Withdrawal or pull out method vs Combined pill

I came off the combined pill around 4 years ago after trying many different pills and never quite feeling myself/having terrible clots in my periods on breaks. I'd been told by drs it was the only way to have safe sex from pregnancy and felt i had no choice. The good old fashioned pull out method has been my best friend ever since! Once i spoke to a very wise nurse who told me that i could try the natural cycle way or rely on pull out cleverly. Now i want to say that this isn't for everyone. I have been in a healthy long term relationship with someone i trust and with whom we communicate during all aspects of sex. Because of this we have been able to have all kinds of sex (including penetrative) without any pregnancy scares. My partner is a cis man and i a cis women, and the secret is FULL COMMUNICATION. If he is close to cuming he stops (NEVER ACTUALLY RELY ON PULLING OUT AS YOU CUM NO NO). It's about calming things down on his end when he thinks he'll climax. that means pulling out and moving to oral etc for a while before going again. Normlly this means i get a whole lotta love while he calms down so BONUS!! POSITIVES - I often cum first as it means i always get to cum as he can keep going and we are not relying on one way to have sex. I feel myself! We are more experimental and go on for longer. Its about trust so things feel more intimate, it has led to better communication and much better forplay. This means i cum more often. Knowing my own cycle and getting to know how my body and hormones work. Having sex slowly and sensually, with my pleasure and his both being taken into account due to the fact you can't just have full penetrative sex without thinking. NEGATIVES- he obvs can't cum in me. he doesnt personally feel sad about that. When finally he can't be in me anymore he has to cum using other ways to finish. It means it can be a bit stop and start (personally i think this is fun). You do have to be more careful. THIS IS DEFINITELY FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR SEXUAL PARTNER WELL. ITS ABOUT TRUST. You can't just bang it out like in the movies haha! I do pregnancy tetss every 3 months just in case pre cum has snuck in (it's very unlikely this gets you pregnant especially if your partner is aware of this. but worth thinking about) Overall, Chefs Kiss - but i do sometimes miss he cumming inside me ! BUT WON'T GO BACK

Only used it on occasion and normally alongside another form of contraception. I don't really recommend it as it feel risky

The withdrawal method is really not for everyone. But me and my partner prefer to not use male condoms and I use my Flo app to track my ovulation and period which helps me gauge when is the best time to use this method. As I’m not trying to fall pregnant again right now, and I don’t really want to use any hormonal contraceptives, this method has definitely worked for me but can only work if your willing to take control with family planning.

Started on Gedarel due to having suffered with Pmdd for a long time , was fine at first mood was abit better , but then I noticed I felt numb and couldn’t feel any emotion , was irritable and angry all the time , also gained a lot of weight despite being very active , cramps got very bad during the withdrawal bleed and I feel like this has completely changed me as a person - would not recommend

I have switched to drovelis due to extremely low mood caused by previous combined pill (ethinylestradiol and gestodene pill). I was extremely depressed after 4/5 months of the previous pill and It felt like my mood was artifically altered so I quickly realised It's the pill which prompted me to changing the pill. Drovelis has been wonderful despite some intial issues with at times intense breakthrough bleeding around the 3 and 6 months marks. These days I do not experience any breakthrough bleeding or any issues. I very strictly adhere to the pill regimen and it works wonderfully for me. I forgot about my intense period cramps I have been dealing with ever since i was 16.

This pill made me feel terrible. Severe weakness, lightheaded, buzzy inside, made me feel like I was having low blood sugar episodes on occasions where I thought I was going to faint pass out. Gave it a good three months and had to come off it. Felt so much better. It did start to clear up cystic acne though but I just wasn’t functioning well on it!

Started taking this and within the first couple of days I started to get really dry which is something I’ve never experienced before especially just under my vagina it would get so dry my skin will have slight tears that will bleed and sting and I’m more itchy down there regularly and have had thrush symptoms twice after going 10 years without.

This pill was the first of three that I have used, and is without a doubt the worst. It made me cry about everything. The cleaners had moved my soap dish from one side of the sink to the other and I cried about it. My mood became so low that I distanced myself from my friends and started attending therapy. When I stopped taking the pill, my mood improved dramatically and I experienced far less anxiety. Was not a great time in my life. Thanks a lot Yasmin.

Overall this is a great pill that works like a dream for me. It has lessened my endo symptoms by making my periods lighter from what they were to something more manageable, and it's helped return my cycle to being more regular - it's almost perfect to the day depending on stresses during that particular month. I still bleed quite a lot, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It also mitigates the pains and cramps quite well - in the last 6 months I've only had to call in sick to work once due to my period pains being so bad. Whilst it doesn't always remove the pain completely, it eases it and I find that painkillers work more effectively when I'm taking marvelon.

I didn't even get a chance to take it for more than a week until I had to be taken off it, that's how bad I reacted to it. I was put on millinette at 22 to control worsening endo symptoms, and unfortunately they stopped working after a year, so at 23 my doctor switched me to rigevidon. I kid you not I took it for less than a week and I became suicidal and actively started self-harming after being completely clean with no urges for 8 years. I do have existing mental health issues and take SSRIs to help with those, but starting rigevidon destroyed me in less than a week. My everyday life was relatively peaceful, and the only thing that changed was the fact that I started taking rigevidon. I'd be cautious if you have existing mental health issues or are prone to violent mood swings, because this pill destroyed me. Contraception, to my knowledge, doesn't interact with SSRIs, but I've since moved on to taking marvelon and I've had no negative side effects relating to my moomoodd whatsoever. It's all about finding the right chemical balance for each individual brain and their chemistry.

I switched to Gedarell after being on Microgynon 30ED for 5 years. I gained about 5kg in 2 years and my body felt puffy/inflammed even though I was eating well and regularly going to the gym. This caused me to come off the pill and I lost about 8kg in 2 months. I also experienced low libido and fatigue. After coming off the pill, I realised that it was making me feel quite numb. I wasn’t feeling any kind of emotion strongly which was a big adjustment for me after coming off it. Once I came off the pill I experienced significant hair loss for about 3 months but luckily my hair is quite thick so it wasn’t noticeable. Overall, I think this pill worked better for me as I didn’t have chronic thrush or bleeding during sex like I did on Microgynon but the weight gain was the main reason I decided to stop using it.

Was on this pill for around 7 years from the age of 15. Worked fairly well. The main side effects I experienced were bleeding during sex, chronic thrush, fatigue and low libido. After around 5 years I started peeing a lot during the night which led me to believe that it caused some insulin resistance. The pharmacies where I lived stopped supplying it so I ended up switching to another pill.

I’ve been taking Yasmin for just over 2 months now (skipping periods). About a month and a half in I noticed I’ve been extremely irritated, not particularly angry but it’s made me have a really short fuse. Unfortunately for me, it has made my boobs grow pretty significantly and made them super tender and sore after wearing sports bras etc. I’ve noticed a slight weight gain which also sucks as have been losing weight pretty steadily a few months before starting and I feel like I’ve lost that progress. I haven’t really noticed a change in my skin, i think it’s a little bit worse but maybe it’s purging? I’ve skipped both periods since starting, and noticed I was having some cramps after 1 month. I’ve had extreme cramping the last 48 hours and thought I was dying, and ended up passing a decidual cast (which I’ve never experienced before) and have had pretty heavy breakthrough bleeding the past 48 hours. A month ago I probably would’ve stayed on the pill but after everything I think I’ll be swapping to something else..