haha, i love how this has turned into a discussion about withdrawal. The poor woman just wanted to know what bith control pill/instrument we were using. I'm sure she knows all the ins and outs of withdrawal.

Anywho, my advice would be to make an appt. with your gyno and talk to him about all your options. You can express to him what your wants and needs are out of birth control and he can start you on a sample pack of something. If it works, great! If it doesn't then he/she will give you something else to try.

good luck! :)

I have tried Yaz, Yasmin (what ever it's called), Ortho Tri-Cyclen, Nuva Ring, condoms, & spermicide suppositories. I have had a bad reaction to ALL of the BC I've tried so far. To be honest, I prefer the pull out method. :) I usually just let my husband blow his load on my stomache, which seems to work for him just as much as it does for me. *lol* :P :) :D :D :D

i've been on the pill for five years. never had side effects, never had a pregnancy scare. i'm just lucky really, i rarely get side effects with any medication.

I used condoms for two years, got pregnant once using them. Then I used the combined pill (microgynon 30) for five years, never got pregnant, didn't have any major side effects. I stopped the pill to get pregnant which happened within 6 weeks. Since my son was born 6 months ago, I've used condoms, but I'm also fully breastfeeding which offers SOME contraception.
I would just use the Billings method (avoiding sex during fertile time of month) but my husband point blank refuses to risk it.

before, me and paul used the pull-out method on some occassions and condoms on others... i fell pregnant with my second after a condom-mishap. go figure. lol!

BC will effect each person differently to be honest. The three mini pills i had tried before turned me crazy but then the one pill i found that had no emotional side effects made me bleed all the time :-/ so now we're just using condoms. I'd rather use both as i don't want anymore children [at least not yet!]

I started out taking the pill. I went through about three different kinds (low, medium and high-dosage hormones if I remember correctly), none of which did what they said they would in terms of helping with cramps and what-not. It also killed my sex-drive down to nothing.

I suck at remembering to take the pill. So in March, after considering my options, I started on the shot (Depo Provera). They say that the average woman gains approximately 10lbs in the first year, but I've lost about 5lb since starting. I know others who have gained weight on the shot though. I haven't had any reactions to it, other than hating getting the actual shot. It's 97-99.7% effective, same as the pill. I love the fact that it's once every three months and then I don't have to worry about it for another three! =)

I started out taking the pill. I went through about three different kinds (low, medium and high-dosage hormones if I remember correctly), none of which did what they said they would in terms of helping with cramps and what-not. It also killed my sex-drive down to nothing.

I suck at remembering to take the pill. So in March, after considering my options, I started on the shot (Depo Provera). They say that the average woman gains approximately 10lbs in the first year, but I've lost about 5lb since starting. I know others who have gained weight on the shot though. I haven't had any reactions to it, other than hating getting the actual shot. It's 97-99.7% effective, same as the pill. I love the fact that it's once every three months and then I don't have to worry about it for another three! =)

Dammit.

I've known women who have gained between 50 and 100lbs on it. that alone scares the crap out of me that I wont even use depo plus the damages it can cause to your body

Wow! 50 to 100lbs? That's crazy! I've been struggling to gain a pound!

Any chemical form of birth control has side effects, and can cause damage to your body. I suppose it's just a matter of picking your poison, and which one works best for you!

right, i'm picking teh best of all after the baby is born, I'm having my tubes tied. lol

Jesus holy crap! That's insane!!

I don't think I'd like to try anything other than the pill. That's because when I was first put on it, the brand I was on didn't suit me. So I could just stop taking it. If you've had a jab, you have to wait for the effects to wear off. It's not a case of just not taking the next pill (which of course isn't a good idea if you're having sex, but you get the idea!)

I didn't gain any weight when I was on it. But that could be because I was losing so much blood. I bled for six months straight while on Depo. I'll never do that again.

I was on Ortho Tryclin Lo for 5 or 6 years, it worked great for the most part. Never got pregnant, had really light periods, no cramps, etc. Unfortunately after that many years the hormones started catching up with me, and my sex drive plummeted. For now I'm just using condoms instead, my boyfriend doesn't love them...but he likes them better than not having sex at all :-p.

We use the FAM method and i breastfeed. though we did have scare last month because i got lazy with the FAM method, thankfully breastfeeding/luck backed us up :)
before my DD i was on the pill, on coming off my cycles were buggered so i won't take hormones again.

I'm on the "Depo" shot and it works great. I used to take the pill (ortho tri cyclyn lo however you spell it) but I gained weight and it became too risky for me to take the pill with my blood pressure being a little high for it. The Depo doesn't have as many hormones so it's safer for me personally. I haven't gained any weight from it. I've been really watching what I eat, and I've been exercising and I've lost 30 pounds. The worst side effect I have is I get a period one week before my shot is due (I get one shot every 4 months) so actually it's a friendly "reminder" lol because my period does not stop until I get my shot, and it stops my period within 24 hours. I also LOVE not having to remember to take a pill or remember there's some kind of ring in my vagina lol!

I bled for six months straight when taking Depo. Never, ever again.

ABSTINENCE, YO. NO SIDE EFFECTS. NO PROBS.

So. Hard. This.

NOT FOR ME, YO!

I've been on Ortho Tricyclin Lo for 3 years. I have short periods, barely any cramps and my headaches are barely there. I noticed a hugggge drop in my sex drive when I hit a year on the medication. But it has come back within the last 3 months, which rocks :D. And we use condoms of course. No pregnancies and I'm happy.

I've been on micorgynon 30 and now I'm on the rod, for people concerned about weight my doctors have always told me they are just stuffing themselves silly, a kin to pregnant women who actually go and eat for two.
I've never had a problem.

I just have to say I am so jealous of all of these options available to you guys! I have been on hormonal birth control for the past 11 years because it's the most common "treatment" for PCOS. unfortunately, there are very few brands/kinds that i'm able to take because some of them can actually make the problems worse. :0/ no skipping periods allowed here, nor IUD's, Nuva Rings, or shots. on the bright side, it would be very difficult/unlikely (though certainly not impossible) for me to become accidentally pregnant.

to answer the poster's original question - I took Yaz for a couple of years but it actually made my PMDD worse, and my periods were quite painful while taking it. i've began with, and reverted back to Ortho tri-cyclin lo, and don't have any noticeably bad side effects with it. I can't say if it makes my periods any heavier/more painful than my "natural" cycle, as i don't have one at all without the BC.

Woah go ask to get put on Metformin with PCOS! Waaaaaay more effective than the pill! It brought back my periods and everything.
And I'm allowed to skip periods (Since it's not a real period, only a withdrawal bleed. There is no medical reason to have it) and I could go on any BC. Why aren't you allowed to? Is it because the pill hasn't actually sorted anything?

they have tried to put me on Metformin, but i have a really, really big issue with taking pills (physically) and they're too large for me to be able to take :0/ i asked about crushing them up and whatnot and the parm. told me that was really not a good plan. i need to be on it, if nothing else for the insulin thing, but i haven't quite figured out the solution to the problem.
the reason they told me that most bc types were off limits is because the make up in most of the pills interact with the hormones in such a way that the can actually increase the likelihood of cysts forming. i've managed to get away without them thus far. i think the concern about the not skipping periods thing is just because my body is completely void of them without the birth control, which isn't healthy, so the doc wants to make sure i'm having one every month just to make sure at least that aspect of the pill is working properly.