turnonmyheels | (no subject)

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Happy birthday

winterlive!

A question and poll about birth control! Please, note I'm not asking about STD protection.

[Poll #1526251]

ETA I accidentally left off condoms erroneously thinking people wouldn't use them as a primary form of birth control instead of as protection from STDs. Oops!

I recently quit taking the pill after being on it most of my adult life. I never had any problems with it, I just decided I wanted to see what life was like without it. It turns out, my periods are shorter, my PMS is less severe, and the sex drive I thought I'd lost around the age of 27 returned with a vengeance. Needless to say, I don't want to go back on it. I've thought about getting an IUD but read on the Blue Cross Blue Shield website that failure rate in women who have not had children is upward of about 30% I find myself doubting that statistic because Planned Parenthood's website doesn't state it. I think BCBS just doesn't want to cover the cost of doing them on people who aren't married.

But I may be more than a little paranoid too.

I wiped myself out yesterday. P90 Chest, Shoulders, Triceps + ab ripper, then Zumba at 5 *and* 6. In the first class I had 54, in the second 45. When I finally got home I fed my cat, downed a yummy-licious bowl of pintos that had been simmering in the crock pot all day [with a huge chunk of country ham "ends and pieces"], collapsed on the couch and cuddled my cat, read fic, and quasi-watched the Olympics.

I headed to bed around 9:45ish. I knew there was no way I was going to make my P90 alarm call so I made a mental deal with myself to move that work out to Saturday morning and passed out. I slept the sleep of physically exhausted and babies. I woke up late, used yesterdays snow and ice as an excuse to go into work about an hour late.

This is my Monday schedule for the foreseeable future. I'm supposed to getting help next month for Zumba, but I'm not sure yet if that's going to happen since we added an extra class. I've either got to get more rest on Sunday or go straight to bed after dinner when I get home.

I was up past my bed-time with Z Sunday night and I'm sure that had a big influence on how sleepy I was this morning.

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It turns out, my periods are shorter, my PMS is less severe, and the sex drive I thought I'd lost around the age of 27 returned with a vengeance. Weird! When I was on the pill (way back in the early 90s) I had shorter periods and less aggressive PMS while on the pill. Of course, I'm sure type, dosage and body chemistry make a difference. I don't know that it affected my sex drive, but I only took it for a year before I went off it to conceive (which, as you know, took 16 years.)

I want your beans and ham.

When I first started taking the pill it shortened my periods and made my PMS far less severe, I was also 18. I think age has something to do with this? A near lifetime of hormones changed me? I don't know. I *do* know that I walk around horny all the time and I haven't done that since my mid-twenties.

Just so you know, I rather like it!

My beans and ham were so fucking good, especially with the addition of some onion and ketchup.

I love that you love beans with onion and ketchup, too. Caza thinks I'm weird.

I *do* know that I walk around horny all the time and I haven't done that since my mid-twenties.

Just so you know, I rather like it! Heeeeee! Yea, verily.

I always boggle that people think pintos are to be eaten *without* onions and ketchup.

I mean, what other way is there to eat them? Surely, one doesn't eat them plain?

Yea, verily I do. Tis a nice thrum in thy lady parts.

Um, there are several women on my flist who swear by their IUDs, and that failure rate sounds crazy. Also diaphragms have a big following. I've known people who rely on condoms for, like, their entire marriage... I'm glad they can? But I would never be as good about it if I had to remember every time. *g*

I'll try to see if I can find any of the Hell to the Yes IUD posts, as the comments might be helpful to you.

Yay for Sunday night fun! And crazy popular zumba classes and working out like a slightly crazed weasel! Good to get the sleep, though, too!

I swear to you I do not believe a word BCBS says about IUDs SERIOUSLY. 30% failure rate in women who have never had children. WTFF?? That sounds to me like some sort of whacko 'don't let single women have reliable birth control' bullshit. I spent some time on Planned Parenthood this morning and they say the failure rate is 1 in 100 in failure to prevent pregnancy and did note that the IUD needed to be checked within a period or two of insertion, as well as checking for the string after each period but did not say ONE WORD about failure in women without children.

Wouldn't you think Planned Parenthood would be more reliable? I've got an appointment with an honest to god ob/gyn instead of my general practitioner on March 2 and I'm absolutely going to ask her. I'm hoping I walk out of there with an IUD.

About the Diaphragm and Cervical Cap - BCBS says these methods of birth control can increase chances if UTIs in women who are susceptible to them. I'd rather not have any more of those than I already do, but the diaphragm statistic makes me wonder about this too.

I really want something non-hormonal and while I can't afford sterilization, it's actually what I PREFER to do. Planned Parenthood gave it to me as option 2 when I took the 'what method is right for you quiz'.

God the sleep was SO GOOD. SO GOOD.

Yeah, seriously, that failure rate has to be some skewed version of "people for whom they don't take/suit/etc." And, yes, that is PP's JOB, whereas BCBS' job is secretly to prevent people from getting healthcare. Ahem.

It's weird to me that insurance doesn't cover sterilization. Cheap and effective in the long run! Ah well, here's hoping the IUD works for you!

Aaaand, here's the IUD post I remember most recently:

http://lyra-sena.livejournal.com/200260.html

thank you, that was very informative. And backed up my belief that single women aren't "allowed" to have them without a fight.

Yeah, sounds like the 30% thing might because they get expelled? But, sheesh, sounds like they work Dang well for lots of non-baby-having women, so I hope it works for you!

It is due to expulsion, but 30% and PP doesn't even list it at all?

Yeah, that's Weird about PP.

LOL, I just commented with a HELL YEAH! to my IUD. :D

:D! Fangirls represent!

I haaaaaaaaate hormones - bc pills. I finally got an IUD last spring, and man, was that the best thing ever. And I got the old school copper one, because that will be with me until menopause, unlike the hormone releasing one you have to swap out every 2 years. Plus, hormones.

You know, I know a lot of women with no kids who haven't had issues with their IUD, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Use condoms/whatever for the first month or two, and when you get a check up, they'll know if it's "taken." Just my two cents on it. Also: it's the CHEAPEST and most reliable form of birth control there is.

If I get the IUD -- which I really want -- I want the copper one, because yes, it'll be taken care of until menopause + no hormones = AWESOME.

I'm glad to hear you know women who aren't mothers who have had success with it. That really cheers me up.

Edited 2010-02-16 16:09 (UTC)

Celibacy.

There's two amazing things about celibacy which I celebrated religiously during my 6.5 year stint of it

1) absolutely no risk of STDs
2) absolutely no risk of a baby

the downside was I spent a LOT of money at www.blowfish.com

condoms, sweetie.

Yes, the nearly perfect form of birth control. Sometimes though, you're not actually having sex, just fooling around -- frotting and the oh-so-often written about and glamorized pre-come slides around and gets inside or perhaps the condom has been removed and there's a porn worthy come shot and it drips down and trickles inside and it's a tough little swimmer and OOPS! you're pregnant [ or infected with something and damn, don't you wish you'd stayed celibate ] and you wish you had a back up method.

The morning after pill runs $50 - $75 around here which is about a quarter of the price of the IUD.

Thanks for the vivid image of come trickling. I appreciate that. You are crazy, you know that right?

If you want the IUD, go for the IUD. If you have a failure, we'll deal with it when the time comes. But I'm pretty confident that you'll do fine with it.

I knew you'd love the imagery. It's not like you get enough of it in your editing work, after all.

Do you know how much I love you? This, right here If you have a failure, we'll deal with it when the time comes. You've implied all sorts of things that make my heart swell such as:

you'll be my baby-mama and adopt my baby if I choose to carry it
you'll hold my hand if I have an abortion
you'll take me in co-partner if I have a baby

and all sorts of other things. ::glomps you:: You're the bestest bff in the whole wide world.

Those are the exact things I meant to imply too. Whatever you would want to do, I'd be there for you and the baby if you decided to have it. Because I love you; your my bestest bff. And Chris would be there just as much too, because you're family.

Also -- I am finishing up a book today that is ... not bad, but not my cup of tea. Surprisingly, however, there was shower sex that was almost kinda hot. From me, that's saying a lot about the quality.

You make me feel all warm and squishy inside.

Wow, hot shower sex? In my life shower sex is only hot when it involves Brian Kinney and/or a shower unit/bathroom that costs more than I'm worth.

I know, right? But, yeah, it was pretty well done. And it was het, which... I usually only go for quick handjobs/blowjobs in shower scenes because anything else never feels quite physically possible. LOL. But this one somehow worked. Amazing.

Props to the author

It turns out, my periods are shorter, my PMS is less severe, and the sex drive I thought I'd lost around the age of 27 returned with a vengeance.

One of my friends recently went off the pill and had that exact reaction. She even felt better overall, like when she was on the pill, she felt she was always pissed off and when she went off, it was like a dark cloud was lifted.

I'm a condom girl, always have been. I'm very wary of the pill and honestly, I take enough pills on a daily basis and would rather not add one to the regimen unless I had to. I've thought about other BD methods, so actually it's really great to read this poll. I did give thoughts to an IUD, two of my friends are IUD people, though both had complications with it getting stuck, which made me wary too. Granted, if you're getting it and not planning on removing it until menopause then it probably won't be a problem, but, as an example, one of my friends, who hadn't planned on having any other kids, got remarried and changed her mind, so she had to get her IUD taken out and it was a struggle to remove, almost had to have surgery. BUT, I should add, after all that, once she had her baby, she did go for the IUD again, so... Even with that complication, she went back to it, so that must say something good.

Yes, that's it exactly. A dark cloud of easily frustrated, hair-trigger temper, hatefulness is just ... gone. Except for one or two days a month.

Who wants to go back to that?

If she went back to the IUD after that, it says a whole lot. I read a statistic in a journal linked to this one that 90% of the women in the world [aka outside the US] use the non-hormone IUD as their primary form.

*that* says a lot.

I also read some comments that the women who were single were either denied the IUD or had to practically beg and answer some pretty significant questions about their monogamy before doctors would give them the IUD.

That makes me tired just thinking about it.

<33333

i took the shot for a while. no periods ever. it RULED.

Other than you I've known two people who did the shot and the results were widely varied. One had their period for a month or more at a time and spotted when they were actively having their period *and* gained around 45 pounds that year.

The other had no period, no complications, and LOVED it.

Hormones are some scary, scary things.

I answered with "Birth control is not an issue in my life or relationship". But I like to think of my method of birth control as "the Gay". I use it like crazy, whenever possible. Best thing is, it's 100% effective and FUN!

Yes, quite a few of you use "the gay" as your b/c method. frankly, I'm a bit jealous I don't have that option as it seems mostly fool proof

*g*

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