Nothing hormonal..hate condoms!What to do?

[mummysmadhouse]

I can only take the mini pill due to migranes..but it seems pointless as it means my sex drive is non exsistant!

Dont fancy the marina coil for same reason..and copper a no go i have really bad periods as it is!

I feel like condoms are my best option for me state of mind/sex drive etc so thats what we had decided on..but me and dh are not keen! They irritate me and make me sore, and i feel ruin the moment!

Therefore they are risky as we have had a couple of incidents of not using them!

We have 3dc's eldest 4 youngest 8mth.

we feel we are prob done having babies BUT not sure i could be sure enough to oppt for a permanant contraceptive option..worried ill regret it later as i know when my 2nd was 8mth i also thought i was sure she was my last!?

But also part of me think a permanant solution would be good as it removes my temptation to have another as im not sure i could cope and it is so nice to finally have a sex drive again and for me a dh to be close again..dont want anything to get in the way of that!...im also still BF.

on the other hand we could go for a fourth and dh get the snip..and then we are sorted

I feel like im backed into 3 choices..contraception, zero sex drive

Or no contraception bar maybe unrealible ones such as natural family planning/withdrawal

Or dh has the snip and def no more babies..but hopefully worry free sex

Diaphragm?

You could try a copper coil. Not everybody gets heavier periods with them and they're easily removed if you don't get on with it.

The wait for a vasectomy is quite long anyway and they won't do one if you're not absolutely sure. Unless you go private of course.

There is a long-acting injectable which might suit you. Speak to your GP about options.

Thought about diaphragm, its seems a good options apart from im not keen on the having to pre empt.

Really think coil is a no go i seem to take after my mum on the pms front and it was awful for her..plus the thought of having it done..ouch!!!

I think the injection is prob hormonal, thing is im so fed up of being all over the place trying different hormones etc..i actually feel like me for the first time in ages! We have 3 4and under so ive been preg or bf for about 5yr now

I quite like the idea of letting my body do its natural thing for a while.

Think i might get some more info on Diaphragm..although sound a bit of faff but got to be better than condoms

It a hard choice on the vasectomy front as it would be good to take the option of having a baby again but I think i all of a sudden feel like i might quite like another some day!

take 'away' option

I don't think a vasectomy is the right option for you. You want more babies. Secretly. Deep down.

I don't think a copper coil causes pms does it? And it's not really that painful to have it fitted. Especially if you've had children already. Takes seconds. That said, I had mine put in under a general!

Could you go to your local fpc for a chat? That's the only place to get a diaphragm round here. GPs no longer fit them.

You could try a diaphragm or cap in combination with symptothermal fertility awareness (i.e. you check your temperature and cervical fluid every day and plot them in a computer programme which tells you when you're most likely to be fertile). Check out the Yahoo diaphragms and caps group and www.ovusoft.com for more info and people who use these two methods.

I never reacted well to hormonal methods (minipill, depoprovera etc.. - all caused breakthrough bleeding and lack of sexdrive) and got sick of GPs/nurses telling me to just try a different pill for years on end. The injection was particularly awful and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

So, I started researching non-hormonal alternatives. It turned out that some "natural" family planning methods are more reliable than others. I would have totally dismissed them all ten years ago. But having read as much as I could about the sympto-thermal method, I ended up using it successfully as part of my contraception for more than 5 years. (I used it to pinpoint fertile times and then used condoms, cap or both together for part of each cycle, depending on likely level of fertility.)

Good luck in finding something that works for you.

I have the copper coil and it hasn't made my periods any heavier.

I thought this was a thread I started & forgot about!

Reading with interest

Me too! How bad is the coil? It seems to be the only non-hormonal option except condoms - but is it effective??

I have a copper coil. Im really happy with it.

Im not sure about pms? It doenst have any hormones in it so shouldnt make pms worse.

Having it inserted was painful, but it didnt take very long.

Prior to having the coil fitted I was advised that any increase in bleeding would be along the lines of one more day of bleeding per period, which is what I have found so far, and have found easy to cope with.

I had a bad experience with coil insertion & would have to have it under GA now. I am too scared of that especially if it will make things worse

Def don't have the injection, I had it over a year ago and it was awful and took months to recover from! I think mirena coil might be your best bet as meant to make periods lighter and it is not permenant. Not sure on the realiability of the copper coil as my friends ds was concieved while she had one!!!

probably a dumb question, but what's involved in getting the coil put in and taken out?

bump - i want to know about the coil insertion too...

I used a cap for ages. I just put it in every night. There were a couple of happy daytime occasions when I had to rush off & insert it, but that's no biggie.

Before we got married, we used condoms as well. Cap + condom = squeaky sex!

Google the Standard Days Method - basically you don't have (unprotected) sex for days 8-19 of your cycle, the rest of the time you can romp to your heart's content.

It's got a 95% success rate. Me and DH are happy with it - we've been using it for 9 months, lovely no condoms, no hormonal crap.

Only works if you have regular cycles of between 26 and 35 days though, and obviously if it wouldn't be a total disaster to be pg.

Coil insertion involves legs akimbo while a dr fiddles about for 5-10mins, feels uncomfortable like period pain for a little while afterwards.

We used the sympto-thermal thingie for a good while effectively; however for us it seemed like the banned days were days 3-19, which as I have a 26 day cycle is almost all the time! so practically speaking meant condoms for us...

I use natural family planning or whatever it's called now, based on signs of fertility/ovulation (I don't temp though, too much faff, not enough sleep!) and its served me very well for many years.

I also have a diaphragm which is fine. Luckily dp is fine with condoms so we use those anyway...but I usually know when I'm going to be fertile.

My cycle is 25 days so I can't risk sex from about day 3 onwards - till about day 13 or 14 (when many people would be actively avoiding - I've already ovulated!)

Plotting it for a few months helps. Ovusoft is good if you subscribe but the free software is a bit pants. I just use a diary mainly.

Sorry to jump onto this thread now but you sound like some of you have experience with natural methods of contraception!

I too am trying to avoid hormonal methods and really don't want the coil. At the mo I've come off the pill and we're planning to use condoms. I'm also tracking my cycle...

Question is: in reality how long have some of you gone with just using condoms when you are fertile? i.e. days 3-13 or whatever?

Hi! I'm new to the site and taking women's repro health internship. If anyone is interested in charting their cycles to be aware of days to achieve or avoid pregnancy, prefers having natural intercourse and to use observations to monitor conditions (PMS, Premenopause, Infertility, Miscarriage, Breastfeeding) I could help.