Withdrawal or pull out method vs Hormonal coil (IUS)

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.

I had three Mirenas over the course of about 9 years. The first two were perfect, with no side effects and stopping my periods. For me the insertions and removals were fine. Maybe a 3 out of 10 pain wise and some mild cramps afterwards. Unfortunately I know that's not everyone's experience. After about 3.5 years of each Mirena, I got lots of breakthrough bleeding and my GP decided to change it early to prevent this. Unfortunately my third Mirena gave me unpredictable bleeding for months, which was affecting my life as I was always worried I'd bleed through clothes or during sex. I also kept getting recurrent thrush, which I'd not experienced before. For me another negative was that the strings always seemed to be really prominent and my boyfriend could feel them during sex. Overall a mixed experience - after years of hassle-free birth control I eventually changed to the POP due to the unpredictable bleeding I was getting with Mirena.

I found that when I got it inserted I had a light, almost discharge like period for 3 months and then once that finally went, I started having irregular periods and and someone whose always had regular periods this was infuriating. The reason I went on was for period pain and I found the pills, both mini and progesterone only, made my mood drop in terms of I was always angry and anxious and my general body image went on a downward spiral. I had no issues with the mirena up until about 3 months ago when all of this started happening again. I’m hoping this will help for others in my situation

Never having to worry about condoms is such a great plus. I had a lot of pain in the first six months and three 11+ day periods. Afterwards, my periods have stopped totally and I only get the occasional cramp, akin to an ovulation cramp. My libido has decreased slightly and my breast have gotten bigger. Overall it’s been a great help in my sex life

At first all the skin problems I got from it scarred me. But I first started Jaydesss becuse of extremely painfull periods. This absolutely helped, I mostly lost my period which I thought I will never be lucky enough to experience in my life. The skin problems got a bit less annoying and extreme after I lost my periods. But at first I had really painfull pimples all over me - my face, chest, back, especially back on y neck and under my hair - on my head (i never had that before ever). Later I only experienced a few shoulder and face pimples. Since my period is gone, my back pain and cramps are gone completely. I am so happy and I feel like I no longer have to fight a battle with my body every month. I am a happier person, I feel mentally healthier. Before that I was scarred what the month will bring with body pain and how I will hide blood stain that was everywhere, ruining my clothes, bedsheets, even towels. There was so much blood and now there is none and I feel lucky :)

Got on really well for first few years but after year 5 the side effects seem to have become more frequent/worse.

I used an Mirena coil over 12 years, having 3 inserted over that time. The first one was great, I was really pleased with it. Periods basically stopped and no real side effects. With the 2nd one there was sometimes period pain aches after sex but not always. However when it came to have it replaced nearly 6 years later it had moved and took some finding. At the time I just had the new one immediately put in but I was worried about it moving again and didn't relax so have had it taken out after only a year. As I am now 48 I do not know if things like my mood, no sex drive, random spotting, or anything else was linked to the Mirena or peri-menopause, so have not listed them as side effects for this (as more likely peri at this age)

I've always had painful periods and the month before I got my coil, my period hurt so much I actually threw up and that's when I decided I would do something about it. I've been on the pill before (rigevidon/microgynon) but it negatively affected my mood, I had terrible anxiety and generally felt horrible all the time so I stopped. When I got the coil, the sexual health clinic I went to used spray anaesthesia, but it still really hurt. The thing is, it only hurt for about a couple seconds, where it basically felt like your insides are being crushed and you're having the worst possible cramps ever (x10). Afterwards, I had normal (period-like) cramping for the rest of the day but they gave me a heat pack which really helped. I had spotting for about 3 months afterwards (yes, every single day) but it was fine and after a while I got used to just wearing a pantyliner every day. I'm really glad my periods are very light now (I've missed it once only) but it's still there. I don't know whether it will disappear or not, but one of the reasons I chose kyleena over mirena is in hopes my periods won't completely disappear, just for peace of mind that I'm not pregnant lol. I have terrible breast tenderness sometimes, like it hurts to even touch, I can't tell if it's before I get my period or during ovulation, but it definitely appears once every month or so. My breasts didn't grow though so that's a bit of a disappointment compared to the pill.... All in all, I haven't noticed any mood changes, I'm still definitely very attracted to my partner, and he doesn't feel it during sex. There were a few times early on when he thought he did, but I got it checked and it was all good, I think he just had it in his head.

First few month I havent notice any side effects at all, but after like 4 months time it does get worst day by day with all the symptoms mentioned above, especially lower back pain. I always had a pain in there before coil but it was somehow managable but now not possible even rolling on bed to another side causing me a lot of pain. Plus the endo is still growing back and having full on period, I did agree to have this coil to stopthese 2 major symptoms of my endo but the the inflamaction in my body is still high with estrogen levels sky high so there is not reason for me to keep it in,the coil definetly didnt work on my stage 4 endo and adenomyosis and will be removed today after 9 months. Hope it will help to other people everyone body works differently It does seem synthetic hormones doesnt agree with me Had the same with birth control, had to come off due heavy period while on pills and pain was still present with huge side effects. Lasted on pills 3 years.

The lack of periods has been nice. But I experiences a dramatic decrease in sex drive from the moment it was put it and it takes a lot to turn me on. 12 months in, I noticed a lot of hairs drop happening and now my hair is notably thinner with a lot of breaks - I'm considering whipping it out.

I had the Kyleena twice. It worked very well for me in regulating and making my heavy periods lighter. It probably masked my symptoms of endometriosis for years, which was diagnosed after removing the coil and going hormone free for a while. A few months after having replaced the first IUD for the second one as it had nearly been five years, my relationship broke down and I no longer needed contraception. When I went to have the coil removed, my doctor saw that it had been dislodged, had moved downwards, and would have not protected against pregnancy. I had heavy cramps at the time which I did not link to the IUD until I learned about this. Due to endometriosis and not being able to take the pill anymore, I have recently gone for the Mirena. I hope that without period cup use this will stay in place. In terms of side effects, the Kyleena gave me adult acne but this was managed with prescription cremes. I also had hair loss for about a year with the onset of this side effect around month seven after insertion. While I lost a few kilograms following the insertion I also gained them back so I cannot judge whether it affected my overall weight. Other than that this method worked very well for me. While I feel slightly ambivalent after having dislodged a coil, I really hope that the Mirena will work just as well for me as the first Kyleena did.