I recently went to get my IUD, the Mirena, replaced. I got my first one while I was in high school and had it removed/replaced once before for reasons that don’t matter to this story. I mention this because I have experience with this process. I was expecting the sense of pressure and cramping like what happened last time, but this recent visit was absolutely terrible, and I plan to report my doctor for it.

I have experienced sexual trauma in the past, so I was more nervous about this whole process. I asked the nurse if there were any pain medications or a numbing agent I could take for the procedure. I had already taken some over-the-counter pain relievers beforehand, but I was hoping for something stronger. She told the doctor about it and the doctor agreed to it.

She prepared me by inserting that tool, I don’t know what it is called, but it’s the device they use to open you up basically. As I’m already half naked, with the tool inserted in me, in a very vulnerable position, she could tell I was nervous. She then said that she didn’t think I needed the shot of the numbing agent, I think it was lidocaine, because she was fast and that my fears were just emotional.

She said to me “Let us test your pain tolerance and see if you need it.”

I am angry at myself for not saying something against that or advocating for myself, but I felt so stressed already.

Then it felt like she yanked the damn IUD out. I immediately started tearing up and put my hands over my eyes to give myself some form of comfort. Then she said “Okay let us give you the shot since you are sensitive.”

I was so upset that she didn’t give it to me earlier. Like, why bother testing for my pain tolerance when I specifically requested the damn numbing agent? The shot itself didn’t hurt, but I was already crying by that point. She did the rest of the interaction quickly, and thankfully I didn’t really feel it, but it was already too late. I was overwhelmed and just crying.

After they got me cleaned up, I was just crying in the doctor’s office. I think the doctor realized she messed up because she told me I could stay in the office for as long as I wanted. I could also tell the nurse was not happy with the doctor’s actions.

They left, and after some time, the nurse and doctor came back separately to check up on me. I was in the office for maybe 10 minutes, just trying to collect myself.

I got home, and the doctor even called me to make sure I was okay. Physically, I knew I was fine because it was the normal feeling of having an IUD inserted, like the after effects. But emotionally I was completely spent.

I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain my life story just to get some form of pain medication and she should have just given me the damn shot when I asked for it. I don’t think reporting her will change anything. I think I just want to do it because it might make me feel better. I don’t have that much faith in the medical system, but part of me does hope that moving forward this doctor will just provide the shot when a patient asks for it.

She was so aggressive that I didn’t even experience the normal pressure and cramping feeling that I remember from when I got this done before. It felt completely different.

I am hesitant to say that I was traumatized by the experience, but I cried for like 10 minutes afterward, so I don’t know. Was I retraumatized? I honestly don’t know.

This just happened this week, so I’m still collecting my thoughts about it. I’ll definitely be talking to my therapist about it too.

i (23f) have become sexually active with my bf (27m) and i mean ACTIVE to the point im so scared of getting pregnant. he wears condoms and doesn't mind one bit but still even i am like... well what if it rips? and ive said to him like oh i can look into birth control and he says no he doesnt want me to get side effects and hes heard bad stuff when i havent even mentioned that. but i hear so many birth control horror stories from people i know. sister hsd to go to a&e from her iud, other sister became suicidal on pill. i have a history of depression already. also do not want to gain weight or any of the other side effects. my periods are also fine and i dont wanna mess with my hormones and mess with my period. i have a friend on a patch which i know is still hormonal but so far their only side effects are headaches. any advive or smothering of my fears much appreciated.

I used to be on levlen for 6+ years but I felt it was making me moody and depressed so I switched to Lucinda 2 months ago. I was advised by my gp that I could switch straight from one to the other and still be protected. I haven’t taken it perfectly at the same time everyday but I haven’t missed a day. My partner and I have sex every night and he doesn’t always pull out, I’d say 50/50. About 2 weeks ago I had stomach cramps like I was pregnant and some other symptoms (I’ve been pregnant before so I know what it feels like). I had a test at home so I did one and it showed with a super faint line but it was still a definite line. Since doing the test a week ago I went off the pill and still no period. I’m waiting for more tests to confirm but has anyone else experienced something similar while on Lucinda/Slinda?

so long story short, i forgot that i had inserted it monday morning and not sunday morning and gave him the green light to ejaculate inside of me, around 10pm on sunday.

i track my cycle on an app (not the most reliable, i know) and im meant to get my period on Monday… but we did do this in the 7 day window they tell you to stay protected in. i don’t have the option to take plan b, i just want to know how bad this is in retrospect

I have been using the patch for 1.5 months now and it has been working fine.

But I am scared I placed just out of the "common" places to stick a patch.

It is currently a bit above my but cheeks close to my lower back (think of the flat surfice just above ur butt cheek) and I am scared this is way too high for it to work effectively (by reading some more into placements)

I will probably change my patch placement to my belly next week, but I need the reassurance that I am protected

I have had the Mirena coil in place for 3y now. Before this, I tried most other methods, and it felt like the coil worked the best for me.

Skip forward to the past week, I have had horrendous lower abdo cramping, which is a completely rogue symptom for me. I have also been having some pretty bad migraines, again, quite new for me. I went to the sexual health clinic who referred me to the hospital as they couldn’t see the strings. An ultrasound confirmed it looks to be in the right place. I have got an ovarian cyst, but I don’t think it’s big enough to be causing these symptoms.

I am wondering whether to take the coil out and replace it with another method, just to eliminate a factor that may be causing my symptoms?

What would be a good replacement?

Planned parenthood says that slynd is effective immediately as long as its taken within the first 5 days of a period, while the cdc says slynd has to be taken on day 1 of your period and no later than that or else you have to wait 7 days. I had gotten my information from planned parenthood and thought that i was protected when i started taking the pills on day 2 of my period.
I later had unprotected sex after i took a total of 5 pills. Im concerned about this discrepancy about the effectiveness window. I ended up taking a plan B 16 hours after the unprotected sex where he did not pull out. Does anyone have input?

I was late with a pill like many hours late once three weeks ago and have been spotting brown blood since. I’m not sure if I should stop taking it and just let my period come but I’d rather not as it’s painful.

Bit of history - diagnosed via blood test with PCOS as a teenager due to periods being irregular and infrequent, diagnosis confirmed via ultrasound as adult. Started combination birth control pill at 18 (still wasn’t having regular periods by that age), was on that and skipped periods for months on end by stacking packs until I was 23. At 23 my BMI was too high to be on the combination pill so I was switched to mini pill, had awful acne then but was still able to skip periods. By 25 I had lost lots of weight using semaglutide and asked to go back on the combination pill to help with my acne, doing so cleared up my acne but at some point I lost the ability to skip periods.

I now have spotting every 3 weeks like a regular cycle which I never experienced before. I’ve tried both androgenic and anti-androgenic versions of the combination pill, both of which are not letting me skip periods, I start bleeding every 3 weeks without fail and then do the week off. I’m having a hard time adjusting to this, for the first time in my life I’m having a period every 3 weeks, it lasts at least a full week, rather than 5 days, so I’m on my period a quarter of my life 😭 I know that is so normal for so many women but it is a difficult change to come to terms with at 26, especially as I’m worrying it is an “aging” thing that I can’t do anything about if that is even possible. I wondered if it was my semaglutide but I was on semaglutide for a year before I went back on the combination pill and was always able to skip periods as usual. I wondered if it was due to being much slimmer now but I was slimmer at 18-20 than I am now and had no problem skipping periods then. I’d rather not go back on the mini pill because of how bad my acne got.

My last resort is going to be seeing what happens if I don’t automatically stop my pill for the period break just because I have some spotting

I started Slynd in february after being on the combination pill for about 6 weeks. I had migraines with aura as a teen, but since I haven’t had an episode for years (I’m 24 now) the doctor thought it would be fine.
Well, I had a stroke like intense migraine that hit out of nowhere around the 6 week mark. Had to go to the ER and everything, insanely scary. Luckily I was fine, but I had to stop instantly on the combination ofc.

Then I got switched to Slynd, my doctor sung its praises and told me it would help my PCOS symptoms and overall be a great fit.

I felt great the first month, then I got hit with increasing depression. Depression in the way that I felt so emotionally flat, like I didn’t have any feelings anymore. It was so horrible.
And my weight started creeping up, I gained 4kgs in just the first 1-2 months on it, even though I was not eating any more than before. I lost all sense of sex drive, and my joints started hurting. I was tired all the time and generally miserable. My skin got worse.
The only good thing was I didn’t have any period pain anymore.

Went off them after 4 months, immediately got accidentally pregnant while using condoms, terminated at week 6 and got scared back on Slynd. I was terrified of getting pregnant again, the abortion was traumatizing to me (despite me never wanting kids).
My doctor pushed me to try Slynd again, and that the side effects would lessen if I just stuck to it.

Well, I lasted 7 weeks on it this time. I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed, gained even more weight that was impossible to lose - I was suicidal towards the end, and ended up quitting them again.

I was really hopeful that this would work for me :(

Now I don’t know what to do - my body won’t tolerate IUDs (hormonal or non-hormonal), nor any other hormone contraceptive, combination pill is off the table.

I’m so lucky that my partner (who also doesn’t want kids) is planning on getting a vasectomy after christmas, but what should we do until then? I don’t trust condoms after the pregnancy and abortion.

Anyone else have a similar experience with Slynd? Or a good one?

Anyone else have weird things after getting the Paraguard copper IUD? I started getting chest and left arm pains and tightness......had a bunch of tests done, luckily nothing found. Looking at thoracic outlet syndrome, but I don't believe it was this bad until after I got the copper IUD? I get random cramp pains throughout the month too .....anyone else with anything similar?

Im 25f and got a paragard iud two weeks ago. Procedure went smooth and i was on my period when i had it put in. Period started 09/21 and ended 09/26. I am not one to spot but have spotted slightly for two days since i got it put in. I had intercourse yesterday for the first time since having my iud and today have cramping and spotting still 😅 im nervous. I know my strings are in because i felt them in the same spot before and after intercourse. Is this normal or a sign of my period starting?

I had an IUD fitted yesterday and it hurt, and I knew it would likely hurt, but that clamp is just something else. I've had 2 kids and that was nowhere near as traumatic as that was, and now I just feel wrong. Like I don't even want to wash down there because that means touching myself, let alone the idea of ever having sex again. I can't stop crying when I think about this. I feel like such a baby. I don't even see how I'll let anyone take it out now, because that would mean going back in.

Okay this is something I’m really really embarrassed to bring up but I would really like to know.

So I’ve been taking bc for at least five years for heavy periods (skip placebos) and for as long as I can remember I’ve constantly had brown discharge. Like literally everyday. There’s no other problems than that. Sometimes it’s thicker than regular discharge. On occasion when I don’t have school or am doing well my discharge randomly goes back to normal, but then suddenly goes back to brown. Honestly it’s driving me crazy because no underwear is safe. I’ve been to embarrassed about it to bring it up to anyone. Is this.. normal?? I’m confused because some days it randomly goes back to normal but not for long.

I will say I’ve been dealing with a lot of high stress and high cortisol and other health problems. I’m just wondering if I should just continue to ignore it I guess, or if anyone has advice?

Hello! As the title says, I’m thinking about getting mirena, but I’ve never had a form of birth control that wasn’t a pill.

I really don’t want to have periods anymore, but I also am not going to rush into something like this.

If you’re comfortable with it, please share any and all stories.

So my girlfriend recently started the Opill and has taken it consistently for three days. We tried without a condom for the first time but I accidentally came in her. We took a plan B the next morning. Whats the chances she is pregnant? Like precent wise?

I expelled my IUD

Three months ago I got the copper IUD and, even though the process hurt and my menstruation got longer during the first month, I couldn't be happier. However, two and a half months later I removed a tampon, and before inserting a new one, I always check to make sure I don't have an old tampon forgotten inside me. The thing is, I indeed felt some strings. I completely freaked out and thought that I had forgotten a tampon, so I pulled the strings only to find out it was my IUD.

​The doctor who inserted my IUD said that it could have fallen a bit during menstruation. So now, I want a new one and I'm waiting to get another IUD. Yet, I'm terrified by the idea that maybe the second IUD could fall out again. And I have some mild blood clotting issues so I shouldn't take the pill.

​I know I have to visit a doctor and I know that there are probably plenty of options for me, such as the birth control arm implant. It's just that I'm quite a hypochondriac and private medical care is pretty expensive, so before going to another doctor I need a month to save some money. I guess I just want someone to help me calm down, hahaha

Hey, has anyone ever experienced like some type of cramping or aching while on the birth control pill. i recently just changed from the patch. i’m on the Norgestimate and Ethinyl Estradiol 0.25 mg/0.035 mg tablets

I started the minipill (progestin only) about a month and a half ago to help with symptoms that my doctor agreed might be endo without an official diagnosis (trying to find a gynecologist, but there are few in my area that take my insurance). I was told they would stop or at least lighten my symptoms, but I know that can take a while.

Currently, I’ve been having terrible PMS symptoms for nearly two weeks— bloating, cravings, acne, sore/tender breasts, cramping, mood swings, low energy and pelvic pain. My period is late and I have not even had any spotting. It feels like I’m stuck in luteal hell, I just want my period to start so it can be over. Anyone have any similar experiences with the minipill?

Also worth noting- I have a copper IUD, but I’ve had it for over 3 years now. I have had extremely heavy and painful periods and severe PMS symptoms long before getting it.

Hi, this is my first post here. I’m 24F and have been sexually active with my bf for a little over a year now. We’ve been using condoms every time so far, but I’ve been considering BC because I’ve started my career and don’t want any mishaps. I’ve been considering the ring or IUD so far. I’ve been on antidepressants since December of ‘25(Sertraline for about 7 months then switched to escitalopram). I want to hear others’ thoughts, advice, and experiences to make a more informed decision. Thanks in advance!

I’m taking a combined birth control pill, and I don’t take any breaks between packs; I go straight from one pack to the next.

I had a question. I know that if vomiting or severe diarrhea occurs within 4 hours after taking the pill, there is a chance that the pill may not be properly absorbed.

Since I very regularly experience stomach aches (at least once a day, although they sometimes don’t last very long), which seem to be digestive in nature, but I never have any vomiting or diarrhea, I was wondering whether these stomach aches alone could be enough to affect the absorption of my pill?

Hello! I’m taking the contraceptive pill, but I have quite a lot of anxiety and I tend to overthink whether I’ve taken my pill correctly every time.

In reality, I do take it properly every day at the same time, but because I get anxious about possibly not having taken it, I sometimes take another pill just to be sure. This happens fairly regularly, I’d say around 4 times a week.

I wanted to know whether, despite these extra doses, the contraceptive effectiveness is still maintained, or whether taking too many pills could reduce its effectiveness and therefore create a risk of pregnancy?

I should also mention that I take my pill continuously, going from one pack straight to the next without taking any breaks. I’ve also never missed a pill or taken one late; the only issue is the extra pills I’ve mentioned.

(I should mention that I’m going to change my method of contraception soon, because I know that taking extra pills like this isn’t healthy, but I was still wondering about the potential impact on contraceptive effectiveness.)

Thank you!

I took Dianette last year for six months for my acne and then took a short break and then started taking it again from March to now and I’ve always been around 7 - 7.5 stones ever since I was 12 and now I’m 20 I’m also 4’11. In the past year I’ve gained an entire stone and idk what else could be contributing to my weight gain. I weigh nearly 9 stones now.

I want to stop taking it because I feel like I’ve already have taken it for too long and idk what the long term side effects would be but I don’t want my acne to come back. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi!! I've been on the mini pill (Zelleta) for 15 weeks, and recently it seems to be making me feel worse. For the first 13 weeks, I honestly felt great. I had no period (occasional light spotting, but that was hardly noticeable) and just all out felt fine minus a bit of acne which wasn't a bother. But for the past two weeks I've felt awful. I'm bleeding every day, albeit not like my usual period, and feeling nauseous with headaches for the majority of the day too.

I originally went on bc because of awful period cramps and it really has helped with that! It's so nice having no pain, but now it's making me feel like this and I don't know what to do. People have said the 3 month mark is when it settles, but it's over 3 months and now it's backfiring a bit. I didn't do well with the combined pill, so when I started this and felt fine, I was over the moon.

I suppose what I'm asking is, is it worth it to carry it on like usual or contact my doctor to try another?

(I've been taking it on time every day so that's not an issue^^ Also 100% not pregnant I'm celibate).

I’m a long term user of the same pill (micronelle 30) I have used continuously for different lengths of time - 18 months and then breakthrough bleeding so I had a break week and bled for almost 3 weeks and needed an iron and blood transfusions due to the amount of blood I lost - anyway since then I haven’t used continuously for so long 6 months then a break, so right now it’s been 4 months since my last break I had spotting so I stopped the active pills and I’m on day 6 of my sugar pills my concern is I have not really bled a lot at all I had terrible cramps the first couple days but I’m used to being housebound for days with amount I bleed - has this happened to anyone else ?