so i had this little stick implanted in my arm this afternoon that will release a steady stream of hormones for 3 years. pretty cool.

my arm is swollen and bruised up and it's starting to get kind of painful, but i'm excited to not have to worry about keeping up with injections or worry about getting pregnant for the next several years.


plus, i have a Hello Kitty band-aid on the implant site

i heard they have a birth control pill for men now

i was talking to my aunt about these when i went for my shot a few weeks ago. she was telling me about mirena. if i could afford it, i'd do it in a heartbeat. for right now though, so far i'm content with the shot. i was so bad at remembering to take my pill when i was on it.

i put Mirena up on the table last year. the story with that particular device is that A: it's MEGA painful to get put in, B: you have to constantly check to see that it's still there and in place, C: it's not covered by ANY insurance, and D: it's really only for women who have had a baby or two.


at that point, i said fuck it, and started on Depo shots. best decision i ever made, they were the greatest thing ever, up until this afternoon.

harlot.

oh, oooof.

i brought up point d with her (i remembered those commercials they ran for a while saying it was only for people in a long relationship who already had kids or whatever) and she asked one of the doctors and he said that it didn't really matter.

hm. oh well.

i considered it because i AM in a stable, monogamous relationship, and even though that was a whole year ago, i knew Steve and i weren't breaking up any time soon. i weighed out the various points of the device, but my doctor and i ultimately decided that it wasn't for me because i'd never had any kids.


plus, it's like 800 bucks. EFF ALL THAT.

Originally posted by:miss laura

i put Mirena up on the table last year. the story with that particular device is that A: it's MEGA painful to get put in, B: you have to constantly check to see that it's still there and in place, C: it's not covered by ANY insurance, and D: it's really only for women who have had a baby or two.


at that point, i said fuck it, and started on Depo shots. best decision i ever made, they were the greatest thing ever, up until this afternoon.

That's not true at all. I have had my Mirena for over two years. It was painful, but after a few days the pain was gone, I never check to see that it's in place and my strings are cut so short that they are up in my cervix, it was fully covered by insurance and cost only the $20 copay for 5 years of birth control, and I've never had any kids.

The added benefits of Mirena are that you don't have a period, you don't have to think about a pill or a ring or a patch, and that it lasts for 5 years.

Originally posted by:nicole

Originally posted by:miss laura

i put Mirena up on the table last year. the story with that particular device is that A: it's MEGA painful to get put in, B: you have to constantly check to see that it's still there and in place, C: it's not covered by ANY insurance, and D: it's really only for women who have had a baby or two.


at that point, i said fuck it, and started on Depo shots. best decision i ever made, they were the greatest thing ever, up until this afternoon.

That's not true at all. I have had my Mirena for over two years. It was painful, but after a few days the pain was gone, I never check to see that it's in place and my strings are cut so short that they are up in my cervix, it was fully covered by insurance and cost only the $20 copay for 5 years of birth control, and I've never had any kids.

The added benefits of Mirena are that you don't have a period, you don't have to think about a pill or a ring or a patch, and that it lasts for 5 years.

Nicole! How many children do you have now?

i didn't have a period the entire time i was on Depo, and i'm going to continue to not have one as long as this stick is in my arm. and now that it's in, i'm going to forget about it. it's the same thing, only in a different place.

i should have phrased that differently: it's really only recommended for women who've had a kid or two. it's not a prerequisite, but it was recommended.


i guess it depends on your doctor's opinion as well... my doctor pretty much talked me out of it for all the reasons i mentioned. Mirena wasn't covered by my insurance or Steve's insurance, so it wasn't worth it for me. in fact, i'm surprised your insurance covered as much of it as it did, because Mirena really isn't covered by anyone.

how big is this little stick thing..it sounds interesting..and do they like take out after 3 yrs or what?

it's maybe two inches long and the thickness of a credit card. super small and thin. and i can keep it in for UP TO 3 years.. if Steve and i decide that we want a baby before then, my doctor can take it out, but i really don't think i'll be getting it out early. and you can have a new one reinserted after 3 years, just in the other arm.

What is this called? I have an appointment to switch my birth control tomorrow, so I'd like to have a lot of options. I am currently on Yaz and love it, but for almost the last year, it has been causing me to lose my hair, break out a bit, and there has been a lot of breakthrough bleeding.

I need something new.

I have had bad luck with every kind of BC Ive ever tried and it has freaked me out to the point I won't even use the pill anymore... It turns me into a different person.. Stuff like this just freaks me out and Id never try it but if it works for you you're lucky!

it's called Implanon. it's been around for probably a decade, maybe more, but not a lot of doctors are doing it because it requires special certifications and licenses and stuff. my doctor got certified to insert them within the last 2 years, and she's been sticking people left and right since then. she loves this thing.


i took Yaz for 2 years, and it made my moods reeeeeeeeally unstable and caused me to gain an obscene amount of weight that i'm not about to disclose here. once i realized that it was the Yaz that was fucking me up, i switched to the Depo shot, which was WONDERFUL. and i've been able to lose weight pretty easily while on Depo, so that's not an issue.

this Implanon thing is similar to the Depo shot in that it releases hormones over a certain amount of time, but it's a different, less intense version of the same hormone. i have a feeling that i'm going to be VERY happy with it, it's worth checking out.

I'm reading reviews on it now. Everyone is saying severe mood swings/weight gain. Blah. I don't know what birth control to choose. I like Yaz, but it is effing me up.