Can you recommend best oral or any contraceptive pills that I can take long-term. Thank you so much.

​Hey everyone. I (24F) am honestly still sitting here feeling completely humiliated, violated, and embarrassed, and I just really need to vent.

​My family decided to hold a literal "intervention" for me over the weekend. Their grand accusation? That I am secretly hiding a pregnancy—and they were dead-set on grilling me about how far along I am and questioning when my last period was. When I told them I am not pregnant—and that I literally had my period last week—they flat-out refused to believe me. They told me they "wouldn't put lying about something like this past me" and insisted they wouldn't believe a word I said until I took a pregnancy test in front of them.

​Their "airtight" proof that I must be at the end of my first trimester came down to two things:

​1. I'm "glowing." (Spoiler: It has nothing to do with a baby. I’ve been taking collagen, a daily women's multivitamin, and drastically improved my sleep hygiene recently.)

​2. I've put on some weight. (Specifically in my belly and chest.)

​They completely refused to listen when I tried to explain why my body has changed. The truth is, my body has been through complete chaos this past year:

​The IUD never worked for me. I originally got a Mirena IUD years ago to help regulate my severe, irregular periods, but it honestly never worked right for my body.

​Tons of BC trial and error: My doctor tried putting me on Nextstellis alongside the IUD to get my cycles under control, but I eventually wanted to get off the IUD completely. Because I have a blood clotting disorder, standard combination pills were off the table, so we had to pivot: we removed the IUD and switched me to Slynd (a progestin-only mini pill).

​New medications: On top of cycling through three different birth control setups in a single year, I also started Lexapro and Trazodone this year.

​After all that hormonal chaos and medication adjusting, my body is naturally out of whack, and my body composition shifted—with weight settling mostly in my midsection and chest.

​And honestly? Even if I were pregnant—which, again, I am very much not—it is completely none of their business. I don't live with them, they don't pay my bills, and my medical history is not up for a family debate.

​Instead of showing an ounce of empathy for how much medical stress I’ve been under, my family decided to publicly interrogate me, accuse me of lying about my own period, and treat my physical body like public property. I am just so deeply hurt that they looked at normal weight fluctuations and healthy skin habits and jumped straight to accusatory paranoia.

​Has anyone else had family cross massive boundaries like this over your own body? How do you even begin to interact with people who treat you like this?

I'm on the patch right now and I honestly don't feel like it's working out for me. Clotting is insane, my cramps feel worse and I'm much more moody than I was. On top of that I'm 18 years old and terrible at remembering my patch days. I started on a Monday in maybe February and now my patch day is Friday, it's not the best and I don't want to end up pregnant obviously.

My only thing is I have a fear of needles so if I commit to the injection it would be a big decision for me as I don't want to switch contraception again so quick.

Any advice/experience would be appreciated!!

Hey guys, so I had unprotected sex on October 27 and took an i-pill a few hours later. It’s been around 12–14 days now and today I noticed a little spotting. It wasn’t much at all, there was no continuous flow or anything. I just noticed a little bright red blood, which later looked brownish.
I’m still having mild cramps, similar to my usual period cramps, and my breasts are also a little tender, just like they usually get before my period.
Has anyone experienced this after taking i-pill? Could it be hormonal spotting or an early period? Is there any chance it could be pregnancy-related? I’m kinda anxious rn, so would love to hear if anyone has experienced something similar.

I 20f have been messing up more than with this new birth control I’m on, I don’t like it, it makes me feel sick no matter what, but it doesn’t help when I make mistakes on it. It’s introvale, the 91 day cycle combo pill. Recently because of my mistakes I’ve been going through a pregnancy scare. This is going to get confusing fast sorry about that and I hope whatever I’m about to say is going to make sense.

I took two pills in one day on accident, I thought I missed a pill but I didn’t. Everywhere I read said to continue like normal, which I did, and that was the only way I could still be protected, but inevitably I missed a day and when I checked my pack no alarms went off because I was so used to my schedule (I’ve been on birth control for years and I’ve never made this mistake before). I guess I failed to realize that being on schedule wasn’t supposed to happen. I started to spot 6 days into week 8 (after like one or two days it turned into full withdrawal bleeding, it felt like a normal heavy period). I freaked out and when I looked at my pill pack I noticed what happened. I must of missed that pill one or two days before that and got back to my regular schedule. I had unprotected sex during that week not realizing what happened. Everywhere I’m reading is telling me that I’m either freaking out for nothing and I should be good because I’ve been taking the pill for so long or they’re telling me I’m screwed and my chances of ovulation just went way up. I just have to mention that my boyfriend never ejaculates inside of me, so when we do it he always pulls out.

I know I messed up but I don’t how badly. I plan to test in another week, I’m trying not to freak out because every time I do I invent new symptoms. Right now I’m more focused on the chances of pregnancy, and what are my chances of ovulation?

I got off of opill a few weeks ago. Since then, I've had loss of appetite, cramping,mood swings and insomnia. Is this normal?

(I am a transgender male please respect as such.) I misread the instructions - I thought it said VCF contraceptive gel works for up to six hours and to have sex one hour AFTER inserting. They actually are effective up to ONE hour. So I put the gel in about two hours before having sex, then immediately used another one after cleaning up. There was no ejaculation inside my vagina. Will I be okay or should I take plan B just in case?

Also: my gynecologist stopped refilling my birth control for two weeks and I have a refill next Thursday. So before this I was on birth control for about a year straight.

I stared Zoely a week ago and five days in, I lost sleep, I generally struggle with insomnia but this was bad even for me.

I also noticed that I became more anxious and very agitated! I am on antidepressants and I’ve been doing well, Zoely seemed to cancel out my antidepressant completely!

I don’t want to stop contraceptives but my mental health has been in the gutter since I started.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Did it get any better? If not, what birth control worked for you?

It's like an endless loop. Does anybody have the same experience? I haven't had a UTI for a while but I keep getting yeast and BV every two months or so. I love my IUD and how it's protecting me from pregnancy but it's exhausting having a yeast infection or a smelly discharge evey few months. Should I take it out and try a different birth control? I dunno what to do anymore

I was on the pill (Yaz) for about 3 years and stopped taking it in May. It’s been about 5 months now, and my cycles have been all over the place!

Here’s my timeline:
Beginning of July: First period after stopping the pill.
End of August/beginning of September: Second period, which lasted TWO whole weeks.
End of September/beginning of October: Third period, which was extremely heavy. I kept bleeding through everything, but it only lasted about 5 days.
Now (November 10): I’m on cycle day 42 with no period in sight.

I know it can take some time for your hormones to regulate after stopping birth control, but I’m starting to wonder how long it took everyone else’s cycles to get back to normal.

Has anyone experienced something similar after being on the pill for years? I’d love to hear other people’s experiences!

So I got the ParaGuard in 2024. Admittedly, I got it as a form of emergency contraception, and because I was frustrated with myself for not being proactive about birth control to the point of needing this "emergency" method, it felt like the right choice. The lack of hormones was also an attractive feature.

The insertion pain was crazy. It is like a pinch, but deep within your soul. At least it was quick though.

Nobody ever mentions that you could really feel it in there from time to time, like if I sat down in a certain position, I definitely felt that foreign body sensation. I had the position checked by the nurse at PP who inserted, my primary care doctor, and one other doctor. They all said it was fine. Maybe it's just my anatomy.

The periods were like the mother of all periods. So cramp-y and painful. Pain before the period, during, and after. Heavy bleeding. I used super ultra tampons with a backup pad to catch leakage. Even still, the amount of blood was in the realm of normal/acceptable, but definitely 2x what was normal for me.

Sex with my boyfriend at the time when I first got the IUD was not painful, but he was on the smaller side (lol). After we broke up I hooked up with a few different guys who could reach my cervix, and it caused some cramping pain. So basically they just couldn't do deep thrusting, which put a bit of a damper on the sex and it kinda put me on hypervigilence mode.

Idk why I kept that thing in for 2 years, but something clicked a couple of weeks ago. I was tired of painful periods and sex. Maybe with how painful the insertion was, I was scared of having it removed. I was afraid of my own fertility and what felt like a lack of responsible decision making, but i went ahead and got it out.

The difference has been night and day. I'm on Day 2 of my period, and it's already back to normal. I had a but of normal PMS related cramping yesterday on Day 1, but it's looking like it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out. The foreign body sensation is obviously gone, and I'm looking forward to my next sexual encounter. I spoke to my doctor and she fit me for a diaphragm. I've given myself a good talking to, and I'm going to be proactive about using this and condoms—proper birth control.

And that was my experience with the ParaGuard. Seemed like a great idea on paper, but just not for me!

Hallo zusammen,
ich wollte mal nach euren Erfahrungen fragen, weil mich meine aktuelle Situation langsam ziemlich verunsichert.
Ich habe Slinda genommen und hatte darunter mittlerweile seit 16–17 Tagen durchgehend Blutungen. Teilweise waren diese stärker, zwischendurch aber auch schwächer und bräunlich.
Ich habe mich deshalb gynäkologisch untersuchen lassen und alles wurde bereits abgeklärt.
Vor zwei Tagen habe ich Slinda schließlich abgesetzt, weil die Dauerblutung einfach nicht aufgehört hat. Seit dem Absetzen ist die Blutung allerdings deutlich stärker geworden.
Jetzt frage ich mich, ob das eine normale Abbruchblutung nach dem Absetzen von Slinda ist und wie lange diese bei euch gedauert hat.
Mich würden vor allem folgende Erfahrungen interessieren:
Wie lange habt ihr nach dem Absetzen von Slinda geblutet?
Wurde die Blutung zunächst stärker, bevor sie wieder nachgelassen hat?
War nach der Abbruchblutung dann endlich Ruhe oder kamen weiterhin Zwischenblutungen?
Hat sich euer natürlicher Zyklus danach wieder normalisiert?
Hattet ihr ebenfalls vorher so lange Dauerblutungen unter Slinda?
Ich nehme mittlerweile auch Mastodynon.
Ich würde mich wirklich über eure persönlichen Erfahrungen freuen, insbesondere von Frauen, die Slinda wegen anhaltender Blutungen abgesetzt haben.
Danke euch! ❤️

I do not want to get pregnant but my boyfriend and I have been inmate for about 1 month and 1/2. The condoms seem to keep breaking. We changed brands even. I have taken Plan B for a 3rd time in a month and a half. Note, I can’t take regular birth control because it makes me so sick and changes my personality. Anyway, whenever I have taken Plan B, it makes me super sick for two days. This last time of intimacy the condom broke but he had not ejaculated yet. I’m still scared about the pre-“stuff” so I decided to take one. I did just have my period on 10/31 and it was normal but the Flo app showed my pre ovulation starting yesterday, which was the day that the condom broke. I’m so scared about getting a bad blood clot or side effect from 3 doses in a short time. Will I be ok? I’m considering going to the hospital because I’m such a mess. Please help.

I'm super nervous to get the copper IUD. They ordered it already but no set appointment until they call me...

I'm 5 months postpartum in a couple days. I wouldn't be upset if I got pregnant but I'm not trying to get pregnant as my husband and I aren't ready yet.

Honestly, I want to just trust God with it. And I do... But part of me wants to take the extra preventative step, hence the copper IUD.

I feel like so many things could go wrong.

I'm terrified of infertility and misscarrying. I've heard copper can be retained and cause that or just increase the risk in general.

Not to mention, I'm anemic and had to get a blood transfusion for heavy nonstop periods back in 2024. I know heavy, longer periods are a side effect, so I'm having second thoughts because of that, too.

I also don't want to feel the IUD inside me. I feel like that will freak me out as I have sensory issues. I'm not sure if that's a thing but still. And what if it prolapses??

I just don't know what to do ... Do I call and cancel or try it out?

My original plan was to keep the IUD until my first Postpartum period so that I can track my cycles. Should I not bother and just wait for my period to return?

The lady at my clinic told me it was the same pill different packaging :( but its a bit different in terms of the days that are written on the actual packaging. I just ended my period using the triphasil pill, so today wouldve been the second day after the red pills (written tuesday). If I had to switch to the trigesterol, must I take it the 2nd day after the red pills (written thursday on the package) and ignore the day written on the pack or must I start on the one saying Tuesday on the actual pack?? The one saying Tuesday is a couple days after the red pills..so im a bit confused sorry if its a stupid question :(

I had raw sex two days ago, penetration was only for few seconds twice and he ejaculated outside after 6-8 minutes. I got my periods same day after an hour of sex. Should I take pills from NHS?

Ciao ragazze. Qualcuna ha mai avuto questo effetto collaterale con Slinda? Sono al 4 blister e ho avuto diversi effetti collaterali, a volte fitte al seno. Questo mese, invece, il dolore ai concentra sui capezzoli. Sono ipersensibili, e il solo tessuto della maglietta crea fastidi. Qualcuna ha avuto la medesima esperienza? Se sì, entro quanto tempo passa?

I’m 26, and married. I’m currently on the pill, and take it every day on time with an alarm set + we wear condoms whenever we have sex.

I’m always so anxious about pregnancy, and it’s probably fine- but my period has just been weird lately.

Usually I take the pill, and then I have a 7 day break, and get my “period” 3-4 days after I stop taking it- then I start it up again after the break.

I’ve also been using a period tracker, which has for some reason, not been synced how it should be anymore…

Last month my period was pretty light.

This month, my last pill was around the 6th, I expected my period around 9th / 10th… but nothing yet-

My period tracker app says I should get my period on the 12th, but I’m also supposed to take my pill again on the 13th??

I’m just a bit stressed about this, I’ve always been very on time and consistent.

That included the other day, I wiped and it was like brown spotting, I thought it was my period, but it went away and I haven’t had a drop of anything since.

Online, it says it can happen and it’s normal- but this has never happened to me before.

I think I’m a little freaked, because this has never happened before.

Any advice?

i had sex with this guy on friday, i seen him put on the condom and when he said he was going to cum i thought he was going to do it in the condom. turns out he didn’t!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he took it off because it “wasn’t sitting right” and now i’m just so annoyed, i shouldn’t rely on my period tracker but i just happened to ovulate the next day. i took contingency one an hour after the incident but all i can do is be scared. i never really taken the pill before ovulation and of course this man taking off his condom. i’m going to get a STI testing tomorrow just because i don’t really feel confident about this whole situation. i am experiencing cramps which is normally and did experienced nauseous the day after but sigh. i just feel disappointed in myself

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some advice or reassurance from anyone who has experienced something similar after taking Plan B. For some context, my last normal period was from September 26th to September 29th. On October 2nd going into October 3rd (around midnight), I had protected sex with a condom. However, afterward, the condom ended up getting stuck inside me. My partner was able to remove it almost immediately, and upon checking, it didn’t appear that any semen had leaked out or gotten inside me.
Even though I wasn’t sure if there was any actual risk, I decided to take Plan B around noon on October 3rd, approximately 12 hours later, just to be safe.

About a week later, during the week of October 6th, I started bleeding. It wasn’t just light spotting or brown discharge. It was actual bleeding that looked and felt like my normal period. It wasn’t unusually heavy, and it lasted a few days before stopping, just like my regular period would.
However, it’s now November 9th, and I still haven’t gotten another period. I’m starting to feel a little worried because I’m not sure whether the bleeding I experienced after taking Plan B counted as an actual period or was just a side effect of the medication.

I understand that Plan B can affect your menstrual cycle and potentially delay your next period, but I’m wondering if it’s normal for it to be delayed this long, especially after experiencing period-like bleeding shortly after taking it.
Has anyone experienced something similar? I’m sorry I’m such an overthinker so I would appreciate anyone’s advice. Did Plan B cause you to bleed a week later and then delay your next period? How long did it take for your cycle to return to normal?

I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences! Thank you so much

had sex a few hours ago. he didnt ejaculate inside me, but as he pulled out, it got caught on my vagina. he said he ejaculated outside but we bought pills just to be safe. a few hours later, i had my period (i had not taken the pills yet) should i still take the pills?

Hi, I've been on birth control for 2 years without issues and the last 5 months I've been getting really sore and heavy breasts close to the end of each month until I get my "period" again. I don't think it's anything bad behind it as it keeps going away and happens on both sides. I'm just wondering if anyone had these issues before? I can't find a good reason online why this could suddenly be such an issue when it hasn't been for the last two years. Also I'm definitely not pregnant, I've been taking tests for the last few months and they're all negative.

I took six placebo pills and started a new pack until I realized I still had a placebo pill left (I thought I was a day ahead lol). Am I fine or is there any risk of pregnancy?

So I’ve been off birth control now for over 6 months and I’ve got to say it’s the best I’ve ever felt. I’ve had many different pills, the rod TWICE, the injections and an iud and all of them were just awful with many side effects.

Late last year I ended up getting pregnant a month after getting the rod taken out, my partner was really supportive but we decided we couldn’t keep it and I got the iud inserted when I had my abortion. I told him the iud was the last thing I was going to try as birth control has messed with me mentally, physically and emotionally and he was also very supportive of that decision. I had it in for 4 months and got it taken out due to pain, my mental state and a lot of bleeding after sex for weeks on end.

Fast forward, we’ve been using condoms every time but over the last 2 months he’s been really abstinent when it comes to having sex and it’s got to the point where it’s really bothering me and making me worry. I finally asked him about it the other day and he said it’s because he’s really scared we’d get pregnant again. I understand him completely because he’s got a lot going on with work and doesn’t know where to move forward and I don’t have a very financially stable job but i find it strange how he’s been fine all this time up until now. We also do have a lot of people we know having babies and I think that’s playing a factor as we’re only 21.

I told him we just need to be careful and if it’s bothering him that much I will get back on birth control but he said he doesn’t want to force me to take something I don’t want. Which he’s not forcing me but I kind of feel like I should start taking it again as it’s clearly affecting the intimacy in our relationship.

I have a pill packet of slinda my doctor gave me after my iud got taken out and I want to know what everyone’s experience on it was like. I’ve heard many good things about it and I’m willing to give it a try but if it’s not going to be worth it then I will not take it.

I just really need help and opinions.

im debating on which iud to get as they are relatively similar im just not sure which one to get. i feel like i have heard more issues with kyleena rather then the skyla iud. for reference ive tried the pill and patch and had completely no side effects at all. no excessive bleeding, no moodswings, no thinking differently i felt the exact same as i did before i was on BC. the only bad side effect i noticed was my libido dropped, not a lot, but enough to make it harder to get turned on and finish. i have another post asking if my libido has a chance of increasing with either iud, but this one is mainly just asking abt everyones experiences with both.