I hate my birth control pills!!!

Why not try something else like nuva ring or mirena?

As someone who has bounced around from pill to pill, I totally feel your frustration. I''m sure you or your doctor have thought of this, but are the pills you''ve tried different dosages? I think if your taking a dose that''s lower than 35 mcg, your chances of breakthrough bleeding are greater and that was the case with me. Have you considered and IUD or ring?
I''m sorry you''re dealing with this and hope you get to the bottom of it!

I've heard good things about the Mirena as well, and a friend of mine loves Nuva Ring.

I gotta be honest - the thought of an IUD or a ring freaks me out a bit.

me too

What about going off the pill and letting your body get back to normal for awhile? You can use back up protection. That''s what FI and I are doing right now and so far, so good.

You have mentioned in the past you were done having kids...would you or your DH consider having surgery to make sure that''s the plan?

The pill beat me.  I never did find one that suited me, so I gave up. 

The pill:  1

Me:  0



ETA:  Sorry I never did answer your question.  I  would ask about alternatives.  Did you try the contraceptive impant (arm)?

Yaz was the only BCP I ever liked.  If you haven''t tried it yet, I recommend it.

I''ve never tried an IUD, but I''ve only heard horror stories from friends.  One of my aunts got an infection from hers that made her permanently sterile.  Another one could feel hers poking through her cervix after she had her twins, so she had it removed.  Neither one of those stories made me excited about the prospect of an IUD :p

put me in the no pill camp. i hated the ones i tried. so i got off and use other methods. it works for us.

If you''re doing ok for bone density, I recommend the shot. I did it for awhile in college, and it was the most no-fuss birth control I ever had.

I also liked nuva ring - I was a little freaked about having to place it, etc, but after the first cycle, I was fine.

The patch was awful, same went for pills. Anyway, I''m off all hormonal BC now because of low libido issues, but definitely talk to your doc about depo provera (the shot) and nuva ring. Both are EXCELLENT for someone who doesn''t deal well with pills.

I''ve been told by quite a few that the depo shot has a reasonable potential to cause real weight gain.  You might want to look into that if that''s a concern.


I tried the nuvaring and I was allergic.  Horrific experience.  Conceptually it worked well, but feeling like I had a constant miserable UTI wasn''t my thing.  Looked into the implanon(under skin device inserted in arm) but they didn''t seem that popular and research wasn''t too extensive on it.  I wanted low dose hormones because I can have pretty real emotional side effects so I then thought about mirena and paragard IUDs.  With mirena, it is common to spot off and on for a while, lose it all together, have it heavy at times, etc... just no schedule.  I didn''t want that so I went with paragard.  I have no children and I thought I might have a hard time finding someone to do it but my doc was thrilled that I was considering it.  My insurance covered it 100% (compared to the $23/mo copay I had with the ring)... the procedure wasn''t bad, I survived. 

Date: 3/20/2009 1:03:44 AM
Author: Elmorton
If you''re doing ok for bone density, I recommend the shot. I did it for awhile in college, and it was the most no-fuss birth control I ever had.


I also liked nuva ring - I was a little freaked about having to place it, etc, but after the first cycle, I was fine.


The patch was awful, same went for pills. Anyway, I''m off all hormonal BC now because of low libido issues, but definitely talk to your doc about depo provera (the shot) and nuva ring. Both are EXCELLENT for someone who doesn''t deal well with pills.

Depo is hormonal, but not the same as pills, etc. I too am off hormonal BC because of libido issues.

I was on depo for about 5 years straight. While convenient, eventually I developed pretty severe depression which required medication (and going off the shot). I don''t believe the claims of weight gain on BCP. I''ve lost and gained huge amounts while on and off BC (both pills and depo).

I know two people who got pregnant while on Depo (one got pregnant TWICE while on the shot).

I tried depo while I was in college and it made me a total b!tch. The upside was that I stopped having periods all together. I''m now on Jolessa (generic Seasonale) and so far I love it.

Hey-

I also second YAZ. I love it. I have been on it for two years after switching from 2-3 different BCP.

Also- I know it''s REALLY uncommon, but my friend''s sister got pregnant when she was getting those shots. How unlikely!

Re: folks getting pregnant - people get pregnant on ANY method of BC - there is NO 100% efficient BC. If it''s 99.9% effective, that still means that 1 out of every 1000 people on it is going to get knocked up, and considering that there are millions of women on birth control all over the world, yes, the likelihood is that each of us knows someone who conceived while on BC. I know someone who got pregnant on nuva ring, and I know at least 3 people who got pregnant while taking pills - but it''s not really logical to take this into consideration when thinking about BC. It IS smart to look at the efficiency percentage (because there is a pretty decent difference between 98% and 99.8% when it has to do with preventing a pregnancy, IMO).

Some things that others have mentioned are the bodily side effects of non-pill BC and those are something that I think a person really should carefully consider (and this is the stuff that it''s really worth reading and seeing the percentages of people that this affected in trials).

Here''s my low-down on the non-pill BC, and I''m sure I''m leaving stuff out, but these are the major issues from my understanding:

IUD - Painful to put in, can cause scarring, lead to infection, and thus lead to infertility
Nuva Ring - Can be uncomfortable for some, can come out during bowel movements or during sex. Some partners say they can feel the ring during intercourse.
Patch - Can be uncomfortable to wear, can be allergic to adhesives, there can be issues with blood clots
Depo provera - Shots (every 3 mos, though I think there is a year one now) can cause problems with bone density/calcium

I have not had any luck with birth control pills. The first time around I got pregnant while on the pill, the second time I gained an insane amount of weight in a very short period of time, was very irritable all the time and had very irregular periods. I am now on my second IUD (Mirena) and I absolutely love it. I have not had any issues with it at all.

Date: 3/20/2009 1:26:26 PM
Author: MrsG
I have not had any luck with birth control pills. The first time around I got pregnant while on the pill, the second time I gained an insane amount of weight in a very short period of time, was very irritable all the time and had very irregular periods. I am now on my second IUD (Mirena) and I absolutely love it. I have not had any issues with it at all.

i loved mirena and would have kept it if my hair hadn''t started to thin.  I think this totally depend on your body chemistry, but just keep an eye on things, and know that it is not in your head.  I hate when doctors make women second guess their selves about something that they KNOW is wrong.

I am on Yasmin now.  I miss Mirena dearly...  I am thinking about getting paragard, I don''t like messing with hormones, and the IUD was such a great experience overall...

I wish I had some acvice for you, but I don''t.  I was on the pill when DH and I first got married and I seriously NEVER wanted to even THINK about sex!  So I stopped taking it and we used condoms instead.  Between our three kids we have always just stuck with condoms.  Hopefully you and your doc will be able to figure something out.

I hated the pill too. I think Nuvaring is great. Maybe you can just get a sample to see what you think of it. It''s really easy, causes no side effects for me, only change once/month.

Date: 3/20/2009 1:05:53 PM
Author: Elmorton

IUD - Painful to put in, can cause scarring, lead to infection, and thus lead to infertility

Nuva Ring - Can be uncomfortable for some, can come out during bowel movements or during sex. Some partners say they can feel the ring during intercourse.

Patch - Can be uncomfortable to wear, can be allergic to adhesives, there can be issues with blood clots

Depo provera - Shots (every 3 mos, though I think there is a year one now) can cause problems with bone density/calcium

FWIW, the most recent medical research I''ve seen says that IUDs have improved DRAMATICALLY in the last 10-15 years and are now on of the safest options with the lowest incidence of side effects. There were some issues with scarring and infection, but those were with old, outdated versions that are no longer used.

I have to be on hormonal BC for medical reasons (I take Yasmin, but continuously - no weeks off), but if I didn''t, as someone who has really educated myself about what else is out there, I''d do an IUD in a heartbeat.

Amber, I totally agree with you - we''re talking tiny percentages that these side effects could take place. If I remember correctly, the thing with the blood clotting and the patch is the same way - sounds horrific, but the number of people that have that problem is insanely low. I was really, really considering an IUD before I went off HBC, but after a long discussion with my OBGYN (who is younger - not around for the problems in the 70s), decided against it. She said basically, although IUDs improved leaps and bounds, the risk for infertility is still there - not really because of puncturing the uterus (this is the scary stuff I''d heard in health class when I was in HS) but because of scarring and infection, which is harder to detect. Because I very much want children but want to wait until I''m closer to 30 (about 5 years from now), she steered me away from the IUD, because as side-effects go, that one would be absolutely devastating to me and my partner if I was part of the (very small) percentage that had that side effect. I''d do it in a heart beat if I''d had kids, if I wasn''t sure I wanted kids, or if having kids right now would be something that we absolutely couldn''t handle at this point in time - but for my personal situation and peace of mind, it''s just not a side-effect that I''m willing to risk. I really hope that science just continues to look for different answers when it comes to BC - I really don''t think there''s a thing on the market right now that doesn''t have either efficiency issues or questionable side-effects, though some side-effects will be less concerning to some women as they are to others.

You might want to try a pill with higher estrogen (estradiol). I had similar issues with breakthrough bleeding, and upping the estrogen helped me. NuvaRing would probably cause you similar bleeding issues as it has a very low dose of hormones; while this can be a desirable thing, for some women, the higher hormone dose is a better choice. Maybe you can bring this up with your doctor. I currently take Nortrel in continuous cycles (no "week off"), and I never have breakthrough bleeding anymore.