To wonder why the pill is still the most popular contraceptive?

[westernnurse]

With all the other methods out there now like the injection/implant/coils which are all far more reliable than the pill and don't require the user to remember to take a pill every day.

I'm a CASH nurse and it always amazes me how so many women flat out refuse to even try any of the alternative methods. One woman who had been on the pill for a few years but had to stop taking it due to health issues outright refused to try out any of the alternatives because they sounded "horrible" and decided to just stick to condoms.

I think there's a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding these methods and people believe them and this puts people off.

The doctors and nurses at my surgery have always been completely supportive of me taking the pill.

I'd be very annoyed and put off if they started trying to even gently push me into having a long term contraceptive.

I'd likely not go back and stick to condoms. By all means give me all the info, but as an adult I'll make my own choice.

I had a friend stay with me all day after a coil fitting, as it hurt so much she could not even walk home (she stayed on my sofa for 2 hours whilst I gave her sugary tea and nurofen).

so.....after that, I am hesitant!

Maybe it is fine for most women, but i don't want the risk of a hamfisted nurse/doctor doing it roughly.

I don't know where you're getting your information from LadyIsabellaWrotham but mine is from the NHS website, where both the pill and the implant are 1 in a 100. Only difference is the pill is 1 in a 100 every year while the implant is 1 in 100 every three years.

If anyone is considering the injection I have a few warnings!

I had it for 2 years from 16 to 18 and my periods didn't return for 2 years, after that I had 3 a month, I took it again after giving birth to my son and the same thing happened again, no period for a year then 3 periods a month, the injection is horrible and on the days after having it I felt suicidal!

What they ^^ said! With the pill, I know exactly when my period is due, I can run packs back to back to prevent it coming at all if need be, it's non invasive and I can stop it whenever I like without medical intervention.

I had a coil fitted after I turned 35, which gave me 6 months of almost continual bleeding before it settled down, then it was great for two years-odd, before I started bleeding again, totally erratically, with no warning. And then I started to be able to feel it when I crouched down.....like a little nipping in my cervix area ?? The bleeding became worse and worse, and completely ruined my last two holidays......I'm not well off! and save hard for my once a year holiday with my boys. So to have two ruined by constant, painful bleeding was enough. Out it came, after much discussion with my gp, (who wanted me to keep it in for the full five years) and I'm now back on the pill and in control again. Wouldn't consider any other method.

There's more misconceptions about the pill actually. I think a lot of women think it's not suitable once you get over 35. Provided you don't smoke, aren't obese and don't have any other major health problems, the pill is a very effective and safe form of contraception up until menopausal age.

plummyjam agreed no thanks to sexual health nurses. My local one, despite being 30, non smoker and a healthy BMI informed me just before my birthday that I needed to make a decision on what I'm doing as i won't be "allowed" the pill next year.

I challenged her and she said she doesn't like giving it to over 30's.

The mini-pill is 99% effective with perfect use - 98% with normal "reasonably" careful use. The implant is "greater than 99% effective" according to the NHS website, but actually at least 99.9% effective according to most sources...ie ten times better for perfect use, and twenty times better for normal use. I can only assume that the NHS website designer thought their readers couldn't cope with decimal points. Actually I hate "99% success" anyway for this purpose, because 98% looks almost as good as 99.8% if you're not concentrating. Surely one in 50 failures vs one in one thousand failures would be a better way of conveying the information?

YABVU. The pill suits a lot of women far more then other methods of contraception, and if I had someone trying to coerce me into using a substantially more long term and semi permanent drug in my body, they would be told where to go in no uncertain terms.

A woman's body is her own to make decisions about, as is her choice of contraceptive - no one should ever be persuaded to use any sort of drug that they are completely comfortable with.

Honestly, I don't know why more people don't try the nuvaring. Basically the same medicine as the pill but a lower dose ( so less side effects), via your vajajay once a month. No needles, no ouchy coils, no remembering every day, no remembering times of days, no visibility of patches, no need to think about it before sex, highly effective. Been found that men very rarely ever feel it during sex. Know it's quite expensive on the nhs, and has only recently been available some places- probably why there's not much promotion of it. But honestly- amazing!

Also, if doctors weren't so bloody reluctant to remove things like the implant and the coil, more women might try them. I had a nightmare with the implant, but trying to get it removed was like banging my head off a brick wall - I ended up having to make a formal complaint before it was taken out.

They have relayed the information in both percentages and statistics.

Regardless, the pill is the best choice for many women for all the reasons given here and more. There isn't enough in the difference in the effectiveness to make people switch, mainly due to the other methods' negatives.

I didn't want any of the long term hormonal contraceptives because if you don't get on with it you're stuck with it for ages.

At the moment I'm trying nuva ring which I've found a really good halfway house.

You're assuming that everyone on the pill is using it for contraception.

That was to the OP btw.

I know what the pill does and how it works, I can run two packs together if I need to miss a period, I can stop taking it if I have horrendous side effects.

And the big one for me - it's non invasive. I don't have to have an injection, a metal thing inserted into my arm, something fairly large put up my fanjo, (all three of which sound off-puttingly painful,) a patch which is sweaty/tight/sticky/itchy. It doesn't interrupt sex like barrier methods.

I'd love to try NuvaRing actually but it doesn't seem to be available in the UK.

I loved the injection but was told long term use affects bone density and osteoporosis is an issue in my family in later life so my doc said i had to come off it.

I don't think NuvaRing has been licence in the UK. Possibly for good reason.

www.vanityfair.com/politics/2014/01/nuvaring-lethal-contraceptive-trial

LadyIsabella, you keep quoting the mini-pill stats. The combined pill is over 99% effective according to the nhs website.

Many people may be fine with a 1:100 / 1:50 failure rate, but if it's really important not to get pg, especially if abortion is not an option for whatever reason then you need to understand the different options and the significant differences in efficacy.

None of this is to undermine the very valid reasons that women don't want semi-permanent and/or hormonal contraception - I'd have thought they'd be obvious to the OP. But GPs and sexual health nurses (and NICE) see unwanted pgs all the time, and they get a gut feel for the relative failure rates that no web page can give you. They also can't assume that user error happens to other people.

yabu to make it seem that there are no other but hormonal contraceptives available...

Well no one ever wants to perscribe the patch because it is comparitively expensive.

Also, if it aint broke, why would you fix it?

Interesting graphs comparing accidental pregnancies over 10 years on each contraceptive method, and quite a good article too, although it is US-based. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/14/sunday-review/unplanned-pregnancies.html?_r=0