Best contraceptive

Literally no side effects, no fake hormones affecting my body or mental health. Use symptothermal - 11 months in and find temping and checking cervical mucus easy and not at all laborious. We use condoms during fertile window (for me that’s usually about 9 days) and unprotected the rest of the time. No scares and I feel confident and secure with this method. I’ll never go back to hormonal birth control!

Natural cycles seemed promising when I first came across it in 2017 and read the reviews. I got the NC app along with the most expensive (hence hopefully most accurate) thermometer I could find to enter my readings. My partner and I decided to try it in place of condoms. I entered my thermometer and period readings religiously and only ever had unprotected sex on the ‘green: not fertile’ days when it says it’s safe to have sex. The next month I was pregnant. We were devastated. To add insult to injury, Natural cycles deleted my reviews about their product, offered ZERO help or acknowledgment of my situation and rather suspiciously my iTunes review of their app (tried from 2 separate accounts) was never published, despite my trying several times. Which is odd as I hadn’t said anything untoward, I’d simply stated my experience of using it and getting pregnant.

After feeling like I’d tried every hormonal contraception and not getting on with anything, Natural Cycles was such a breath of fresh air. I was nervous at first as it feels like there is more risk of pregnancy, but after taking the time to research I felt confident in this method. You have to be strict with yourself and use protection/ abstain on red days but it’s worth it. I feel so much more like myself without using hormones and I have also learnt a lot about my body. Highly recommend if you’re willing to spend some time getting used to the app, learning to take your temp correctly and being responsible throughout your cycle.