Tuesday, March 6, 2012

No Men Allowed - TMI Alert

Ok boys, if there any reading this, go check out a sports site or something because you don't want to be a part of this. Seriously. I'm going to talk about birth control, so go away.

Whew.

Ok, ladies, any of you have any experience with the copper IUD called ParaGard? I've been on the pill since getting married (with the obvious exceptions) and frankly I hate it. As you can imagine, remembering to take it every day is a bit of a challenge for me (although I've done super well over the past month! A newborn will have that effect on you.)  There are some relatively minor physical side effects that I don't care for and won't go into detail about. We're 95% sure we're done with the baby making, but I don't want to do anything permanent. I was reading an online discussion about birth control in general and the two IUD options seemed to be the hands down favorites. Since Mirena is hormonal based, I don't think it would solve my side effect problems and to be honest I don't like the idea of not having a period most months. I would spend a fortune on pregnancy tests and live in fear.

From what I've read, the PG IUD is non-hormonal and can last ten years. The only major side effect I've seen mentioned is a heavier than usual period during the first three to six months for some women. I talked to my OB's nurse this morning and she uses Mirena but has a friend using ParaGard. She said they are both very happy with them. I'm waiting on the billing office to call me and let me know if our insurance would cover it and how much it would cost out of pocket. Some people have made the point that their insurance covered the device but not insertion, because it does so much good if you carry it around in your pocket! Anyway, I was just wondering if anybody around here had personal experience with it and could share an opinion. I'm guessing it's not overly popular in this area.

3 comments:

Allison said...

They lose me at "insertion" - I just don't like the idea of something hanging around in there.

If you do get it though, be sure to comment on whether or not it's something you'd recommend.

Susan said...

Insertion doesn't bother me. And from what I've been told it's something you can easily forget about once it's done. And the insurance lady called back and told me since we'd met our deductible it would cost us 20%, which would be about $130. That's five months of pill but would last me ten years... I think I'm going to give it a try next month.

Susan said...

And frankly, the non-hormonal aspect of it is very appealing to me. Both times I've given birth I've dreaded going back on the pill because going off of it to get pregnant was soooo much better for me.