in search of a new method
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| Fri, 10-22-2004 - 11:37am |
i was on yasmin for about a year. then it started making me sick, so i quit taking it in 11/03. my husband seems to have in his head that we don't need to use any protection because we're married and so it'd be ok if i got pregnant and blah blah blah. but we're both in school and working, we don't have insurance (which is also a problem with getting birth control - but he's supposed to get it through work eventually...but we haven't been able to find out when*), and i'm trying to lose A LOT of weight (100+ lbs - without surgery! i've lost 19 so far - yay!).
i would like to use FAM, but my cycles are long and irregular, and i temped and checked cm for about 6 months after going off the pill and the temps were very erratic (dunno if i really wasn't ovulating at all or if it was due to sleep apnea...i'm convinced that irregular sleep patterns would cause wacky temps as well). my best indication would have been cm, but i seem to get several two-three day patches of "fertile" per cycle (the last one being around two weeks before AF).
my husband doesn't want to use condoms, so i'm trying to come up with something i can do without him having to really even know i'm doing it (or at the very least, without him being able to be like "o, we don't have to use it this time..." at the last minute). any suggestions would be appreciated, and if you have any idea what the cost would be, i'd appreciate that information as well. thanks!
*anna~rae*
*if you're wondering why we don't know when we'll have insurance, it's because he was hired as a temp. employee and kept on....and he hasn't gotten any straight answers as to when they start counting his 90 days, or actually even if he's really a permanent employee before he goes over the 180 limit for temp. employment. PFFFLT!


You really should have insurance before you get pregnant. Doctor appointments cost a lot of money, which you would have a tough time affording if you're both trying to go to school, plus a pregnancy would make it a lot harder for you to finish school. The last thing you want is to end up with thousands of dollars in medical bills that are going to take years to pay off. It might well be ok if you had a nice easy uncomplicated pregnancy and childbirth, but if anything went wrong, the costs can go up dramatically.
Fertility awareness can work if you had regular cycles, but only if your husband was willing to abstain, and it sounds like he isn't bothered at all by the thought of an accidental pregnancy. If you have sleep apnea and aren't sleeping well, then you're right about that throwing off your temperatures. If you're overweight by 100 pounds, then that can also make your cycles very irregular. I've noticed that myself, any time my weight has been more than around 50 pounds over what it should, I either don't ovulate, or do it irregularly. But I ovulate almost like clockwork when my weight is below that.
Depo provera, the mini pill, the patch, and I believe the Nuva Ring don't work as well if a woman weighs over 200 pounds, so those are probably not good choices for you. Something like a diaphragm requires effort each time, so your husband could push you to skip it. Same thing with female condoms and spermicides (both of which also aren't all that effective).
Have you ever thought of an IUD? They're highly effective, don't require any forethought or thinking, and it's impossible to "not use it this time." If you're not wanting children for at least a few years, then you might want to ask your doctor. They cost several hundred dollars if you have to pay full price. However, this is still thousands of dollars less than the costs of having a baby. Your school might be able to get you one for much cheaper, or Planned Parenthood charges on a sliding scale based on income.
Hi girrrlychild, welcome!
I agree with Kellyann_25 that your best bet might be an IUD even if they are pricy up front. Over the long term IUDs are less expensive then most other methods and they are very effective and very low maintenance.
I think only the patch has been shown (and it's mentioned in the Ortho Evra prescribing information) to be less effective for women above 195 lbs. For additional information on weight and the effectiveness of oral contraceptives see: http://www.contraceptiononline.org/contrareport/article01.cfm?art=261
If you are loosing weight cervical barriers might not be a good choice, while your weight is changing, as they require refitting after a weight change. A diaphragm requires a refit for a weight change of +/-7 lbs and a cervical cap requires a refit for a weight change of +/-14 lbs. Let us know what you decide, ok?
Good luck,
Jill
You can try the NuvaRing. It's about as expensive as the pill ($35 per mo) but your Dr can give you a couple months free samples. It is a plastic, hormone-coated ring that you insert into your vagina for three weeks (one ring stays there for the whole three weeks). Remove it on day 21 and go ring free for 7 days. Then insert next ring for the next cycle.
Most men don't feel it during intercourse and you don't need to remember it everyday. The hormones are released locally so not as much hormonal level goes into your bloodstream.
Whatever you choose, be careful while you don't have insurance. The hospital bill for my childbirth/delivery came to a whopping $55,000! I was perfectly healthy and full-term but ended up having a c-section, baby born not breathing, NICU for five days, my incision developed an infection, etc. etc. No-one could have predicted it ahead of time. Thank god I had great insurance. Intil yours is in place find a BC method OR TWO and stick with them no matter what!
GL,
Chris