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Abstinence?
Sorry, kidding – couldn’t resist.
The best thing is probably to have her chart her cycle, and adjust your “activities” accordingly. Isn’t foolproof, though, and may be frustrating for her as many women feel more like having sex when they’re ovulating (Mother Nature ain’t an idiot … )
Here’s some brief info on it: http://www.contraception.net/resource_centre/rh…
I chart myself and I highly recommend doing it! I was on the pill for almost 7 years, and after charting for just a few months, I can tell you there’s no way I’d ever go back. Being on the pill cannot be healthy in the long term, plus, not many women realize it, but the pill really, really lowers your libido! When you chart you learn so much about your body, and it isn’t difficult, either.
rishiraw, buy your girlfriend the book, “Taking Charge of Your Fertility”, it’s worth it’s weight in gold. You could read it, too, it might be good for you to know how these things work. ;)
Here’s the website:
http://www.tcoyf.com/
The Plants for a Future database has a list of plants that may have contraceptive properties. Click on the seach by “use” option, and then click on “contraceptives.” 67 plants are listed. It’s a great web site if you’re interested in how local cultures have used native plants.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html
I’m not sure it’s wise to experiment by eating a lot of different plants, because there could be a risk of liver and kidney damage. There are so many different condoms on the market, perhaps you could just keep experimenting until you find one that’s comfortable. It may also help if you put a drop of water based lube inside of the condom itself.
(The active ingredient in the pill was isolated from some sort of South American sweet potato?)
you could try a copper IUD
Oh, no, don’t do that! IUDs are terrible! Seriously? Putting an object inside your uterus is the worst idea I can imagine.
Just google “IUD side effects” and read some of the stuff that pops up.
Here’s a good example:
“I just got my IUD inserted about a month ago and already I am having some major side effects. I had my period about 2 weeks ago for 10 day and had a break in between for about a week. Well my period just started again this week. I though it was spotting until I noticed that it started to get heavy. I have also had major cramping and I know that it’s because of my IUD. I was excerising when my stomach started to cramp up really bad, at that time I didn’t think it had anything to do with the IUD but after think more about it I realized that it was.
At the end of october I started to have these major chest pains and was taken to the ER. They could not find the cause of the pain. My EKg came back a little abnormal. I was wandering if anyone had experienced this side effect due to the IUD. I asked my gyno and he said that it couldn’t be the IUD. I went to get it looked at today and he informed me that I have an infection. He put me on some medications and told me to give it a week or so to clear up the infection. I want to get it removed after the i finish the medication. I figure since I haven’t had it for that long th epost side effects shouldn’t be that bad. I blame myself for not doing the research about Mirena IUD before getting it.
These doctors will tell you whatever they wan tto make some money.”
Here’s another:
“I was only 17 when I had the IUD put in. And lets just say my experience with it hasn’t been the greatest one. After I got it put in. I became very ill. Sick to the point that I couldn’t get out of bed. I was in alot of pain and was in tears. Well I thought it was just my body getting used to it. The pain would come and go so I just dealt with it. I also have a very high tolerance of pain. Well the longer it’s been in the more side affects have shown themselves. My migraines have increased and intensified. My arms and legs go numb, my cramps are killing me and I become so depressed I contemplate suicide. I’ve become cold against my boyfriend to the point where I don’t feel like I love him. I didn’t know if it was that I didn’t love him anymore or the IUD. Basically every side affect I read about I had. But I didn’t know if the depression would focus on the person I care about most and make me cold. I needed answers and I hope takin this out will give them to me. I’m 18 now. This shouldn’t of even been an option to me.”
Both from:
http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=713
If that doesn’t convince you, check out page 9 of this report from an IUD manufacturer, many of the adverse side effects get worse with time!
Go here:
http://www.mirena.ca/en/pdfs/MirenaEn.pdf
I have had a Mirena IUD in place for over a year. I love it!!! Granted, it was slightly uncomfortable for a little bit after it was first placed, but all discomfort has long since gone. This type of contraceptive is normally only reserved for women who have already had children, as the uterus has been stertched previously, and the body hardly reacts. I experienced pretty bad cramps the first day. They were like menstral cramps for about a week later then nothing. I spotted off and on for about 5 weeks, now things are great! I am shocked that a doctor would have inserted this device in a 17 year old!!! That’s insane! I suggest your friend talk to her gyno. This type of contrceptive is really more for women who have children and don’t want more, but have no interest in pursuing surgical means of birth control. Also, there are condoms. They’re really not so bad if you use a good lube like astroglide or something else that doesn’t get tacky. My personal fave is called liquid silk. It is designed for internal use. Did you know that most brands of lube are designed mainly for male masterbation, and could give a woman all kinds of infections? Be informed.
rawrider,
That’s good that you have been happy with your IUD, but personally I find them barbaric. Just something about it seems wrong. Plus the potential side effects are among the worst things imaginable. I don’t know why anyone would knowingly put themselves at risk, especially anyone who still wants children. I’ll stick to charting, myself (safe, fast, convenient, free of cost, and effective).
I also found this, the history with the camels is interesting, to say the least:
The IUD (Intrauterine Device)
by Kim Allen
The IUD is, in my opinion, a rather strange form of protection. It is not entirely clear just how it works! All we know is that having a foreign object in the uterus prevents the egg from being fertilized, thus preventing pregnancy. And there is no protection against STD’s.
At first, we thought the IUD worked by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg, but that turned out not to be true. It makes sense to think that the IUD would work that way, but research has shown that the egg is in fact never fertilized if a woman is wearing an IUD. Some women have shied away from this form of protection because preventing implantation of a viable fertilized egg could be seen as a form of abortion. But that concern is not valid since the egg is not fertilized (every month you destroy an unfertilized egg through menstruation, after all!)
So what do we think is going on? The best theory right now is that the IUD works by inducing a low-grade infection or at least some irritation in the uterus, the by-products of which are toxic to sperm. Research shows that women wearing IUD’s are producing cells and proteins and other substances in their uteruses which attack the cell walls of sperm, thus preventing fertilization. The inflammation supposedly persists only as long as you have the IUD in place, although some women seem not to recover from it.
Quite a bit of research has been done on IUD’s, which your doctor may not bother to tell you (some people don’t want to know technical details). If you want to learn more, you can search the journals at the American Medical Association.
(Note: the IUD is not new technology. When camel drivers in the Sahara left on many-month trips, they used to put pebbles in the uteruses of their female camels to prevent them from getting pregnant during the voyage. Now this technology is available to you.)
Only 2 IUD’s are on the (United States) market today—the ParaGard TCu-380A and the Progestasert Progesterone T device. Several others (including the Dalkon Shield, the Copper-7, and the Lippes Loop) have been removed due to the health complications they caused. The IUD is inserted into your uterus by a doctor, where it remains for as long as it is effective. Then you need to replace it. The ParaGard is good for up to 10 years because the copper in it is sperimicidal and very resistant to wear and tear. The Progestasert is only good for about a year since the progesterone loses effectiveness by then. Periodically, you have to check that the strings hanging off the IUD through your cervix are still there (a couple times a week at the beginning, then once a month). Sometimes the IUD will become misoriented or can even be expelled by your body, so you must see a doctor if you can’t locate the strings for several days in a row.
The chances of getting PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) are higher if you have an IUD (because there is a place for the infection to “set up shop”), so if you are prone to this disease, you will want to think twice before using an IUD for protection.
Also, if you happen to get pregnant despite having the IUD in place, it is more likely to be an ectopic pregnancy (that is, a pregnancy in which the fertilized egg implants somewhere other than the uterus, such as in the Fallopian tube. This is a serious condition). But simply using the IUD at some point in your life will not affect your chances of having an ectopic pregnancy at another time.
It costs quite a bit—several hundred dollars. But spread over a time scale of years, this really isn’t so bad. If you experience no complications with your IUD, you will find it an easy and satisfying form of protection.
However, IUD experiences tend toward the extremes. You either love it or you hate it. Most of the complications with the IUD are fairly serious, at least compared to those with other forms of protection.
Here are a wide variety of anecdotes about IUD’s: You can see the extreme variation in opinions.
“I have had an IUD (the Paraguard Copper T) for three years. I chose the IUD because I was unwilling to continue fiddling with birth control methods at the time of intercourse (diaphragm, condom, foam, etc), and because I didn’t like the effects of the pill. Before deciding to go with the IUD, I did a Medline search. Although the IUD is not very popular in the United States, it’s used a great deal in other countries.
Getting it was a two step process – first I had to come in for ‘counselling’ – in other words, meet with a doctor, tell her my whole life’s story, satisfy her that I was an intelligent human being making an intelligent, informed decision. Then I had to take the risks pamphlet home, study it, and return it, signed, to the doctor.
Anyway, for the second visit, the actual insertion, I was given a prescription for some sort of mild painkiller and told to take it an hour before coming in. I took it, picked up the IUD in the pharmacy (it comes in a little thin plastic tube, kind of like saffron threads in the grocery store), and went up to see the doctor. The insertion itself was no big deal – the doctor inserted a speculum, used the little gripper thing (tenaculum) to spread the cervix, and slid the IUD in. It was uncomfortable and caused some cramps, about like a bad period, but relaxing and talking to the nurse who was there helped. Once the IUD was in, with the speculum still in place, the doctor clipped the string (really a piece of plastic) of the IUD. That was it, and I drove home. I felt pretty crampy the first day, and took aspirin every four hours.
For the first month or so, I noticed a little more cramping than usual, but the most discomfort was psychological – I found it kind of creepy that I had some piece of plastic inside me. Soon I forgot about it, though, and now I’m very happy with it. My periods are slightly crampier than they used to be, but I don’t find that a problem. Making love is a much more spontaneous and frequent occurrence now that I don’t have to get out of bed and fiddle with cold stuff. I check the string pretty much once a month, in the shower, after I have my period. Once I was scared that I couldn’t feel the string, so I went in to see the doctor again, who checked it and assured me that it was still there. Now I’m more familiar with how the string feels against my cervix.”
“I developed recurrent pelvic inflammatory disease (tubal infections) while using an IUD. This is a fairly common complication because the IUD tail provides a pathway for bacteria from the vagina to the uterus. The IUD also irritates the uterus, leading to crampy, long periods. I had a Lippes Loop. I attribute my five miscarriages to scar tissue from the tubal infections.” (Note: the Lippes Loop is now illegal in the US).
“I find it comfortable, safe from pregnancy, and safe healthwise, as I am a monogamous person.”
“I’m hopeful that this time there won’t be as many side effects in terms of heavy bleeding and cramping. I’m too old for the pill and I don’t like other forms of contraception. So I’m crossing my fingers.”
“With the second one, I became pregnant caused (using hindsight here) by doing heavy aerobic exercise, namely jumping alot of rope. I suspect that all the jumping up and down forced the end of the IUD to penetrate the uterine wall and it became ineffective.”
“The string broke, the IUD was lodged in the uterus and a D&C was required to remove it. I hadn’t intended to have the baby, and with the complication of an IUD, it really left me with no choice (aside from the emotional stress I was going through with my husband over this).
I had the TAB (Therapeutic Abortion) and later discovered that they hadn’t actually removed the fetus and had to go in again for an in-hospital procedure and laproscopy. It was during this second procedure that they found that the IUD has perforated the uterus leaving a dime-sized hole. The hole did heal up fine and there were no lingering after affects of the surgery.
However, I swore that I’d never put myself in that position again, and rely on birth control that I could remove whenever I wanted. The risk of pregnancy was better than risking permanent damage to my uterus and the possibility of never having kids at all.”
“Personally, I think IUDs are great. I had the first one put in after my son was born and it was in until we decided to try again. I’ve just recently had a second IUD put in.”
“I did enjoy the freedom it gave me. I never had to worry about birth control and could always be spontaneous. My advice would be to get detailed literature on the pros and cons of the IUD, compare it with the others, and then make your decision. I was originally on the Pill for a year, but then developed side effects and had to go off.”
I sadly had to have a termination in January of this year. After this experience, doctors were keen to fix me up with some foolproof contraception. Against my better judgment I opted for an IUD. I had the insertion at the end of February, and have, sadly, had much trouble with it.
I have never been a woman who had problem periods; usually they lasted three or four days and were light and pretty painless. Since the IUD I have had one period, and am currently on my second. I suffer from unbearable upper leg cramps and sickness and nausea. The period pain I suffer now is nothing at all like before the IUD. The pain I have now is the EXACT same pain I had when the nurse inserted the IUD. She did this under no anasthetic, and even though I tried to relax, the pain was the worst feeling I have ever experienced—far worse than the termination. I am determined to try to get on with this method of contraception, but unfortunately am finding it difficult to become accustomed to disabling symptoms for two weeks each month. There is also extremely heavy bleeding and a general agony in the abdominal area. I have talked to my GP about this, and I do appreciate that it takes a while for the body to become accustomed to an IUD. However I would also like to point out that I have never had children, and many people have found it unusual that I have an IUD at this young age. I am currently taking vitamin and iron supplements to try to combat the symptoms of PMS, as I cannot bear to go through this every month.