Withdrawal or pull out method vs Implant

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.

Bled constantly for months, then no period for ages, then bleeding again for weeks on end. Really heavy which is abnormal for me. No sex drive, I was really depressed for the nearly 3 years I was on this and I thought that was just me, funnily enough when i came off it I felt so much better and couldn’t believe most my problems were probably being caused by this implant

Extreme weight gain, despite always being a consistent weight and no changes in lifestyle/eating habits. Also I have become increasingly more self conscious and body conscious, so an affect on mental health

Great if you want to have sex and not worry about pregnancy’s however the change in my physical appearance and mood swings have been crazy and I will be getting it removed asap as I can’t go on like this

Some infrequent cramping and bleeding but in general a good experience. Despite a lot of fear and generally being very bad with needles, a very good fitting experience (thank you to the nurse for introducing me to glucose shots that reduced the delayed faint for me!), and very convenient to not have to think about it for a few years. Feeling for it has not been as bad as it sounded, and while you cannot avoid side effects as easily - unlike a pill or patch you can't just stop taking it or take a break - they have not been worse than a usual cycle, and happen less frequently so overall, happy!

Great, less to worry about. But the cramps are brutal as well as the mood swings.

Random bleeding throughout which was frustrating. Partner felt like I seemed happier in general once I came off. Suffered anxiety attacks after coming off the implant (may or may not be related currently unsure)

Great for if you are looking for contraception that you can forget about and prevent periods however it caused lasting weight gain and awful mood such as unreasonable anger which was almost misdiagnosed as a personality disorder until I came off the contraception.

I had 3 implants back to back and really rated them. I felt they personally kept me in a very even emotional space as I didn’t have hormonal cycle mood fluctuations and didn’t experience any persistent low mood on it. My period stopped when I had the implant (which I loved) and had no side effects, which was great as after coming off the implant to conceive found when on no hormones I got terrible headaches and acne around my period which I had forgotten about! On reflection I probably did have slightly worse skin on the implant but not significantly. Around the 2 year mark each time it ‘ran out’ and suddenly there didn’t seem to be enough hormone to stop my periods and had persistent breakthrough bleeding which prompted me to get them changed early each time which resolved the issue. I have since been told you can take ibruprofen for a few days to counter this but have no experience of this. The reason it gets 4 stars not 5 is I really struggled to get it taken out as many health care practitioners are trained in insertion and many less is removal. When I wanted to start a family I was told there would be a 3 month wait for removal which was absolutely unacceptable to me and I ended up getting a family member who is a Dr to cut it out at home as I was so desperate. This lack of bodily autonomy I found very distressing and has put me off getting one again incase there’s a delay removing it, however it was late 2021 so may have been in part due to Covid so have to take that into account

I’ve had the implant for 2 years and it’s great that I haven’t had a pregnancy scare. However, my periods are so irregular it’s a joke. I keep track of my periods on an app called Flo and my cycle seems really abnormal. One month I’d be spotting for a week then my period would be over, the next month I’d either miss the whole month or I’d be bleeding on and off for 12 days or more, stop and be on again a week or 2 later, it’s never the same week every month. I can’t keep up with how irregular it is so I’m thinking to change contraception.

I found the procedure fine. Changed from the pill so I didn’t have to take medication daily which was convenient. I did get acne on this contraception which did get severe so had to change.