CONTRACEPTION: THE LOW DOWN

Tuesday

I asked on Instagram and Twitter for people's experiences with different types of contraception and I got more responses than expected. The amount of responses I got shows me that it is something a lot of people, mainly women do want to talk about as it affects people so differently and these affects can often be quite negative.

The contraceptive pill

Here are some examples of the responses I received from women currently using contraception, I won't be using names:

"The implant gave me a month long period."
"Mood swings on the first pill now I have changed I feel fine."
"Rigevidon made me feel really down and angry."
"The pill made me put on sooo much weight and became so spotty until I came off it."
"The pill made me feel depressed."
"The pill made me feel like I was so down and alone, I also gained weight, skin was horrible."
"The injection f*cked me up, I got super depressed. I stopped doing things and stopped going into college. Never again"
"I've had a bad experience on so many pills including Yasmin, Microgynon, Cerelle. Problems included weight gain, nausea, the worst skin and pain. I hate the pill."
"The pill is amazing for me but I had the worst mental health and doctors wouldn't take me off it because it was 'too soon', they told me to give it a chance."

The main purpose of this post is to make people think about how important it is to find the right contraception for you or your partner because there are so many horrible side affects as you can see from the responses above.

Firstly, I need to emphasise that everyone is affected differently by different forms of contraception and by no means should anyone be scared off it by this post. I am just trying to educate people on possible side affects so that people make sure they get what is right for them. There are so many different types of contraception that I didn't even know about. Researching this has been a learning curve for me too.

I didn't really have sex education at my school after the age of 12, and then it was about periods and stuff rather than being safe with sex. When we did learn about it at school we just learnt about condoms which are obviously a good form of contraception as they also protect against STI's but they are not the only form of contraception out there.

If you are like me and the thought of an injection, implant or coil really cringes you out then there are lots of different types of pills that do different things to your hormones and have different amounts of hormones in them.

Due to the amount of negative responses about contraception side affects, it seems to me like women have to go through a trial and error process before they find a good contraceptive that suits them. In my opinion, doctors should be doing more to make sure pills and other contraceptives aren't harming people.

In my experience, they gave me 3 months worth of pills to start with before checking my blood pressure again and prescribing me another 3 months worth of pills at the end. Now, they give me 6 months worth at a time and will only give me a pill check every 12 months where they will check my blood pressure again. They have never once asked me about my mental health and the pill and other contraceptives have seemed to have affected the mental health of a number of women.

One of the responses above, refers to the implant and mental health. She said she had told the doctors she didn't want the implant anymore as she knew it affected her mental health in a negative way. The doctors thought it was too soon, seemingly ignoring her request and disregarding the severity of the effect it was having on her mental health.

People using words such as "depression" when it comes to contraception just goes to show the severity of the effect it can have on mental health. In extreme cases, it could possibly make girls and women feel suicidal. If there is a chance that this could happen, isn't asking how your mental health is in on a pill check the least doctors could do? I am not saying no doctors ask, I am just basing this on my own experience and those of my followers.

It is also important that men understand the possible side affects women could be facing just to sleep with them. It's important to spot differences in women's mental health and attitudes in case they are being affected by contraception. It's also important to support them through the decisions they make about contraception as these decisions often concern men too.

My advice would be make sure you research contraception before you decide what would be best for you. If you do hear bad things about certain types, remember that it might not be the same for you as all types of contraception affects people differently. It is all about what suits you. Finally, don't put sex before your mental health.

2 comments

  1. This is such a great and informative post! It's definitely essential to do your research when it comes to contraception and remember that not everyone has the same experience with each type. x

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  2. This is not spoken about enough. Like you, I found that at school I was mainly educated on periods and condoms was the main method of contraception focussed on. The different types of contraception available for women and the different effects it has on women was largely missed out

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