My first insertion was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life- and I’ve had my appendix rupture inside of me, pierced my own nips, and have taken every sort of tumble imaginable. I can handle pain.

My iud insertion was so bad that I kept fainting for an hour after, every time I tried to sit up. This time I’ve shopped doctors and no one will put me under or locally anesthetize me. All I’ve gotten are offers of laughing gas or lorazepam- neither of which will reduce the amount of pain the tenaculum causes when it clamps down on my cervix.

My uterus is retroverted, sex sucks, I have endometriosis, but no one wants to just give the 24 year old with plans to adopt a hysterectomy.

I can’t stop crying, I’m so upset and idek how I’ll let them do the procedure today. Any and all help would be appreciated. I am generally a strong person but today I am so so afraid and I don’t think the lorazepam will fix it.

If anyone has wisdom for what helped you through it, I would love some insight. I feel like a cattle raised for slaughter getting branded “like oh that doesn’t hurt” YES TF IT DOES?! OUCH!!

it’s 2026 why isn’t this all more humane yet guys? Why is a pain management plan so difficult? Why am I being penalized for the opposite of drug seeking behavior? I just want to be put under or numbed for it or anything And you would think I’m asking for obscene and drastic things?!

EDIT!

Yeah I went in, it sucked. They didn’t tell me until I had finally gotten myself calm that they would refer me to an OR where I could be out under for it. At this point I was so sick of being anxious that I requested we just try it.

No local numbing, had two nurses half restraining me half trying to talk me through it- thankfully the pap, removal and reinsertion were done quickly and without telling me. I would say “that hurts terribly” and they would be telling me about which step they had completed.

I was in the hands of a team doing their best, and it was far better than last time but I still am so let down by how physically and psychologically traumatizing of a procedure it is. After this I will be hunting for a doctor who will perform a hysterectomy as I am not going to do this again. I cant. I did and I’m strong but I lack the mental fortitude to continue to put myself through this procedure.

Thank you all for your wisdom and support.

I’ve had my Mirena IUD for a year now & it’s been great until like 2 weeks ago. My partner checks my strings for me monthly but recently, he couldn’t feel them anymore. I went to my doctor’s office for an IUD check & was told that everything was still in place after the exam. The doctor thanked me for coming because a lot of women come when it’s too late. Recently, i’ve been experiencing some cramping after sex & sometimes just randomly throughout the day which is new to me (strings still not able to be felt). The cramps aren’t severe but they are uncomfortably persistent. I’ve decided to make an appt with my GYN again bc i’m
super anxious. i literally can’t sleep. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I’m a transgender man on hormones (been on them for a year now) I had a manic episode of sorts last week and thought it would be fun to have unprotected sex with 4 different transgender women in the course of 4 days. I’m trying to determine if it would be worth it or necessary to take another plan B pill.

I took the first one Friday because the first person I had sex with Thursday night had finished inside and has only been on hormones for 3 months so they’re likely still fertile.

I had sex with the second person on Friday and Saturday but they didn’t finish so I’m not too worried about them.

The third person I had sex with on Sunday and they finished inside. This one though has been on hormones for 5+ years so I’m hoping they’d be infertile by this point but I’m not sure. This is the incident I’m most worried about. This happened less than 24 hours ago so I would still be within the time frame to effectively take another plan B for this incident, but I don’t know if the plan B I took on Friday would help my case here at all.

The fourth person I had sex with on the same Sunday I know for sure is medically infertile so I’m not too worried about them.

I’m trying to figure out if I should take another plan B today (Monday) I’ve seen posts about people getting crazy side effects from taking two in the same week. I’m worried my side effects might be even worse because I’m also on testosterone. I don’t want to put myself through hell if the chances of me actually getting pregnant in this situation are slim.

A thought I had is it would be nice if I could just get on some form of birth control asap and then maybe I would be safe but don’t you have to schedule appointments far in advance?

Also I know this is sort of insane behavior from me but I don’t want a lecture, I do want to get on actual birth control soon to protect myself from my manic episodes but I’m just unsure how soon I’d be able to get it. I want some advice on what I should be doing right now and how worried I should be about my chances of getting pregnant.

I feel like not much people have been in this situation before and I need help

Update: I got too paranoid about getting IUD after reading people on Reddit having bad experiences getting it inserted so I decided to just take the additional plan B today

Hi! I got Slynd today and wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with it and how it made you feel.
I’ve never taken hormonal birth control before. I’m taking it for severe PMDD, not for contraception. I’m also on Wegovy (GLP-1).

About two weeks before my period and during my period, I experience really intense emotional crashes. It feels like my brain is desperately craving dopamine, and I get really strong urges and cravings that are hard to control.
I’d really prefer not to take antidepressants, so I’m hoping Slynd might help with these symptoms.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Did Slynd help with your mood, emotional crashes, or cravings? I’d love to hear your honest experiences, both positive and negative.
Thank you so much! ❤️

I’m 2 years postpartum and can’t have sex as I’m wayyy too nervous. I got pregnant while using condoms and my brain can’t rest after any intimacy. It’s been a very long time since being intimate.

I’ve looked into what I’d like to try which would be the implant that goes into your arm. My GP is a bit annoying, if you call up they’ll say there’s no appointments available. They have an app that you book an appointment through and explain the details of it. Do you need a consultation first?

I’ll still do it but just seems a bit of a hassle to book it through the app, wait for an appointment, have a consultation then have to book through the app and wait again for the appointment. Can it be done on the same appointment or no?

TIA.

Hi! Just a quick question: we can agree that no form of contraception, including hormonal methods such as the pill, the implant, or the hormonal IUD, can affect a pregnancy test and cause a false negative, right? A blood pregnancy test is still completely reliable even when you're using contraception, right?

I (21f) missed two pills consecutively on wednesdays nd thursday of last week. I started back as normal on friday saturday and sunday. I had unprotected sex today but he pulled out. Should I get a plan B???

Hi all,

I'm just looking for a little advice / reassurance.

I suddenly stated getting terrible migraines about 6 years ago, my doctors put me on propranolol which helped but the migraines remained unmanageable when I was on my period so they put me on desogestrol. This has been great for me, no bleeding at all and no major side effects - it mad the migraines much less frequent and much more manageable when they happened.

About 18 months ago i noticed that I wasn't getting migraines anymore. Some bad headaches but not enough to justify taking as much medication as I was at this point (160mg propranolol and the mini pill daily). So I came off the propranolol in last September, had a shaky few weeks to begin with but since then have been fine.

I had to stay on the pill longer than i wanted to because my doctors were investigating a thyroid problem and wanted me to keep everything else the same. My dose of Levothyroxine has been stabilised now and they have given me the green light to come off the pill.

But looking at how unpredictable symptoms are after coming off is stressing me out a lot - not knowing if I will randomly start bleeding 2-6 weeks from stopping is less than ideal... Doesn't help that my periods were always so predictable - literally to the day and manageable with OTC painkillers.

My GF has booked us a trip away in early November so my plan is to stay on until after that trip and then come off it.

But does anyone have any advice on how they managed coming of it and what your symptoms were like? Also this sounds ridiculous, because I had periods for over a decade before I started the pill, but I feel like I've forgotten how to manage them at all...

I’ve been on the pill (Cyred EQ) for nearly 6 years now since I was 16 - I’m 22 now, and finally getting off of it.

Before I started BC, I had next to no digestive issues, and now it’s something I deal with almost every day. I am also diagnosed with depression but not sure if part of my mental health being poor is caused by my birth control since I’ve been on it for so long.

I also used to be almost 120lb, and now I am 155lb. Again, not sure if this can solely be attributed to BC, but my appetite does feel a lot worser - I do work out more though (can’t stay full as long despite eating protein, more cravings, etc).

Admittedly it has helped my acne a ton - I don’t break out as much anymore unless I’m insanely stressed. I will say I think my hair has gotten thinner after taking it.

I wanted to stop for all the reasons above, but reading and seeing posts online, I’m scared my acne is going to come back in full force - also been hearing a lot about hair loss, and am pretty scared since my hair is already a bit thin. If anyone has any input on their experiences, would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Took my second active pill 12-14 hours late after placebo week!
I had been taking Yasmin for 10 weeks and had a 4 day pill free break.
Restarted my pills on Friday 7pm.
I had a late pill Saturday and took it Sunday 8am and the Sunday 7pm.
I had sex on Saturday (however pulled out).
I am worried I might need plan b cause it was day 2 of restarting my packet.
Any advice please while I’m still in the timeframe 🙏

Hi everybody!

I’m 22F, and to make a long story short, I’m looking to start birth control for the first time to manage my cystic acne after no long-term relief from Accutane and spironolactone. However, I’m unsure which form of it would be best for tackling this issue. What I’d like to know is: has anybody else gone on birth control for this reason? Which forms have helped? Which didn’t? What other side effects might I experience on the different forms?

Besides irregularity, I’ve never had any harsh period problems, so I would prefer to take one that still gives me my period. Also, I’m very opposed to an IUD, as I am not comfortable with the insertion procedure for personal reasons. But other than that, I’m honestly open to trying anything else and would like to hear about others' experiences. :)

I decided to remake this post as I wasn't clear in my previous one. I was on yasmin pills for 3 months to manage heavy periods but it didn't work for me, I am now about to use Microgynon, can anyone share their experience?

Thank you!

Do people who have IUD's also periodically take pregnancy tests or am i just paranoid? Lol

hi everyone i just want to share my experience so far with both those mini pills. i have severe pms and my gynecologist suggested that i tried desogestrel pills (i have aura migraines). i tried for 4 months and my period got worse... before it i had bleedings for 4 days and with the pill i bleed for 6 days. i also got really bad acid reflux so she decided i should stop and tried slynd instead.

i'm on slynd for 20 days now but my acid reflux got worse and my period is normal. i also had more cramps also since i had almost no cramps before.

did anyone had experience with acid reflux on pills? i feel im going crazy because im already very anxious about my health and feeling nauseous its the main thing that makes me feel very anxious so im just feeling very hopeless. i know im only starting with slynd but i dont know if i can go on??? im just feeling lonely in this experience. it makes me think that i just have to deal with my terrible pms and forget the pills forever :|

thanksss already!!

So, the last time I had sex (with ejaculation involved) was about 4 days ago. Can I stop taking my mini pill (opill) I am not going to have sex anymore.

Edit: why are you guys down voting me for asking questions. It's my first time taking it.

Hey everyone I’ve been taking Cerazette, I’m 31 years old and used to take this when I was younger and to my knowledge had no issues. I haven’t been on birth control for a few years and just started with this pill about 3 months ago.

I’m suffering! my hair is rapidly falling out in clumps and I’ve never had this before, I’ve also developed so many spots all over the lower half of my face and it’s gone down onto my shoulders and my back. Hormones are a little off but that’s normal of course and not a huge issue, I feel the other issues is my body telling me it’s not compatible with me anymore but I don’t understand how I’m having these negative side effects now? And not when I was younger.. Confidence is out the window, has anyone experienced this before and have any recommendations for a different pill? I’m in the UK and can order my pills online, in the past I remember taking levest but hormonally it made me really unstable.

I had just finished my placebo week of 4 days after about 10 weeks of active pills.
Day 2 I took my pill 13 hours late 😭😭
Did I lose protection?!?!
Has anyone else had this experience, I’m so stupid 🫠

I just saw a tiktok of this girl who said she got pregnant on the pill aND now I’m super paranoid. I take it at the same time every day give or take a couple hours sometimes. I’m on Slynd which my gyno said it has a 24 hour grace period type thing but omg I don’t know what I’d do if something like that happened. Not sure how to look up statistics and such so maybe someone can help me here. Should we still be doing pull out method on top of birth control?

I went to my yearly checkup yesterday, and my Gyno said to me, "Happy almost 5th anniversary to your IUD!'

I explained to her, for the almost the 5th time, that I'm still, to this day, having heavy periods with it, and her telling me that it will eventually calm down is over now. She did an examination and found a polyp, which she removed, and said, "I think I found our little bleeding problem!"

Something in me feels this isn't right, like a tiny polyp isn't keeping me bleeding heavily for 2 weeks. I was sent for a transvaginal ultrasound, and when they did the scan, it showed my IUD was smashed to the side, and they said that my uterus was too small for the IUD.

Is this normal for someone who has had 2 kids? Would you remove it?

Hey everyone, I was on Yaz for about 7 months till last week, the past few months I’ve just been so irritable at times, anxious, depressed, and I feel bad because I take it out on the people I love like my bf. It definitely could also be the time in my life given I am 23 and it’s just a lot feeling lost at this age. What sucks is that I had pmdd and very painful periods and yaz was really working for these symptoms but this random decline got me really scared, I’m going to take a break for three months. My doctor recommended Alysena if I wanna come back to birth control which I would like to do at some point for painful periods and contraception, but I just feel like a failure and I have no hope at this point. Can anyone please give me advice if they have been in a similar boat? I feel so lost and this is such a time consuming process, I’m also semi open to an iud but I’m just so unsure… I also feel sad because I know that anxiety y and moodiness is common but goes away after a few months but mine got worse and I feel defeated because otherwise it was perfect. Is Alysena any worse? Should I just stop entirely? Should I keep going on Yaz, does it really take THAT long to get used to it?

I’m a 28 y/o who recently got off birth control after getting married. I’ve been on birth control since I was about 15, started with the pill and then IUDs until July. I assumed my body would go through some changes, but I was not prepared for how large the changes would be. I have gained what I would consider a significant amount of weight. I did gain some weight after the wedding, but I would not say it was anything alarming and lifestyle changes would be like going to the gym 2x a week instead of 5x when I was trying to lose weight. I’m honestly too scared to step on a scale, but I would guess that I’m probably about 155 lbs maybe even 160. I am 5’5 for reference but have never weighed more than 150 lbs, and that was during a very unhealthy point in my life. For the last few months I have gotten back into my workout routine and sacked back on how much I eat, but the weight only seems to keep coming. We recently moved and I just got some plants that were slightly loose on me in June, and now I can’t even button them. I’m embarrassed about my body, nothing feels good to wear, and to top it off, my husband is in the best shape of his life.

I feel like a bowling ball and like I want to hide myself in a hole. I don’t know what to do and I’m scared to slip into some sort of disordered eating. We want to get pregnant in the next few months, but I’m scared if I can’t regain control of my body now, I’ll never feel like myself again.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do about gaining control of my body and feeling like myself again?? I went from my most confident self to the worst I’ve ever felt about myself.

Im on Nikki BC since July 7. Today when I wiped I noticed some pinkish very light red discharge and cramps.

Is this normal or should I be concerned?? Part of me is anxious that it could be implantation bleeding bc I’m just really scared of pregnancy but I take my BC consistently… any advice would be appreciated!

hi y'all! so for context, i went car camping this past week for 5 days, i was on my period for the trip but needed to start my next pack yesterday and got home last night, so i brought my whole pill pack (syeda combo pill) stupid, i know because i know how temp can affect pills and i should've just waited till i got home but i wasn't sure what day we'd get back. it was pretty mild temp, high was mid 60s and low was mid 40s, and the car was in the shade, along with my pills wrapped up in my bag and in the shade at part of the car. i've done car camping before in similar temps with my pills, but only for a weekend, so this is the longest ive taken them out of the temp the pills should be stored at. they aren't cracked or discolored, but im freaking out still. i get terrible pregnancy ocd so im worried the whole pack is compromised. does anyone have any experiences where they were fine doing this, or any advice on what to do? ive taken two pills in this pack so far. thanks for any advice!!!

Today I purchased otc Opill for my teen daughter. She is experiencing very heavy and painful periods and every GYN near us is fully booked for a few months (pediatrician was also unhelpful). I talked to the pharmacist ant walgreens and she said that opill if taken correctly could prevent periods. So I am hoping this will be a good option for a few months just until we get in to see the gyn.

My question is for anyone who has taken this pill and even better if you’ve taken it specifically to avoid having painful periods.

What are some of the side effects you experienced? How often did you have break through bleeding while taking the pill 100% correctly and was the bleeding lighter and less painful? Thanks!

hi all! i have had my mirena IUD for around 6 months now and I love it, but I recently went back to my OBGYN because a month ago, as period started getting regular again, I’ve been experiencing daily (and very uncomfortable) bloating, as well as very frequent periods (every 2.5 weeks).

my OB prescribed me vylibra and told me to skip the placebo week and take it in tandem w/ my IUD for 2.5 months to basically stop my period and any symptoms associated with it permanently (??)

I’m wondering if anyone has experience being on both the pill (even if it’s not vylibra) and the hormonal IUD, if this is normal, and if I should expect anything! I’ve never been on the pill before and I’m honestly just terrified of the mood swings and weight gain :-(

thanks guys :,)