What is the best Birth control for a woman?

We don’t know your girlfriend and/or her preferences and medical history, therefore we cannot give accurate advice. Have her talk to her gynecologist and main physician before seeking advice from anyone else.

Abstinence?

sterilisation.
you could also have her womb surgically removed. 100% protection from pregnancy. Even God could not use her for producing jesus mk.2

There is no ‘best one’ as every person is an individual and what suits one, may not suit the other. Unfortunatly witht he pill it will have to be a case of trial and error… and it takes up to 3 months of taking it to know if a pill is not good for you.

Hormones are not something you should play around with though either. Make sure that you get advice from your Dr.

Ok, obviously none of you know her or her specific personality. What we’re looking for are specifics on all the different kinds (pros/cons, effectiveness, personal experiences,etc), so that she has something to look at.

And she’s not going to take fluther’s advice and only fluthers advice. Not sure why people always think fluther is the only place people are going to be going for advice, let alone medical advice.

@westy81585 the point is there are hundreds of different kinds of birth controls and we could each give you lists of them and what they do etc. but the reality is it’s different for each and every person and her gyno will know all of these different kinds of BC and will know much better and quicker than us what is best for her.

@omfgTALIjustIMDu Which is going to happen. She’s just trying to get an idea of whats out there.

If you don’t have anything constructive to contribute, then why are you posting?

I’ve personally only been on the pill. You take the pill once a day. I am a terrible procrastinator and also a bad memory for things such as these, so I often missed doses, which was obviously diminishing the effectiveness. So as far as the pill goes, does your girlfriend have a good memory for these things? If not, a different method may be a better idea.

A couple of my friends have used the NUVA ring, which is a little plastic ring you insert.. down there. Leave it in for three weeks and take it out for the fourth week of the cycle. I’ve heard only good things about this method.

I had one friend who was on the depo shot. She didn’t like it because she quickly gained about 20 pounds after starting it. I’ve heard from several people that the shot makes you gain weight, but obviously everyone’s different. But that might be something to keep in mind if that’s going to be an issue for her.

So, like you guys obviously know, talk to the gynecologist. But those are just some thoughts to head you in the right direction.

1. Types of hormonal contraception: Almost all kinds of birth control are hormonal. The pill, the patch, the ring, the shot, the implant, and one type of IUD all use hormones. Specifically, they use either progestins (a synthetic progesterone analog) alone, or progestins along with estrogen.

2. Timing: The pill needs to be taken every day. The patch and the ring only need to be changed once per cycle. A depo-provera shot lasts for 3 months. The implant (Implanon) lasts for 3 years. An IUD lasts for 5 years or more.

3. Effectiveness: As far as I know, every type of hormonal contraception is 99% effective or better with perfect use. Since the pill has to be taken every day, there is a lot more room for error, and with typical use it is about 90% effective. The other ones I mentioned clock in a lot closer to 99%.

4. Alternatives: The only non-hormonal contraception that is as effective is the copper IUD. It lasts 5 years, has no hormones, is entirely reversible, and is better than 99% effective with no room for error. Once it’s in, you don’t have to do anything.

Other types of non-hormonal contraception, like spermicide, withdrawal, and diaphragms are at best about 95% effective, and in reality as low as 65%.

5. Discontinuation: Approximately 50% of women taking birth control pills discontinue them within three months because they became unable to tolerate the side-effects.

Doctors don’t actually have a way to tell whether a particular woman will react well or poorly to a given pill. All they can really do is guess and check.

Good luck to both of you.

@westy81585 It was constructive which is why I contributed. It’s rather simple, you want to know what’s out there, and her doctor will not only know what’s out there but will also know which is best for her and her specific issues and, possibly, and reactions that might occur either physically, mentally, or hormonally. There’s no reason to get snippy if you can’t appreciate the answers you get.

@westy81585 The best one is the one that doesnt make her break out in zits, cry hysterically for no reason, and loose the plot.

The pill is estrogen, so taking the wrong one could make her hormones unbalanced (we have an equal amount of both the male hormone testorone and the female hormone estrogen) Its pretty full on stuff.

Your girlfriend’s gynecologist should be the one to provide her with choices based upon her circumstances and history. What we think is immaterial; it depends on her health history. Hormone based birth control can lead to health problems later in life, especially if she smokes. (Increased chance of blood clots). My daughter was on the depo shot, and she sunk into a depression that was pretty scary. Additionally, she had her period non-stop for 6 months. After about 8 months, she decided that it was just not worth it.

ABSTINENCE LOL

Me.

While I semi agree that she needs to speak with her gyno about what would be right for her, I personally have been on the pill for about 6 years now. My doctor started me off with a low hormone pill called Ortho Tricyclin Lo which I was on till about a month ago. The only side effects I experienced when first starting it was I gained about 5 pounds, but that may have just been a growth stage I had been going through at the time. I recently changed to just Ortho Tricyclin because I was spotting on the Lo form and they are switching the Lo to generic soon anyway. Other than that I have never had any problems while taking it and my periods can be pin pointed to the day pretty accurately. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use protection, but I’ve really never had any true scares with this. I still think it is in her best interest though to get professional advice from her doctor as everybody responds differently to certain types of medication. AND please please let her know if she is ever sick and is prescribed antibiotics that they lower the effectiveness of the pill, so back it up!

An aspirin. Hold it firmly between the knees.

http://www.arhp.org/crc/

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/birth-control-4211.htm

If you don’t want to read through everything, click the “my method” on the right hand side. I’ve been on the depo if you want to hear of my experience with it.

I’m an OB/GYN nurse practitioner, and a little OCD when it comes to this kind of stuff. You’ve gotten a lot of good information here, and I would recommend taking a close look at the Planned parenthood link. Just needed to correct a couple of errors @nikipedia.

The ring gets changed once per cycle, the patch is changed every week for 3 weeks.

The copper IUD, aka Paragard, is good for at least 10 years. I say “at least” because in Europe, they are considered safe and effective for up to 12 years, just as the Mirena is retained for longer than 5.

50% discontinuation rate in first 3 months may be correct, but the rate of “unable to tolerate the side-effects” is much lower. Most side effects are mild, and usually clear up by the third pack. If they don’t, we can frequently solve the side effect problem with a pill change.

Sandals with socks.

@PandoraBoxx The same thing happened to me with the shot. It was not worth it, and I felt it was the worst thing I could’ve taken. I was on my period non-stop for a year. When I asked the dr. about it after the first 6 months, he said I just needed to get used to it, and the next 6 months would be better. Wrong.

@chyna, the second 6 months usually is better, but the occasional woman just keeps on having frequent light bleeding. Weight gain is the other big issue with the shot for some women.

I’ll just put in my two sense about the Depo Shot. I started on the pill and quickly gained exactly 15 pounds and didn’t like the freak out of “i missed a pill what should I do?” I switched to the shot and have been on it for 2 and a ½ years. You don’t get your period, maybe some occasional spotting, it’s once every three months, and it has a pretty sound biological mechanism. I personally think it’s amazing. My only worry comes when a condom breaks (we use condoms too). Then it’s a little nervewracking because you don’t get your period to begin with so you can’t really tell if the “period is late, I must be pregnant” thing is happening.

But based on what I know about how it works, it has three plans. 1) I plays with the hormones that interact with your ovaries and make egg release decrease (or something similar), 2) you don’t get your period because your uterine lining is kept thin so nothing can implant if sperm does get through 3) a mucus plug develops in the cervix to decrease or stop sperm entry into the uterus (nothing gross you have to worry about from the outside). I like having the 3 methods of protection.

Good luck finding the right one for you. It scared the hell out of me to begin with too.

I liked the shot because I only had to remember it once every three months, and I didn’t have to worry about a period. It made my boobs smaller, though, and I think made me irritable. My doctor really didn’t like me being on it because I’m kind of small, and she was concerned about me getting enough calcium.

I went from 95 lbs to 102 – 106 on the shot, which is about a gain of 5 – 10 lbs for me.

My husband and I hate condoms, so we never use them when I’m on birth control. I wasn’t super concerned about it with the depo because of how long it lasts (right now, I’m on the patch, which has to change weekly, which I think gives me more room for error and thus more chance for pregnancy).