Vasectomy vs Patch

vasectomy is a good form of contraception. There is a lot of good information here: https://vasectomy.co.uk/vasectomy

As a woman the vasectomy is the best contraception I feel we have ever had. I have no pain, weight gain, mood swings, plastic packaging or costs. I highly recommend.

Sept 1998. Had a vasectomy. Easy and quick. Done in the hospital operating room on a Friday morning. Went home And took it easy. Took it easy at work Monday no problems. By Wednesday started feeling pain in testicles. Called doctors office. Doctors gone on holiday. Anyway from this point the pain only gets worse and all the doctors have to say is that they have never seen anyone in such pain. Within the first six months I had met with a variety of doctors and tried a wide variety of drugs, therapies and nerve blocks. Nothing worked for more than a few hours (nerve blocks did!). I had the vasectomy reversed June 1999 at my own cost of $2000. It was about three months before i felt better from that. Sadly only my left testicle had resolved. The right side still had the same pain. I had a semen test done. First ever in my life. I had sperm count of 125 million / ml. Surgeon thought that was great but still pain persisted in my right testicle. Followup turned into another vas reversal but just for the right side. This one I didn’t have to pay for because it was for chronic pain. Sadly it didn’t help. Now it’s 2020! I have endured this for 22 years. I wish I had never done it. That’s my absolute last word.

Started taking the Evra patch to help regulating my hormones and to help with bad health anxiety. The 3rd day I had it on resulted in me taking the patch off straight away due to immense nausea, panic, shaking and complete loss of appetite. 3 months later my hormones have been worse than ever with random crying and anxiety increasing throughout my cycle.

Overall good birth control. I do get random cramps throughout the day ever since I started it and my skin is irritated and itchy where I place my patch.

Overall good, so far effective. But my periods are a lot heavier and a lot more painful. Tender breasts for at least half of the month and random cramps throughout the month even when I’m not on my period.

I got pregnant twice in 3 months…

The Evra patch has been a good choice for me so far, and it’s my first time on birth control! I would say the only downfall is around the edge of the patch gets dirty from adhesive, and that it’s nerve racking to swim a lot in fear it will come off! I went on vacation and was nervous but I used a tagaderm to keep it on when swimming!

The patch made me feel extremely unwell. I had nausea, heavy headed feeling, headaches, tiredness, sweating and soreness where the patch was placed. I ended up removing it before 24 hours was up because I couldn't sleep and felt so out of sorts.

Went on the patch having been on the implant previously. On the implant I had lots of spotting which thankfully went away on the patch. However I have definitely noticed a distinct rise in anxiety since being on the patch over the last year - enough to stop me wanting to go to things like the theatre or going on tours without getting sweaty. I also think it's killed my sex drive so I'm going to go off it and seek alternative contraception. Its a shame because I do find it convenient and have felt very protected on it. My period increased its flow a lot during the period week and I also got bad headaches around that week which I wasn't used to. Sad to have to change but dont like the quality of life.

I love using the patch. It has made using contraceptive so much easier and I went through a phase of recommending it too everyone I know. I've had a few symptoms recently, but not sure if that is related to the Patch or a different medical issue. In the last year, I've had more hormonal acne than I did before, but that's the main side effect that I would say I've been affected by. We are coming off contraceptive soon, so hoping it is a smooth process

I found this much more convenient than a pill as it only has to be thought about each week. The patch cover seemed to often slip leaving the adhesive to get dirty through the week however, and I was told to stop using them after a short time as they brought back migranes that I had not experienced in years.

I really liked the patch with my moods, periods, only having to remember once a week to change it, etc, but it gave me a rash. I went to my doctor and was hoping they’d be able to say the rash isn’t a big deal or offer me a patch for more sensitive skin but there isn’t any other patch so sadly I had to come off it and go on the pill