I’m an IUD user, and have been for about 6 months now. The copper, not the hormonal. It’s got it’s pros and cons

PROS:
- it lasts for 10-12 years. yes, 10-12 YEARS, with little effort on my part

the only effort involved is sticking my fingers inside myself once a month, to make sure the cord is still sticking out of my cervix, and, as my fingers generally go exploring several times a week, this is no great hardship.

- no hormones.

this is important to me, because the hormones in birth control make me be NotMyself. there is no good way to explain this, because NotMyself isn’t a meaner, colder, more negative version of me. NotMyself is also not warmer, friendlier, or move positive. NotMyself is simply…NotMyself. It’s impossible to explain, and entirely ephemeral, and yet, I felt oddly more myself than I had in years, once it was gone.

I was on hormonal birth control from age 12 to 27. I used numerous types of the pill, the ring, the patch, and the shot. When I finally got off of birth control, it took about 6 months for the NotMyself to fade away. And it feels great.

CONS

- getting it in fucking hurt

this is in part because of my own unique physical make-up. my uterus tips backward instead of forward, putting an extra kink in my cervix, which made getting the IUD in more of a trial than usual. According to my doctor, who has inserted over 1000 IUDs, I had one of the largest kinks to get past, which explained a lot of the pain.

the other part of the pain is that generally the pain of getting it in is related to your regular cramping intensity. And since my cramps are usually quite painful, the IUD insertion was accordingly painful.

- irregular periods for a few months, increased cramps and increased period time.

my first two period after the IUD sucked, both in how long they were (about 2 weeks from 1st spotting to last spotting) and cramping (about 2 weeks too, totally sucked). having had the IUD for 6 months now, both period time, and cramps are much more like my usual misery. I still have a heavier flow (though I use the above mentioned DivaCup, so it’s not that big a deal), and I cramp a bit more, but it’s more than worth the 10 years of being pregnancy-free.

- the cost

the IUD itself + visit to have it put in cost $350. Though I have good insurance, it wasn’t covered at all. Divide that $350 by 10 years & it’s much more palatable, but it was still painful to cough up at the time. Luckily, my partner paid for half, so it wasn’t as big a deal. I’ve also heard that some insurances do cover it, so it could probably be cheaper for other people.

So that’s my birth control spiel. I hope more women consider the IUD. It’s only been 1/2 a year, but so far, it’s been great for me. :)

it’s my very shaky understanding that way back when women used to have far fewer periods than modern women as a result of breast-feeding kiddies for years at a time, which produces hormones that prevent ovulation. Which implies: actually, I have no idea. I’m sure someone’s written a thesis or research paper on the consequences of varying numbers of periods of a woman’s lifetime, excuse me while I hit the library.

But good job Eileen in bringing new meaning to the name of your blog.

I have to say, that as appealing as the idea of not having my period is, I can’t seem to get behind it. It’s purely an emotional reaction, but it seems to me like my body is supposed to do this once a month, so I should let it go ahead. Which makes no sense, since medical science tells me that if I’m not planning on kids anytime soon, my body doesn’t really need to do this. Plus, I’m already screwing around with what my body naturally does by putting my system on a schedule with hormones. But I just can’t do it.

I would like to see it being more OK to take sick leave for *everyone* when they’re not fit for work – whether that’s due to menstruation or illness or whatever.

Eileen – yep, the DivaCup is basically the same thing. Really: go order one (of whichever) now, while you’re thinking about it! Totally worth it, no question.

I suspect the reason I’m getting poor reactions from this group is because I’m Canadian.

I’ve run the idea around the people up here, and yes, once again it’s wholly positive. Canadians don’t see health care as patriarchal, invasive, descriminating or condescending. Strangely, they perceive it as a right, and feel that the difficult time which a woman spends each month ought to be acknowledged by both the medical community and the workplace.

Perhaps that is because they are used to receiving this sort of recognition.

I can’t remember to take pills everyday. (Which is bad, considering I now have to remember to take my mental meds..but if I miss one of them, I won’t get knocked up)

Yikes! Speaking as someone who once took medications for a diagnosed mental illness, I would say that the potential consequences for missing one of those pills is far worse than forgetting contraceptive medication. There’s no such thing as an abortion for being psycho.