Birth Control Issue, Please Help!!

You already have 16 answers, but I thought I would throw my two cents in. I tried hormones early on in my marriage, but had to stop. Like you said, they made me "wacky" (to say the least! I felt like a raging lunatic). I read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I used that method, twice, to successfully get pregnant (and it worked quickly!) I've been using the TCF method for over a year now, with no pregnancies in sight. (Trust me - I've been married 6 years, and have two kids. This feels like an accomplishment! haha)

So. All that said, I like the FCM method. I carefully chart my temp and "fluids". We use condoms on what I call the "danger days" and breathe a huge sigh of relief the day after I ovulate (which I know, because I've been charting). I use FertilityFriend.com to keep track of things. They have an app which makes it 1) easy to find in the morning and 2) super easy to show my doctor when I go in for visits when my "first day of my last period" was.

Sorry for the novel! Msg me if you have more questions...

If you combine natural family planning with condoms you should be pretty safe, but do both. I had been doing NFP for YEARS and was very good at it, but I now have a 10 month old that was not planned. We L. her dearly and wouldn't change a thing, but it was not a planned pregnancy.

I am having the same issues as you are and I went off the pill for good this week and will be going back to NFP, but this time we will use a condom every time just to be safe. Last time we just used NFP.

Have you read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility"? It will give you lots of good info on charting. And then just use condoms during your fertile time of month.

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I'm 22 with my first baby 6 months old now and also married.

I can't take the pill because it makes me crazy depressed, the Implanon implant made me even crazier! Now I'm scared to try anything else!!

I'm very aware of my fertility and when I'm ovulating, so we just use a condom during a large chunk of my cycle, and don't use one right after menstration and right before. I'm very careful and have done it for a few years, it gets easier, but falling pregnant isn't something you really want to play around with.

I completely understand why a married couple don't want to use condoms - it stinks!! But it's just something we'll keep doing until we've had enough kids and then maybe hubby will get the snip!

Good luck L..

My husband and I do natural family planning, and we'd definitely recommend it. Some methods are more precise than others. We use the Creighton Method. Check out their website for more info:
http://www.creightonmodel.com/

i couldn't do the pill either. It gave me leg cramps. I used a diaphragm and it worked just fine, but I always used it. You have to ask yourself if you would do that.

Has your doctor worked with you to find a birth control pill that has a hormone type and dosage that don't make you wacky? There are more than one type of hormone and many types of dosage out there. Most women need only a fairly low-dose pill; higher dosages tend to make a lot of women feel nauseated and cause other issues. If you've only tried one or two types, or you feel your gynecologist is not working with you, demand a real discussion of types of pills available. You may find there are some that are just fine for you. If you're seeing a "general practitioner" or internist instead of a gynecologist for your BC pills, -- get to a gynecologist, because they will have far more experience with and knowledge about pills and all other BC methods you're considering, too.

Natural planning seems to work for some folks but as another poster said -- be prepared to end up pregnant, because cycles do change and even a small change can end up meaning NFP doesn't work.

i stopped taking BC pills a few months back & we switched to condoms. they're effective & cheap & don't mess w/ my hormones. we have a 22 month old daughter already & will probably start for #2 here in a couple months. i personally do not trust the "natural family planning" method. there's too much room for error, especially if you are not regular as a clock!
good luck :)

You are singing my song. I'm a bit older than you and so I used the diaphram which was to me very unromantic. We also used astrological birth control and it worked extremely well since I was only fertile during the days before my period.
If you are under 5' 4" you cannot use an IUD.

I used a diaphragm for years and really liked it. I'd still be using it, but after our third my husband agreed to a vasectomy :-)

I got pregnant on the pill so no birth control is 100%!!! Just do your research, talk to your gyn & make a choice w/ your husband on what you both feel is your best course of action!

I would look into natural family planning and use condoms with spermicide. That when used properly is very effective. GL!

M

NFP actually has a better efficacy rate than cervical caps and diaphrams IF you do it correctly. I chart and we use condoms when I'm in my fertile period. It worked for us for 1.5 years between children and was also helpful for getting pregnant the first month we tried for #3. You can also use it for gender selection. I got my girl after 2 boys:)
If you haven't read it, get the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". It's a wonderful resource!

Oh, what about an IUD. The two most popular are Mirena and Paraguard. But, some women are against them because they are technically an abortive device.

Take a class on natural family planning. Another poster recently posted the same question and had said that NFP is also 99% effective when done correctly and it's really not that hard to do.
Good luck!

I think if you are ok with having more kids, condoms work pretty well if used every time. I did get pregnant (with no birth control) during my period, so "every time" means "every time!" It was fine for us, because we will always welcome more children, planned or not. If you truly can't have more kids at the moment, maybe talk to your doctor about something with more certainty. Sorry, don't have any advice regarding the cap.

Have you tried the nuva ring? my sister uses it and loves it, traditional pills made her wacky too. Natural family planning is just as affective as birth control if done right. You have to take a class though, you might want to call a local catholic church for a referral to the class.

I'm not at all opposed to Natural Family Planning, BUT my mother was using NFP and got Pregnant at 45 (when I was 23 and my brother was 20).
It worked fine for years, but it was really quite a shock to my parents (especially my dad, who wanted to retire). I think maybe her cycle became irregular or something because she was careful. I've known 2 other women who got pregnant while doing NFP. If you're not comfortable with an unexpected pregnancy, talk to your OBGYN about some alternatives.