Fertility awareness methods (FAM) vs Hormonal coil (IUS)

I've had an entirely positive experience using Natural Cycles. While using the impant I was struggling with acne, mood swings, irregular periods. And since swapping to use Natural Cycles I've felt much better in myself, my periods are very regular, I feel I understand my body and cycle so much more, and my skin has cleared up. In 5 years of using it it's been 100% effective at preventing pregnancy, I'm very careful to measure consistently, and I use the Oura Ring to help get accurate readings. But this small effort seems like a small price to pay in exchange for getting rid of all the nasty side effects of my previous contraception

I started using Natural Cycles a few years back. I was never on any birth control as a teenager as my mum didn't want my young body being put on hormones. However, once I settled down with my current long-term partner, I wanted to have the peace of mind that I wasn't going to fall pregnant. The first few years of using Natural Cycles were great and empowering, understanding the changes in my body and knowing when I had ovulated was great. What I had failed to understand was it predicted with its algorithm your date of next month's ovulation based on your previous month. Well. I managed to fall pregnant not once, but twice in the space of 8 months. The first time around, I thought it was my fault and I had not taken my temps properly (even though I never had an issue in the past). I had a surgical abortion as I was 3 months pregnant before I actually found out. I was willing to try again and really get to grips with it even though the clinic was very strongly advising me to go on some form of HBC. In the past 6 months, my body has recovered from the abortion and got back into its usual swing of periods and I saw I was ovulating again. This time around I invested in an Oura ring to pair with my NC app to be certain of my temps being taken. All was well, I stuck to my green and red days religiously. I use the pull-out method on red days (if we do have sex). And I trust our pull-out method completely because we definitely know he does not ejaculate inside of me or we tend to stick to oral sex rather than penetrative. I noticed my temperatures lately had been higher than usual and my ovulation was confirmed a bit earlier than usual. I didn't think much of it as I had stuck to our red days and green days as shown. When I went on calendar view, I saw that my fertile window just gone was a lot shorter than 6 days and I had unprotected sex (on a green day) that was 2 days before I ovulated. I did a test and indeed am pregnant yet again. I contacted NC straight away and got them to go through my data, which they did and have taken full responsibility for the muck up with their algorithm. I advise you to check your fertile windows and note any other observations (cervical mucus), because the algorithm cannot be trusted. And from what I now know, ovulation may change throughout different cycles (stress, sleep etc). I will no longer be using them ever again which is sad as I did so enjoy using it.

Amazing

Overall I am really happy with my Mirena coil. Only thing I really wanted to note was that my periods did initially stop completely but they have started coming back after about 2.5/3 years of having it. Although they are much lighter than before I have the coil it was something I wasnt expecting. I think its because the hormones from the coil are slightly weaker than when it first went in, so right now its enough against pregnancy but not enough against my periods (is my thinking). anyways other than that i love it. I dont think it affects my moods as much as the pill etc because the hormones are really localised to the uterus area rather than being all of my bloodstream, as such, i believe its a lot less hormones too than for the pill .

In the beginning for the first few months I had breakthrough bleeding. Then it’s settled and my periods became regular. I kept Kyleena in for the full 5 years and found this method of contraception easy as didn’t involve remembering to take anything. My periods were between 5-6 days long - I still had cramps which I managed with heat and painkillers. This method gives you the peace of mind that you are protected against falling pregnant. I would recommend.

Worsened eczema, dry skin, overly sensitive skin

minimal side affects comparted to my experience on the combined pill

I had such high hopes for the Mirena to help with my heavy periods but sadly I'm nearing the six month mark and there has been no improvement in the long term, if anything my periods are worse and I can't find any reason online as to why. I couldn't put up with the monthly flooding any longer and the NHS waiting list was at least 12 months, so I paid privately for the Mirena to be fitted. The insertion was uncomfortable but bearable (I haven't had children) and I didn't experience any discomfort immediately afterwards. The cramps during menstruation in the first two months following the fitting were intense, but the period was lighter so it still seemed like a win overall and I remained hopeful the cramps would ease as my body got used to the coil. That has happened and the cramps have eased to next to nothing now, but strangely my periods after the three month mark have been horrendous. I've been losing clots bigger than I have experienced before and I am back in incontinence pads to manage the amount of blood I lose. I can't continue to afford to access private care and I remain on the NHS waiting list, where I guess I will discuss ablation when I finally reach the top of the list. I so wish this had worked for me because it seemed an easy option and importantly it didn't end my fertility, but sadly it wasn't to be. I don't know why I'm surprised it didn't work for me, this is just my luck!! I wish it hadn't cost me hundreds of pounds to find this out, but for those it works for it seems life changing so it very much felt like an avenue worth exploring.

Insertion was fine, just like a deep period cramp but only lasted 3 seconds. I was a little cranky for the rest of the day but no more than a regular period. I did bleed and spot for 4-6 weeks after insertion and then gradually over the last 12 months my periods have become lighter and lighter and have now stopped with only the odd day of spotting . What I will say is it doesn't totally prevent pms symptoms but has massively improved mines. I had to suffer from terrible tender breasts for 14 days leading up to my period and bad bloating ! That's gone now but I do still get a little emotional round about the time I would get my period. My only negative I can say is I have gained approx 1.5 stone but I can't say for certain it's this coil. I am hoping to diet and exs in the new year and lose it. Over all this is a brilliant form of contraception for me after trying so many pills , the implant , the patch you name it. This has been by far the best one with little to no side affects. I strongly recommend it.

Prepare for an immediate & severe drop in mood after insertion, coupled with intense pain for the first few weeks. My mood has stabilised a bit after 5 months, but overall I am much lower in mood and lack energy and motivation. The headaches are persistent and I have gained 1 stone. I bled for 3 months straight and now I bleed for approx half of the month, with painful periods and severe bloating.

I’ve had this coil in for around 5 weeks now which isn’t a long time but it’s the best i’ve used so far. I have had positive experiences with copper IUDs in the past but they have all rejected due to strong period cramps, so I decided to give the Jaydess a try as it is the lowest dose of hormones available. I initially had it inserted a week after my period and the following week I started my period that lasted 17 days, very heavily. I didn't have any mood swings or weight gain in that time, but the cramps were SO bad for the entire time. On the weight gain, my experience might be skewed as I go to the gym and do very rigorous cardio 6 days per week. I have ultra dry skin also, so I cannot comment on acne as I luckily don’t suffer from it, apart from one super huge spot that came up on week 4. So far so good girls, stay safe and good luck!

I have found the coil a very useful and relatively stress free form of contraception. I find the lighter periods much easier to deal with, my PMDD has been a lot more manageable with the coil and I appreciate not having to remember to deal with contraception regularly. My only issues have been some uncomfortable cramping occasionally and I did have an ovarian cyst which the doctor thought could be related to the hormonal contraception. The cyst did require an overnight hospital stay for pain relief but didn’t require surgery to fix, it went away on its own. Overall, taking everything into account I would still recommend the hormonal coil for ease etc - I think it is worth it!

Mostly happy but dryness is a big issue, making sex uncomfortable and sometimes not possible. No other issues so will persist but was not an expected side effect!