Seeking Advice on Long-term Birth Control!

What ever you do stay away from the depo! I am having trouble conceiving after being on it for a few years. If you want more children just don't go down that path. Good luck!

i have an iud and it's a 5 year. i am also 44 years old and starting to go thru menopause. i hate pms(which i had bad) and some of the menopause things. this iud helps all those things too. i have to have the present one taken out next month and plan to have another one put right back in. i love having an iud!!!

I have a friend who is a Physician's Asst. She had the Mirena IUD for about a year--and loved it. It's totally reversible; she's due in Oct with baby #2

BTW, I heard on the radio the other day (public radio interview, not an ad) that women in most of the rest of the world use primarily IUDs; they're safe and easy. For some reason they're less popular in the US, but they're just as good here as they are elsewhere. I'll probably get one after our next baby.

I was on the patch. It's awesome. You have to change it once a week and you put it on your body so I would recommend that.

A. -- I got my Mirena IUD when I was about 8 weeks pp with my son. He is 9 months now. I LOVE my IUD. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about. Yes, I had spotting for the first three months. I wore a panty-liner but that was it. On occasion I'll have spotting, but I'm starting to think it might be my period, it's hard to tell. (I'm still breastfeeding.) It didnt' hurt to get put in, but like I said, it was after having the babe. Sometimes my husband can feel the strings, but they don't seem to bother him. (They are some type of surgical line, that's how they last so long, but it also can make them "pokey" lol). We aren't sure if we want more children, and I couldn't imagine trying to take the pill with a newborn and a crazy schedule. It's wonderful not worrying about getting pregnant. There's a lot of info on the Mirena website, too, worth looking at. If you have any other questions feel free to email me and I'll try to answer. Good luck finding something that works for you! ~ A.

An IUD like Mirena sounds like a good option for you. I was going to get an IUD since my neigbor who is an OB/GYN said it's widely used across the world without problems and he recommends it to women who want effective but reversible birth control. I talked with my OB ended up going on Yaz a new and expensive birth control pill to help control my moods since I also often experience depression. It's been great at helping keep my hormones in check but I forget to take it a lot since I'm not used to taking a pill everyday. Yaz is great for reducing the flow and pain of my period, but since it's low dose if you forget a couple days you'll end up bleeding a bit. The help with the depression is great but I worry I'll get pregnant since I'm not good at remembering to take it. Next year I may switch to the IUD.

You should talk to your Dr about getting a IUD. It sounds like a great choice for you. If you really are uncomfortable with the IUD you should try nuva ring by best friend swears by it. She says it is much easier to remember than birth control pills (she forgot a few pills and got pregnant). I had an IUD and the strings were cut too short so that bothered me. If you do have one placed I would suggest that you have someone drive you to the Dr and plan to rest that day.I had hard cramps that first day and then I was fine after that.
I also have PPD and I went to the therapist at my clinic, just talking to her has really helped. Best of luck I hope you get good information that can help you decide what to do!
A.

I remember sitting there waiting to get my Mirena IUD placed....all i have to say... it was nothing to be nervous about and if you have a good doctor that walks you step by step of what they are doing than it should be fine. Its VERY quick. I just had bit of cramping. I will admit that I did spot for the first 3 months. I just had to wear a mini pad.. you know a panty liner. But my first period....no cramps, i only needed a tampon for 1 day. It was great. I love not having to worry about getting pregnant and i would suggest to ANYONE to go get...i know its scary i know it was for me. But really. Its a breeze! good luck!

I would highly suggest an IUD. It's good for 5 years and up to 10 years depending. It's a day process and you'll have some cramping and bleeding afterward (like a period). It's not permanent and I have 5 friends that have used it in between kids or while in college. I plan to use it after the birth of our second child (which we say is the last one) but it will give us that 5 year buffer before we make a permanent decision. Good luck! It's called Mirena and here's the website: http://www.mirena-us.com/howmirenaworks.html?c=S1&WT.....

My bestfriend and I are both on the Depo shot. We both LOVE it. We just have to remember to go get the shot every 3mos. which is not a big deal. Neither one of us has had any bad side effects. Like you I can't remember to take a pill everday either. The best part of the depo for us is no more periods or pms. It's helped the both of us with migraines we don't get them anymore and with moodswings keeps our hormones more level. I was on the depo first and convinced my friend to go get on it she was very skeptical but loves it too.

Natural Family Planning is 100% effective you want to not use any products that could harm your body or cause abortions..I've used it for 5 years in avoiding and acheiving pregnancy..it works great! :) you can google it and there should be tons of information about it..
I totally sympathize with you on the post partum depression..I had it REALLY bad.. It won't last forever..I know it doesn't feel like that right now..email me if you need to talk ever. :)

A. I have had an IUD (paraguard) for about a year now and I LOVE it!!! It's non-hormonal and stress free. You can leave it in for years and the minute you take it out you can get pregnant so it's great if you are thinking about kids in a few years. This isn't for someone not in a commited relationship but I am guessing you are either married or with a long term partner. It really is no worse than a pap smear to get it inserted and you might get a couple of heavier than normal periods but after a month or two your cycle gets back to normal. I would recomend the IUD to anyone thinking about long term, hassle free, horomone free birth control. It's the best think I ever did in that regard. Good luck!

I use Depo Provera its the shot once every 3 months I love it.

A.,
I have one suggestion for you to discuss with your doctor and that is the Mirena IUD. Here is a decent web site about it www.womens-health.co.uk/mirena.asp . The web site is from the UK and does a good job of explaining it. This IUD has progesterone in it which makes it more effective than a regular IUD> It possibly could make your depression worse but the amount of hormones used is pretty slight so that is probably not much of an issue. I have not used an IUD myself. Good luck.

I've had a Paragard IUD for almost 5 years, and I highly recommend it. I started thinking about it when I heard IUDs are the #1 choice of female doctors. It was a simple procedure, and there are no hormones involved with Paragard. I never even think about birth control.

I've had a MIrena IUD since I was 6 weeks post partum, (9/05). It was not a big deal at all to put it in, I had just had a baby, so that tiny thing was nothing. It's totally conveinent, yes that's true. However, my fiance can feel the strings occasionally. And I am among the small percentage of women who gets no period at all on it, which weirds me out. I will mention that I'm still nursing, but barely, so I have to believe that it's the IUD that supressing ovulation at this point.

All this said, I am having mine removed. I am really medication and hormone sensitive and I think the hormones are too much for me. I don't have any references for you, but I'm suspicious enough about the IUD to switch to a totally different non-hormonal method at this point. I just don't feel "right." There is a non-hormonal IUD available, you might consider that... Otherwise, this is what I'm learning to use:

http://www.ovusoft.com/library/primer002.asp

I just had the IUD put in about two weeks ago. I can't tell you too much about it, but so far so good. I used Yaz for a few months after I was done nursing our son and it was awful. I was getting headaches every month and this last month I had such a bad migrane that I actually threw up! So that was it for me. It was funny because a bunch of friends were just talking about them as well. I called the doctor and the next day went in for the IUD. I have Mirena. I was a little nervous since it was all happening so fast, but it was great. In and out in 10 min. It took longer waiting for the doctor to come. When it was incerted, it felt like a mini umbrella was opened inside of me and there was a bit of cramping, but by the next day I was great and completely forgot about it! It is so cool to not take the pill! 5 years they say to replace it. We are pretty sure that we are done with having children, but the doctor assured me that if we did change our mind (which I gave myself 5 years to do that) that we would be fertile once the IUD was removed. Good luck.

I want to stress to you to be VERY careful when you make this decision. IUD sounds great, but the friend of a friend of mine just gave birth to a baby she got pregnant with while her IUD was implanted!!! That was her THIRD pregnancy on IUD. There is a small percentage of people that are MORE fertile on that method. Depo Provera is another to steer clear of! While I was on it, I gained 100 lbs. I have since had one helluva time trying to lose weight! Unsucessfully too! It also can take your body up to 5 years to return to normal after that drug.
If you can work on remembering to take pills (I kept mine by my toothbrush to remember)...I recommend those.