[GravityRose]

Hello! I thought it might be a good idea to join a health forum, since I have some questions I'd like to talk about with other women. One of them is birth control. I am currently on depo provera, but I've noticed that lately it's been causing me to bleed strangely- the color is much brighter than normal, leading me to think it might not be menstruation, but something else. I've had friends who said it caused strange bleeding as well. I would like to hear some stories or suggestions for good alternatives?

I'm rather wary of both condoms and birth control pills. My best friend has a six month old son that was conceived while taking birth control regularly, and my brother has a son as well that is the result of a broken condom.

Effectiveness and safety are my two main concerns. I'm able to get discounted birth control because of my financial level and status as a student, so money isn't as much of an issue.

Any input is greatly appreciated, thank you very much!

[kira]

Well you could do an iud which are a little more guaranteed than pills but combine condoms and pills and odds of failure are pretty darn low. If something happens with a condom there is always plan b and you should use condoms until you know your partner and their status. For pills I love seasonique. It's one of the strongest out there and only 1 period every 3 months. You pay for 3 months of pills at a time. There is no inactive week there is only a lower dosage week so it lightens bleeding a lot. I used to bleed so bad I'd soak a heavy tampon and pad every hour the first day and now I might have to use a medium tampon once. However if you ask for seasonique don't let them talk you in to lybrel. It's a much lower dose pill and I bled randomly and gained 40lbs on it for months before giving it up to go back to yasmin until I did my research and found out my doctor was wrong and seasonique is higher dosage than lybrel. She'd told me they were the same.

[2BHealthy2BBeautiful]

Hey GravityRose,

I'm also interested in finding out information for different kinds of BC. I've not tried IUDs yet, but that's something worth looking into at least - it's what I'm going to be talking to my doctor about soon. I agree with kira that the actual safety/effectiveness is around the same, but at least with an IUD you don't have to worry about remembering pills everyday. I had similar bleeding problems with the Depo shot and quickly stopped that - there may have been nothing wrong, but I didn't feel comfortable with it. While I didn't have any particular problem with using typical pills(I'm trying to remember my brand, but it's been 3 or so years since I last used it), it did seem to cause me to gain around 15-20lbs weight which dropped within a month after discontinued use. As someone who is trying to lose weight, that just doesn't sound good at all right now!

[lcj14]

I currently take Introvale. It is a three month BC like seasonique. Unfortunately I do not know the difference between this BC and seasonique. I take it because any BC I have ever taken has been incapable of stopping the heaviness of my flow. This one hasn't helped with that either, but at least now I only have to deal with it every three months. However lately I am experiencing some symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, and may have to be put on a different pill or something. I don't know yet, I am currently working with my doctor to see what is going on. I also have no idea whether or not it causes weight gain, sorry!

[kira]

I lose weight on birth control pills so you never know how someone is going to react.

[Luke'sWife]

I haven't tried any pills because I always forget to take things and didn't want to have to try and remember. I would suggest an IUD. I got the mirena put in about a month before my wedding and haven't had any problems with it other then a few days of bad cramps right in the beginning then random cramps for the next month. It doesn't work for some people but its worked great for me and my husband loves it cause we dont have to worry about getting pregnant or using condoms. Some people say it makes them gain weight or never feel interested in sex but it had the opposite effect on me. I dropped 5 pounds and have felt way more "horny" since a few days after the cramps stopped.

[GravityRose]

Thank you all for your help! Hm, I'll definitely try looking into other types of pills. I think the ones I was prescribed were Ortho Cyclin or something that sounded like that. I hadn't even considered the possibility of getting a different type of pill instead of another type of birth control.

[triciaw]

Nortrel 7/7/7 was good, until it was recalled. I ended up having hellish freak outs over nothing, and I also became pregnant. I miscarried(which I partially feel might be contributed to the pill) and had the Paragard IUD put in. I love it. I feel 100% safe and protected with it. It is non hormonal and I feel perfectly fine(no more freaking out). I suggest taking Midol extended relief to help with the cramping. No bleeding, sex was fine no pain. The only thing is, now that there are no hormones I am breaking out like I'm 13 again Too much copper can cause you to breakout more. If this is an issue it can be treated by taking zinc. I would take breaking out more, over taking the pill again any day.