To think that they coil is the best form of contraceptive ever!

[holliejobber]

No hormones, no remembering to take a pill. It stays in for 10 yrs as well.

I dunno, dp and I use condoms,is that foolish? so many replies on this thread and only a couple of mentions of condoms. I was prescribed the pop after ds1 but I didn't trust it after reading on the internet it was less effective if you had a high BMI, can't use the combined pill for the same reason. Haven't researched the implant tbh, was considering mirena/coil but after this don't think I'll bother (wasn't keen on the whole idea really).

People go years with the rhythm method not getting pg so I reckon condoms are fine. Only had 2 broken incidents in 8 years and not an unwanted pg yet so can't be that bad.

I've had the Mirena for a year now and hate it. All the stated side effects. I have pmt like I have never had in my life, every single month. It hasn't stopped my periods at all, but they tend to come fairly randomly which is a nuisance. And no libido whatsoever.

dh is not keen on vasectomy, so I'm supposed to be investigating female sterilisation. Apparently there are ways of doing it now that are not invasive, but I'm not sure how it works and what side effects there could be. I don't want to do something permanent then find I've buggered things up for ever.

Has anyone been sterilised themselves? What happens? Do you still get periods? What about pmt etc? Can it effect libido?

When you ask for sterilisation, they are going to ask why your husband is not getting a vasectomy, because it's far, far cheaper, more effective and less invasive.

There's no Essure for female sterilisation, BUT it's not provided on the NHS outside of few regions and you need to use an alternate form of birth control for at least 3 months.

Oh, and there's a chance it won't work and you'll have to have the traditional operation.

I was tired of being the one responsible for it all when DH didn't want anymore, either.

No NHS Essure here, so I was looking at another painful procedure on my bits, after a forceps delivery, a graze during second delivery and a ventouse delivery, plus an ERPC for missed miscarriage, etc.

So I told my husband if I went for it, I was going to hop a plane the next day for America.

And spend an entire fortnight at least there with my family. Recovering. Alone.

So he'd need to book time off work.

Whaddya know? He went for the snip.

I had the Mirena coil for a few months and was homicidal every month before my period. Seriously, I'm amazed DP survived. Went to my doctors in tears begging them for an emergency appointment to take it out... Never felt anything like it, it was terrifying to have so little control of my emotions.
But then the doctor was very reluctant to believe that the mood swings were down to the coil, so it can't be that common a reaction!

the practise nurse at our gp is trying to persuade me to have the mirena fitted

no thanks

the idea of something foreign in my womb freaks me out for some reason, the thought of it makes my flesh creep. also heard too many horror stories

i know someone who fell pregnant on the copper coil so definitely not for me

i think i will have the injection, see how i get on wrt side effects, and if it's manageable i will have an implant

i would love dh to have the snip, originally he said no but now he is saying maybe in a year or two... not sure why as we are both adamant our family is complete

practice

bollocks

Just had a copper coil fitted. The pain, the pain. Thought I was going to be sick just now. The are not kidding about not recommended for people who have not been pregnant.

Have reconsidered my thoughts on best contraceptive - right now its abstinence

YABU i had it years ago periods went on for about a fortnigt and when i eventually got it out which wasnt pleasent i had huge clots and had to get the doctor

'But then the doctor was very reluctant to believe that the mood swings were down to the coil, so it can't be that common a reaction!'

IT IS! They just don't like to admit it and, those Mirenas cost about £120/each so they're reluctant to pull them out, which is amazing considering how they hard sell them to women over 35 like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I had my Mirena taken out this morning, I'm already feeling much less homicidal. The doctor said she wasn't surprised I didn't get on with it, as a lot of women don't. Funny how they don't tell you that when you go to have the damn thing fitted.

Never had one as I'm a bit daunted about having it fitted however I have the quarterly contraceptive injection (genius invention!)

I had a mirena fitted just after the birth of ds2 and had no periods until it was removed. My GP said that it was common in her experience for it to stop ovulation and certainly appeared to do in my case. No obvious side effects either.

However ... clearly conception isn't outwith the bounds of possibility - so is it more or less effective than (me) being sterilised given we definitely don't want any more once dc4 is born?

I know a couple of 'coil babies' so have given it a miss despite otherwise hearing good things about it. But I also fell pregnant with DD while taking the combined pill (never missed one) so the best form for us I think has to be a vasectomy it's just taking DH a while to get round to it

expatinscotland - Sorry, I didn't mean that any problems at all with copper coil were rare (like heavy periods etc), I meant situations where women have had to have the thing removed under anaesthetic or where it's punctured the womb - those are rare surely?