But here we are, and at least I can say I'm self aware..)

I got my first Caya from my local contraceptive clinic (after exhausting all their other options - they seemed surprised by the request at first! I get the feeling hormone free options are growing in popularity now). They are supposed to be one size so no fit check was required, but I'm sure you can ask for one. It's not as awkward to insert as the ugly old metal rimmed diaphragms of old, partner has no issue with it; sure, there's sometimes a loss of spontaneity but I'd rather that than crushing depression.

Effectiveness is a topic you should definitely research thoroughly and gauge your comfort level. Diapraghms tend to be 92-96% with perfect use, 86% with with typical use, still better than typical use of condoms at 85%, and even the mini pill drops to 91% with user error factored in. But then adding in another method (tracking your cycle (PROPERLY ) , condoms, even withdrawal) can increase that % further.

On the subject of reliability- I should probably add that I'd just turned 40 when I got mine. So although I assume I was still fertile, I'm guessing i was less fertile than eg 10 years previously.

The reliability is the main issue for me. So far I’ve gotten pregnant at the drop of a hat, which was a huge blessing when we wanted a baby, but I’m worried it’s a curse in the longer term!