How many types of birth control have you tried in your life? - Page 4

[MsVyky]

Condoms until I developed a latex allergy. Who can seriously afford polyurethane condoms? Plus they feel like having sex through a sandwich artist glove.

Alesse. Failed, accidental pregnancy.

Yaz. Stopped when I heard about all the crazy side effects women were having

Currently LAM/FAM

[Lenasmama]

- the pill - diaphragm - IUD -abstinence -pull out currently pregnant

[Brendalee]

6+

condoms

diaphragm

pill

NuvaRing

pull-n-pray (withdrawal)

Depo-Provera

a half-assed version of FAM

spermicide (with & without barriers)

female condom (exhubby said it was like having sex with a warm blow-up doll. probably didn't help that I had him try a blow-up right before we tried the female condom. it was an experimental afternoon, to be sure!)

"technical virginity" (everything but actual vaginal intercourse - this is often a preferred method for me.)

*****

Developed a latex allergy, so there went the diaphragm & condoms, which sucked, because I really liked my diaphragm as a backup method to whatever we were using. When I got married, my husband was so-so on it, because sometimes he could feel it - either it felt weird on his head if he was touching my cervix, or somewhat uncomfortable if he slipped behind my cervix & banged into the rim.

For most of my pre-married life, I used Depo & my diaphragm if in a committed relationship & threw condoms into that mix if I wasn't.  I was (maybe still am?) stupidly hyper-fertile, in that I can conceive if a guy ejaculates on the other side of the room, I swear.  Through a combination of events (including poor timing on my part), I managed to get pregnant on Depo, with a diaphragm (no spermicide) & a condom; condom broke, my next Depo shot had been due 2 weeks prior.  Aren't I the lucky one? I miscarried, like I have all pregnancies. This is fine by me, as I have no plans for sprogen.

Just a shoutout to those who mentioned difficulties with a few methods:

Latex allergy: they make polyurthane diaphragms now. Poly condoms can be pricey, but if you have a "free clinic" or needle exchange (needle exchange programs are actually HIV prevention programs, that's why they started) nearby, they often have poly condoms available for free - you have to ask for them, though; since they're so expensive, they keep 'em behind the counter so people don't just get grab-happy.

Now, while I like the Trojan Supra brand of polyurthane condoms, they've actually come out with new latex-free condoms. I forget exactly what they're made of, but the Lifestyles SKYN brand is one of them, & Durex has one too (not the Avanti, which is their polyurthane condom).  They look & feel more like a regular latex condom.  I was surprised to find out that I had a preference (it's been a while since I used condoms, until recently), but that's an option to try. I've also received these for free from the above places.

Spermicide reaction: I, too, have a problem with spermicide; it upsets my poor vagina terribly. However, there ARE spermicides available made of lactic acid (google lactic acid spermicide) & these are supposed to be just as effective but not nearly as bothersome. I plan to order some of this when I get my new polyurthane diaphragm.  If so inclined, you can also make your own spermicide!  There are recipes on the Internet (& the page will explain exactly how it works), supposedly lemon juice is a very effective spermicide.  I don't think the homemade is meant to be used alone, but with a cervical cap or diaphragm.

My current regime is just polyurthane condoms (they have lubricant but no spermicide); my partner doesn't orgasm or ejaculate right now due to medications (hoping to remedy this soon).  I plan to switch to my diaphragm, using spermicide during my fertile time along with pull-n-pray, so long as I stay with this partner.  If I end up with other(s), I will combine polyurthane condoms with the diaphragm & perhaps withdrawal.

[pokeycip]

I used condoms and the pill when I was younger.  Then I realized I was a lesbian, and that has been 100% effective.  Now I'm facing having to pay thousands of dollars to do what I was trying to avoid in college.

[CallMeMommy]

Oh gosh - spermicide inserts, condoms, Depo, the pill, the patch, rhythm method, and currently an IUD.  Spermicides irritate my skin, condoms just suck, Depo made me gain weight otherwise it was great, and hormonal BC kills my libido.  3 kids, none unplanned.  Rhythm method worked but we wouldn't be okay with an "oops" at this point and I'm not dedicated enough to do full-blown FAM so I got an IUD.  No complaints so far.

[cappuccinosmom]

Wow, I'm the only "none".

It's my favorite method.

Pre-marriage, it was a non issue, as I was abstinent.

Been married to dh almost 9 years and we have three kids (and I had three relatively early miscarriages).

[pagoda24]

BCP+ Condoms while in college

Nuvaring + Condoms whilst dating my husband

Ditched the condoms, back to BCP for a bit before stopping and conceiving the next month (planned)

Since baby was born, LAM + withdrawal, now just withdrawal. 

Tried progesterone only pills for a few weeks and they made me feel awful. I bought some sponges awhile ago but have never used them.

I loved the Nuvaring, and I wish they made a progesterone only version so bfing mamas could use it. That was the best birth control ever. I'd think if my son weans before we're ready to get pregnant again I'll try FAM, assuming he ever decides to sleep and I can get 5+ hours so I can get an accurate temperature check. I do check my cervical fluid but don't really chart. I've read a few studies that suggest withdrawal is at least as effective as condoms, so that's our main method of BC. We're ok with conceiving now, although we're not actively TTC. 

After the next baby, I might try a non-hormonal IUD. And once we're done having kids it's the big snip for my husband!!

[Adaline'sMama]

High School: condoms and pills
College (for my brief stint there): condoms only
2003-2004: condoms and pills
2004-2006: condoms
2006-2007: FAM and withdrawl
2007- present: withdrawl 1 week prior to ovulation and one week after. abstenince for 4 days surrounding ovulation. None during mensturation, and when were feeling like we just dont care.

[hasya]

Pill for first 6 months after wedding. It made me very irritable, crampy (oh gosh the cramps), dry, and very uninterested. Needless to say, not an ideal newlyweds situation.

Condoms - but very rarely, both of us hate them; more often, abstinence during *those* days. My periods, pre-baby were very regular.

That makes it 3? Pill, condom, abstinence during fertile days.

[Engineering_Mama]

Condoms

Sponge

Multiple forms of BCP

Norplant

Depo

The patch

And currently, Mirena

[ecoteat]

Age 16-29: Pill (various brands over the years)

Age 29: FAM (to avoid for a while, then TTC)

After dd's birth (age 30) condoms. HATED them.

Shortly after that: Paraguard, which I've now had for 4 years, and I'm pleased with. We are sure we are done, so maybe when it's time to yank the IUD it will be dh's turn.

[physics girl]

I've tried a lot of things in my quest to delay motherhood until I'm further along in my education/career. So far it has all worked in the sense that I haven't been pregnant, but some methods have been more pleasant than others.

• I used NuvaRing and condoms for two years, and that worked well for me. Other than occasionally experiencing mild nausea on the first day on a new ring, I noticed no problems with the hormones.
• When my insurance quadrupled what I had to pay for the Nuva Ring, I switched to a generic BCP that I hated and continued to use condoms as well about 95% of the time. I had issues with weeks and weeks of spotting, and I felt much more emotional and not quite like myself while I was on the BCP. Plus, my sex drive diminished dramatically.
• When I decided to ditch the BCP, I tried Encare spermicide as a back up for condoms, and, man, did that stuff burn! So we just used condoms for a while. At that point my partner and I lived several hours apart so there wasn't that much sex happening anyway.
• When I moved and my relationship was no longer long distance, I became more worried about the possibility of becoming pregnant, and decided to give spermicide another shot. It turns out VCF (films) and Conceptrol (gel) both work fine for me so I guess my problems were related to one of the inactive ingredients in the Encare, not the nonoxynol-9. Currently, we use non-latex condoms 100% of the time and spermicide about 75% of the time. (We're a bit more lax about spermicide use when cervical mucus and cervical position suggest infertility.) We sometimes also practice withdrawal in addition to the condom and spermicide or stick with outercourse when I suspect I'm close to ovulation. Oh, and I keep a dose of emergency contraception on hand in case a condom ever breaks, but we've never had cause to use it.

Edited by physics girl - 7/25/11 at 12:34pm

[CarsonBookworm]

Condoms

BCP- Turned me into a moody mess!

NuvaRing- I found it to be annoying to the extreme.

Sponge

VCF Film

Abstinence

Mirena

Now NFP....which I love!

[Dacks]

Oh gosh lets see: 

Depo - because who doesn't like month-long periods and no libido? No idea if it was really effective or just made me bloody and bored for 4 years. 

Hormonal Patch - It didn't stay on, left gross white patches on my skin, and did NOT even out my periods. Lasted 4 or 5 months.

Ortho-Tri Pill - You know what feels stupid? Taking a pill every day to keep from getting pregnant, while you still don't really want sex and bleed 2 weeks at a time. Took for about 2 years.

Paragard IUD (copper, non-hormonal) - I was military, never pregnant, and about to get divorced. I got the IUD like a woman desperate because the military paid for it. The insertion was the worst, felt awful for 3 days. I've used this for 4 years now and plan to until I decide to conceive. 

Now I have normal periods and.... still never have sex because I dated a younger guy who wanted to wait. I guess that's how it goes. I guess that could be abstinence, but not exactly planned that way and I don't need it to prevent pregnancy.

Condoms - I used condoms 100% of the time when I wasn't married, and a little towards the end of my marriage before the IUD. ( I Really Did Not Want His Kid )

Now my IUD is augmented by being too busy in grad school and unwilling to date my cohorts as I feel it would be unprofessional. Can we call that #7?

Ladies, maybe I need to get laid... 

[Dacks]

Originally Posted by pokeycip 

I used condoms and the pill when I was younger.  Then I realized I was a lesbian, and that has been 100% effective.  Now I'm facing having to pay thousands of dollars to do what I was trying to avoid in college.

You made me giggle on both counts there. I hope the thousands of dollars pay off for you!

[RoseRedHoofbeats]

Pre-baby rabies

Hormonal birth control- I was on this in my teenaged years and loved it- made my periods really light, no mood side effects, but now that I am TTC and merely trying to space out between pregnancies/miscarriages, not a good option

Condoms- not my favorite by far but they're good in a pinch.

NFP/FAM/LAM- Well, I like the idea, but I got pregnant on it, so... =P

Post- baby rabies

Vasectomy- hated it. Took my husband forEVER to climax (we're talking 30 minutes AFTER I had already finished...) and it felt wrong and sterile and unsatisfying. Sex life after our reversal improved DRAMATICALLY.

IUD- Second-least favorite. I felt nauseated every time I felt the strings, knowing there was something in my uterus keeping me sterile.

~Rose

[Arianwen1174]

Condoms
The Pill (got pregnant twice, miscarried both times, don't consider this a coincidence)
NFP to varying degrees, sometimes to prevent pregnancy, others to TTC.
Sponge
Withdrawal
Spermicide insert
Depo shot
Mirena
I think that's all...LOL

Currently using NFP loosely (tracking cervical fluid and sometimes cervix) but would be more careful if it wasn't so obvious I have trouble getting and/or staying pregnant.

[erigeron]

I voted 4-5 but remembered that I only used FAM for TTC, not for TTA. I don't know if I would rely on it for TTA, even though I like it in principle, because my cycles are short and my charts were sort of wonky (the month I got pregnant, I initially couldn't tell from the chart if I'd ovulated at all, and so if I had been TTA that month I wouldn't have been able to determine any safe days). I've used condoms, birth control pills, and the Paragard IUD. Liked them all ok except the condoms.

[Oubli]

Condoms - Were great for playing Russian Roulette with my teenage fertility. Why do we wonder how teens get pregnant with condoms having a 25% failure rate? And a 100% failure rate when they are forgotten.

Pills - Oh so many kinds of pills. Even the POPs fu<ked me up! They weren't suppose to interrupt my breastfeeding but boy did they, talk about abrupt weaning for both of us! Also the lack of  libido did terrible things to our marriage!

Depo Provera - Is chemical castration for sex offenders and they give it to us women for birth control??? Why oh why did I take that sh!t for a whole year??? Our marriage almost didn't survive that, took yrs to repair the damage caused by this method of BC.

Family Planning Method / Herbal Birth Control - Totally worked for over a year, was a ton of work though then one month of having sex while ovulating gave us our daughter. (Forget the anti-implantation herbs that month, eek!)

Patches - Gave me not 1 but 2 periods a month after 6 months of taking it. Horrible weight gain and hormonal fluxes!!!

Rings - Could only tolerate it for 2 weeks before the migraines and mood swings became intolerable!

And then I found my Holy Grail - a Copper IUD. I love my little copper friend!!!

I've had failures on almost every kind of birth control except the copper IUD and my herbal / FAM methods. I had a miscarriage on Depo (in between Shots), a miscarriage on the pills, a pregnancy and abortion on the Patch.

Birth control is a terror for women and all men have to do is soak their balls in hot water for 20 minutes a day and they are infertile??? Hmmm, why don't more men contribute to birth control???

http://malecontraceptives.org/methods/simple_heat.php

[Mrs.Music]

Condoms

Various BCPs

Nuva Ring

Depo shot

Pull and pray

Implanon

NFP

I like NFP best. Though we're going for the vasectomy now. I think.