Contraception

What you may not know about me, is that the uterus is my favorite organ.

I love all the things that the uterus can do. I love helping women get pregnant, taking care of babies, and helping women prevent pregnancies when they are not wanting to have a baby. Today, I would like to talk about the options for contraception.

First, a helpful chart:

This shows that family planning (going off of your cycle), and spermicide, are the least effective methods of birth control.

Next comes barrier methods, which still have a high fail rate.

After barrier methods, are the prescription medications, that a lot of women are interested in.

There are combined oral contraceptive pills, that still have a fail rate of 9%. This rate is so high because it is hard to take a pill every single day, and there are a fair amount of medications that do interact with oral pills.

Then there is the depo-provera shot. This is effective for 90 days at a time. It has with it an associated 2-4lb weight gain, and can cause some osteoporosis, which tends to be reversible after the medication is stopped. It has a fail rate of 6%.

Next come two rings. One is the NuvaRing, which is a vaginal ring that is placed inside the vagina for 3 weeks at a time, and is removed after 3 weeks to have a period. It has a fail rate of about 9%. Women need a new prescription after every month to get a new ring. Some women complain about the fit of the ring. Next, is a different ring called Annovera. With this ring, it is very similar to the NuvaRing, but does have some advantages. With one prescription, one ring, the woman can use it for 13 months. The ring goes inside for 3 weeks, and out for 1 week, like the NuvaRing, but then she washes it, and uses it again for the following month. With the Annovera, it tends to cause less weight gain because of the way the hormone is derived. It is also a lot cheaper because you are only needing to buy the prescription once. Also, it's fail rate is only 2%, a lot better than NuvaRing.

Annovera

Sterilization is the next most effective, with the vasectomy for guys and the tubal ligation for women.

Surprisingly, both the IUD and the implant are more effective than the surgeries, and they are also reversible.

For IUD, there is the Mirena. It goes inside of the uterus and thickens up the mucus keeping semen from going inside of the cervix. It can prevent pregnancies for 5 years. It has a fail rate of about 0.2-0.5%.

And lastly, the most effective method of birth control is the Nexplanon. It is a progesterone only small 4cm rod that goes right under the skin in your arm. It can help prevent pregnancies for 3 years, and has a fail rate of 0.28%.

Nexplanon

All of these forms of birth control can also be effective methods in helping control periods, making them less frequent, less painful. Feel free to contact us directly if you want to learn more.