If you have questions about or want to discuss methods of birth control, this is the place for you! Please see our sidebar for some great resources.

I was on the depo Provera two years ago and I bled the whole 12 weeks I was on it so I never went back on it.

July 2024 I started the pill, I had zero side effects expect for missing a two pills and getting pregnant, i unfortunately had a miscarriage while on it so I stopped taking to start depo so I can make sure I don’t miss pills.

November I started depo ralovera and I’ve had so many symptoms I don’t know if there normal or if I’m pregnant again.

I have taken at home pregnancy tests but there negative just like the first time I was pregnant before I miscarried.

The symptoms:

• no period but I did have light pink spotting only when I wipe,
• Intense nausea,
• Extreme tiredness (slept 11 hours and was still tired),
• clammy skin hot flushes?,
• A tugging feeling in uterus, ovary’s lower pelvic area (round ligament pain?)
• bloating like stomach is getting bigger,
• headache,
• Peeing more than usual wakes me up,
• breast and nipple discomfort not all the time,
• Lower back pain,
• Reflux or heartburn,
• Breathlessness,
• Strong sense of smell,
• Easy to be Irritable and agitate,
• Increased Appetite,
• Thick saliva,
• Oily skin,
• dizziness (have fainted),
• food and strong aversions
• absolutely hate garlic aioli but for some reason that’s all I want and with Dino nuggets,

I’d like some advice on whether it’s the depo or pregnancy, whether anyone has had the same symptoms on depo like I have. On the 7th of December it’ll be a month since I had the depo ralovera shot. Thank you in advance 🙂

Hi all! I’m 31 and i started birth control about a year ago. The pill, NIKKI. Didn’t have any adverse reactions other than some unannounced withdrawal bleeding that went away and a lower sex drive.

What it really did for me though, was totally eradicate my very stubborn hormonal acne. My jaw line was riddled with cystic acne for a year before I started NIKKI.

I’m now no longer in a relationship and would like to quit birth control as I never really loved the idea of messing with my hormones in the first place. But i am TERRIFIED that my acne is going to come back in full swing and ruin my life again :(

Anybody that can add their two cents with what they’ve experienced when coming off birth control in regard to their acne?

Thank you!!

So me and my girl have been together for almost 2 1/2 years. She wasnt on birth control and everything was great. She started the pill shortly into our relationship and it was like everything was ruined. She got snappy with me, argued every small inconvenience, and explosively argued with me on things that meant more. We had debates about if ahe could continue cause of these side effects and ended up dropping the pill.

For about 8 months she wasnt on anything and it was great. We were back to normal. She seemed more in love more happy, less upset all the time. Our sex life improved and all together it was just a major improvement.

Her doctor recommended her the arm implant on a yearly appointment. I was hesitant due to how the pill affected her but she assured me time and time again that it was ok cause it wouldnt cause any imbalance like this.

We got the implant and for the first few months we didnt see a change so i brushed it under the rug and forgot about it. Now, at the beginning of this year. Our sex life came to a complete halt. And it started worsening further. She argues with me even more violently than she ever did on the pill. She says she knows shes still attracted to me but has no want or desire for physical or emotion bonding. So much so that if i even try for a quivk kiss its like im kissing a wall. She very rarely hugs me or kisses me. Shes become very demanding and like i said. No sexual tension at all. Shes told me its not the implant, but. Any advancement i get smacked away. She seems to struggle to say i love you back with anything else but a dragging or monotone voice, almost like its forced.

At first due to my own insecurities i thought she might be cheating. But when i confronted her. She flipped out. Saying she couldnt ever believe id say something like that and cant believe i dont trust her enough to think she wouldn't, as well as said her depression has hightened alot this year so much so of lingering thoughts of suicide.

To this day it scares me shitless and dread talking to her on this cause how shes reacted recently. But is there anyone who knows if the arm implant does this as well? I talked to my friend cause hes in a serious relationship but with the same type of issues but his girls on the pill. It made my mind wonder.

Its not like i need the sex but for someone whos love language is physical touch. To have had sex 1 time since april and the lack of reciprocation of even just kissing and hugging, and the seeming forced returns in "i love yous." Is this something deeper or would you guys also suspect the arm implant does the same thing as the pill to a womans labedo, and attractions but worse... or even the same? And if this IS the case how can i approach her safely and properly?

i tried to get an iud placed about a week ago- they were unable to get it in due to how tight and firm my cervix was. it was very painful as they tried 3 or 4 times, but ultimately told me they couldn’t place it. afterwards i was sore, but thought the pain would go away after a while. i also refrained from putting anything up there to let it heal.

however, today, i felt my cervix with the tips of my fingers and it feels…. perforated. i don’t know how else to describe it. there’s two divots there that were definitely not there before and it still hurts!!! i’m so frustrated and scared that i’ve somehow ruined my body for a procedure that didn’t even work. am i just jumping the gun? it hasn’t been very long at all but i’m just worried if it will even heal or not.

RANT APOLOGIZING IF IM BREAKING A RULE FOR THIS PARAGRAPH BREAK, POST STARTS IN NEXT PARAGRAPH. Apologies if this breaks the rule in this subreddit regarding no medical advise. I believe that rule is just pertaining to questions not regarding birth control however so I believe i’m okay to post this here. To clarify, I will be following up with my pill provider but it’s a telehealth service with a backed up messaging system and I wanted to do my own research while waiting for an answer.

I recently switched my prescription of combo pills from 4 placebo pills so that it would be a pack of birth control pills with a full 7 days of placebos. (Same generic medicine, just less active pills)

This is because 4 days off of active pills was too short of a time to get my period properly, and it was giving me anxiety that I could possibly be pregnant when I would skip a period.

While i’m waiting for my new prescriptions to come in, if I skip taking the active hormone pills for just the last week of the pack will this decrease the effectiveness of the pills?

I've been on Nexplanon for a year and a few months. Prior, my periods have always been irregular. Since Nexplanon, my periods have had less and less blood. My boyfriend doesn't come in me, but I'm aware of pre come and that you can get pregnant on it. Although I get period symptoms like sore breast's and cramping, the blood is thin and makes me think it's implantation bleeding. These last 3 months have just been heavy brown spotting and light bleeding. Am I cooked? I just want to know if this is normal so I can stop being parinoid.

So I accidentally took the pill out of the packet far to early, as in right now it's the night before and I take it in the morning. (I take other medication so I kind of did it instinctually)

I was just wondering if it'd be still safe to take in 8 or so hours time? I just use it for period control not birth control, so if it's a 'best not risk it, so skip it for that day' situation then that's fine.

The brand of the pill is 'Levest' if that helps.

I (22F) had taken birth control 2 years ago then was off it until a week ago. I was on my 7th pill last night and took it 1 hour before sex. My partner realized the condom was broken and pulled out and finished outside of me and no semen was inside of me. I was on my ovulation day on the app but was still nervous. I took aftera which is like plan B from CVS. I also started the birth control the Sunday after my period ended so not directly after. I was also consistent with my birth control every other day. Am I okay? I also had no side effects from the plan B. What do you guys think?

hi everyone, i had sex yesterday with a condom, but he did not come and i use yaz (combined pill) very regularly and never miss a day or take it late. The thing is that when i took my pill yesterday it seems as it got stuck in my throat, so i drank a lot of water and ate a protein bar just to make sure, but i’m still scared that it didn’t got to my stomach and i missed the pill. I checked the condom and there was no leaks or breaks. can it get stuck? am i really at risk?

I've been on birth control pill for about 6yesrs now and never had any issues. My PMS symptoms pretty much gone, bad cramps went away, regular periods. But now after about 6yrs my PMS symptoms are coming back pretty strong, the terrible bloat, frequent urination, moodiness, cramps, and unsure but I have been diagnosed with vertigo, many times revolving around or before my period (correlation to period unknown as of now ) etc. I'm not sure if my body's gotten used to the pill or if I should get off of it. Is this a normal response do you think?

I’m on Freya 28. I’m on my sugar pill week, and I’m supposed to start a new pack on Wednesday, but usually I’m supposed to start a new pack on a Thursday, but I accidentally started last months pack a day early so it rolled back when I start the next pack if that makes sense. If I want to correct my pack timeline back to Thursday-Wednesday will it be a risk to start that pack 1 day late?

I've had my nexplanon since the end of March of this year, so about 8 full months. It made my period irregular but generally I would bleed around once a month with some spotting here and there. It's now past the time when I would usually begin to bleed. Is this normal? Tests are negative. My period never would come to a particular cycle I just generally would bleed once a month at some point. Any experience like this???

Hello, I got my Liletta placed Dec 4th while on my period. I’ve never had an IUD before. I don’t want kids right now and am experiencing more fatigue than normal with my periods, so my Dr recommended a hormonal IUD to possibly nix my periods entirely. I wanted the Paragard because I have reacted very poorly on progesterone oral bc before (extreme irritability) but she insisted Paragard would make my periods longer and worse. Well this Liletta cancelled the period I was on almost immediately and I felt fine for 2 weeks. Then I began heavy spotting oxidized black blood for nearly 7 days which has ramped up into a full period with red discharge and blood now. I checked on day 2 of being home if I could feel my strings and I’ve checked 2 more time and never been able to feel them. I don’t know how long they’re supposed to be either, they never told me. I am on like day 10 of constant bleeding which is super odd since my normal period is usually 2-4 days. Any advice? Is this normal? Does it get better or worse? I see my Dr tomorrow thankfully

Hello everyone, I (25F) was intimate with my boyfriend (25M) today and as always, we used a condom. However, he came inside me (inside the condom), and finished, got soft, then pulled out of me. However, this time he didn’t grab the condom on the way out, so the condom was left inside me. I inspected it and it seemed intact, still in a circle, no rips or holes or any part that’s misshapen. The condom base was outside, on my vaginal lips. I would assume that this means nothing really happened, but I’m still really nervous. I come from a religious background and this could be a death sentence. I also inspected my thighs, the surface we were on, and my vagina, and found nothing out of the ordinary, they seemed to only have my fluids and nothing else.

My last period was from November 17th to November 22nd (by the last day I was only spotting). This means I ovulated (according to Flo) from the 23rd to 29th, with the 28th being my predicted ovulation day. However, my iPhone health app says I ovulated from the 26th to the 1st (AKA today). My cycles vary from 26 to 27 days.

I’m already working on getting a Plan B and should have it by tomorrow. By the time I take it, it’ll have been less than 24 hours. However, I’m really scared that it wouldn’t be effective (since that medication is supposedly not effective after ovulation), but according to Flo, I have a low chance of pregnancy today. It says I’m on day 16 of this cycle, and I’m expecting my period on December 13th.

Can someone please reassure me that the chances of pregnancy are low? I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I did get pregnant. I have some pretty bad cramps right now and it’s due to the stress.

Thank you, have a blessed day

Edit: my boyfriend just checked the condom we used and he confirmed that no (visible) cum made it to the point of the base ring of the condom that was hanging outside of me.

First time posting but I’m freaking out. I take Opill (over the counter birth control) and I do a great job at taking it on time. While on it, my cycles usually last 14 days with minimal bleeding and no side effects. On November 16th, my partner and I had intercourse and came in me (because why else would I take the pill). Time came around for me to take my pill and at that moment we noticed I missed the previous day’s dose which is scary because Opill only works if taken daily, one missed dose means you’re not protected. Unfortunately, I had already been experiencing weird spotting during that time for a few days already after having my period. Was that around ovulation time? Well I did what the package said to do and stopped everything until I knew for sure it was safe again. Unfortunately it’s now December 1st and I have yet to get my usual Opill period and it’s starting to end up being a 26 day cycle so far and not a drop of blood has been produced. I don’t know exactly when to take the tests since my periods were already altered (14 day cycle while on the pill instead of my 28-32 day cycle I had before the pill). So I’ve taken 3 early detection tests the last two weeks and they’ve all been negative but not having my period is making me stress everyday. Thoughts? Comments? Advice? Criticism? Anything?😭 Thank you in advance!

Hi I'm thinking of going on birth control. Im open to any form. The only issue I'm scared of is gaining weight. Thank you!

My girlfriend and I had unprotected sex, yes I know this was stupid. We did it for a good amount of time and when I felt that I was about to cum, I pulled out and came in my hand. After that we were done so I went into the bathroom and rinsed it off. 3 days later she told me that she had morning sickness and headaches. It has been about 3 weeks since when we had sex and recently she has been getting stomach aches and she says that her lower back is sore. Her lower back has been sore even before we did it so I don’t know about that. Her period was predicted to start today but it didn’t.

I don’t know if I am being paranoid or if I should just chill and wait for her period to start. I have really been stressed for these last 3 weeks and I know that I will have to take responsibility if she doesn’t get her period and we take a test and it comes back positive

Do I have something to worry about or am I just being paranoid ?

Hey. I posted here a few days ago my issue. Take combined pill, forgot one on Friday the 22nd and had intercourse on Wednesday the 20th (withdraw).

Stopped the pill today (its the pause week) and period is supposed to come on Friday. Is it worth to buy the early test (Clearblue that gets results 5 days before missed period) or not?

hey, so i'm 20 and have always struggled with my period. it used to be super irregular and extremely painful with really large amounts of bleeding, doctors used to think endometriosis but then my period stopped for a good 4 months (for absolutely no reason, i was eating normally and everything), so they threw that idea out again.

the only thing that's still sort of on the table is PCOS, the symptoms are kind of there, but they're kind of hesitant/unwilling to diagnose me with that, i'm not sure why.

anyway, i've been told to get an iud to stop my periods because i constantly bleed through all my clothes and because it is so hard to deal with the debilitating cramps and back pain.

doing research online, i kind of got terrified though lol. SO many horror stories!!

so ig my question is, which iud do yall have and did it stop your period and ESPECIALLY the pain?
also something i'm worried about: did you gain weight??

(ideally the bleeding would stop for me, but i'm mostly worried about the pain.)

should i do it?

I could put this under rant too i guess but i’m personally on Opill and i’m pretty good at taking it at 1:30 everyday (sometimes i’m in a store though or somewhere and it’ll be closer to 2 by the time i take it). but so far Opills been working great, only side affect i’ve noticed is i get hungrier more often and i’ll get frustrated slightly faster in certain situations. Like the title says he did just that and it felt so? weird?? (i’ve never had someone do that before so the experience of it was strange). i told my friend about it and said i NEED to get a plan B? Question is like, should I? if i’m on BC and taking it on its timely routine (or in 30 mins) then do i need to? i’m not super stressed (i say this cause her freaking out does have me a little stressy) about it but i also see how expensive plan b is and typically that money goes towards groceries so every dollar counts in today’s economy.

I just started lessons and I am ending my second week of my second pack today. Ever since November 16, I have been experiencing breakthrough bleeding paired with cramps.i skipped my first round of placebo pills since I have been on another form of bc for two years and that is what I regularly did. I’m concerned about this bleeding since it is fairly heavy and paired with cramps like a regular period. Anyone on low estrogen or Lessina experience this? I’m going to get in contact with my doctor tomorrow just figured I get some opinions since I’ve been questioning if this is normal.

I’m 31 and have taken the pill form of bc since I was 15. I was on Lo Loestrin for years and then moved over to Blisovi. My PMDD and acne were getting so horrific that I had to switch to something else. That combined with high levels of testosterone and extreme fatigue, I was desperate for relief. I’ve been on Loryna for 4 months now and acne is completely gone, PMDD has improved tenfold, and not as fatigued.

The problem is I’ve started getting minor headaches every day. Does anyone have any advice on this? Should I just tough it out since all the other debilitating things are gone? I’m also on a slew of other meds for various other things.

Are there any down sides to being on birth control (and skipping the sugar pill) for your entire life? I’ve never been able to get a straight answer from doctors on this or they tell me there are “no risks” which seems too easy.

I’ve (29f) been on birth control since I was 16 and stopped taking the sugar pill 6 years ago so I don’t get my period. My periods have always been EXTREMELY painful and debilitating but the most drs have ever diagnosed me with is “possible mild adenomyosis” and they tell me that the treatment for it is to keep taking birth control continuously. Is there really no harm in doing this for the rest of my life? What about menopause?

Hello, I just noticed that one of my pills is missing for next week. It's one of my placebo pills. Google says if it's a placebo I can miss it and be fine but I know better than to trust Google automatically lol. What should I do? I'm missing the pill for Thursday should I take the Friday pill on Thursday and so on, and then when I reach Sunday take a placebo from my next pack? Or should I be fine skipping the placebo pill? Please respond! I'm slightly freaking out lol.

I took an emergency contraception called “take action” on November 25th just an hour after the condom slip up , he said it slipped out as he was exiting and most of the c*m spilled out from the condom around the outside. And it was a day before predicted ovulation day. So I took the pill, I’ve noticed bad bloating and stomach pain kind of a dull pain throughout the whole stomach and burning sensation, I don’t know if it’s from gastritis or combination of the pill but this has been really causing me to overthink !!! I have a doctors appointment in two days should I take a test even if it’s only been a week? Any advice helps!!!! I pray i get my period 😣!

Hi, I just got prescribed Mylan and I was doing some research and have only been able to find negative experiences which has me nervous. I know negative experiences tend to be spoken about more than positive ones so I'm wondering if it really is that bad or if anybody has felt it worked for them?

Thanks!

my boyfriend did not manage to pull out on time toda morning, which is first time this happend. i take minipill called Slynd for 9months now, and i took it like 3h late 7-8 days ago, sometimes but not often it happens i take it 30min late but gyn said half a hour delay is okay. my last period was Nov 20th to Nov 25th. could i be pregnant? should i take plan b? i think i am ovulating rn but my cycle isnt rlly regular so i cant tell.

Hi guys, I would like to ask, for those who have experience. I want to stop taking birth control pill after 3 years of using it regularly. Can you tell me your story after stopping birth control?

Hi all, for background this is my 2nd month on Hailey fe 24(combo pill with 4 placebos). i am on the 3rd week last pill of my 2nd month. Yesterday i felt cramping and was having brownish discharge/blood on my pantyliner and when i wiped. Today i woke up to fresh blood in my pantyliner and when i wiped as well as cramps. im passing blood clots and bleeding onto my pad. Is this normal? im not on the “placebo” pills yet, there’s still 4 more days til that. thanks for the insight.

I've just made an appointment to get my Mirena replaced with a Paragard. Now I know there are a million ways things can change once I'm no longer on hormonal bc (which I have been for almost 15 years), but as I've done more research into it, I've seen reports on the "Mirena crash" causing all kinds of issues.

It truly feels like literally everything can cause hair loss or mood swings or weight gain and I'm honestly exhausted thinking about this. Any experiences going from Mirena to Paragard or just getting off hormones in general?