To ask for your experiences of the Patch contraceptive

[Forpoxsake]

Tumbleweeds blowing by over in the family planning topic so posting here for traffic.

Cant use the injection as it makes me put on a horrific amount of weight, my arm rejects the implant, can’t have coil because of previous trauma.
I have caught pregnant on the pill previously.
So looking for anyones experience with the patch please

Very successful for over 10 years. No huge side effects.

I have been on it for years after having horrific side effects with the implant and a variety of pills. No problems what so ever.

Very hard to get prescribed due to cost in some areas, unless you have specific digestive disorders - you may have to self fund.

It was my original contraception as a friend rated it. Got it from a young person's sexual health clinic. Then when I went to a GP when I ran out they refused to prescribe it and said I had to try the pill first. I then had to go through several different pills with side effects (headaches with one, nausea with another) before finally being put on progesterone only. This was over a decade ago and I'm still kinda mad at the GP for making me switch though. It's expensive so they don't want to pay for it

I’ll probably buy it privately myself.
Last time I tried to get contraception from the Gp they wanted me to go on the mini pill, I’ve had years of being on various pills and I’m fed up of the bad moods and various other side effects

I used it successfully for around 5 years but started getting rashes from the glue, never had an issue of it coming off or any pregnancy scares though. I switched to the nuvaring which I used for around 10 years until I came off for TTC.

I was one of the first to be prescribed when it first came out. The cost to the NHS was ridiculous but I had a very forward thinking (male!) GP who put me forward as an earlier implementer. For both medical and social reasons I was an ideal candidate for patch, rather than pill or injection, so he was entirely on my side that the cost was worth it.

Worked like a dream, loved it, no side effects, all good, me and the patch were a match made in heaven! And then suddenly after about 8 months I developed a really bad reaction to the glue in the adhesive. Intense itching, swelling, red weaping sores where the patch was, which scabbed over and scarred when removed. We assumed the manufacturers had changed the glue, but the yellow form people (for reporting of adverse effects) checked and confirmed it hadn't. Gutted. The patch-sized scaly scarred patched eventually disappeared many months later. I tried again about 12 months later but still had same effect.

If you can get your GP or Family Planning Clinic to prescribe it then I'd really encourage you to give it a try. Until my skin took a dislike to it it was an absolute dream for me and I'll ALWAYS be gutted I couldn't carry on with it.

I am keen to get this.
As the pill is no good for me. And the injection previously made me bleed for 12w + and lead to an iron deficiency.

Where can you get it from?

I have been waiting weeks to see a GP regarding contraception but they've twice cancelled my apt and it's proving virtually impossible to rearrange

You can get it online from Lloyds pharmacy or The Lowdown.com

Hi. I'm considering the patch and just wondered if you are able to have unprotected sex during your patch free week? Are you protected during that time?