You don’t need to take a tablet day by day. There are contraception strategies that final weeks, months, and even years with little effort in your half – and no surgical procedure. They’re secure and efficient for many wholesome girls.

Which one is finest for you?

“The most effective methodology of contraception for any girl is the tactic that she’s going to make use of appropriately and constantly,” says Elizabeth Micks, MD, MPH, an appearing assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology on the College of Washington Medical Heart.

Discover out what’s out there, what’s concerned, and the way nicely each works.

The IUD

It is a small, T-shaped gadget that your physician locations inside your uterus, or womb, after providing you with a checkup. It will possibly keep there for 3 to 10 years, relying on its sort.

As soon as the IUD is in place, you don’t need to do anything to stop being pregnant. They’re 20 instances more practical than tablets, patches, or rings. Fewer than 1 in 100 girls get pregnant throughout their first 12 months on the IUD.

Your physician can simply take away it in the event you resolve you’d wish to get pregnant otherwise you not wish to use it.

Hormonal IUDs are plastic and launch the hormone progestin. This thickens the mucus in your cervix (decrease a part of your uterus), which retains sperm from getting into. It additionally thins the partitions of your uterus. This retains a fertilized egg from attaching to it, which is part of being pregnant.

4 manufacturers of hormonal IUD can be found:  Kyleena, Liletta, Mirena, and Skyla. All depend on the identical drug, referred to as levonorgestrel. Liletta and Mirena final 6 years. Kyleena releases the bottom dose of hormones for the longest period of time. It lasts 5 years. Mirena may scale back heavy menstrual bleeding as much as 90% after the primary 6 months.

“It’s so efficient in treating girls with heavy bleeding, painful durations, even girls with endometriosis [a disorder of the uterus], fibroids [noncancerous tumors], and different issues,” Micks says.

The disadvantage for some girls is getting by these first 6 months. “Hormonal IUDs can result in plenty of irregular bleeding at first, which for lots of ladies is basically not acceptable,” Micks says. “Girls don’t like recognizing (gentle bleeding between durations).”

Copper IUDs are hormone-free. Copper works like a spermicide and prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg. If an egg does develop into fertilized, it can forestall implantation of an embryo.

Girls who desire a hormone-free type of contraception (that means much less potential unwanted side effects) usually select these units. Hormone-free contraception, although, doesn’t have the identical impact in your menstrual cycle.

“It’s not true for all girls, however basically, durations could also be a bit heavier and crampier with the copper IUD,” Micks says. “It’s not a technique that we’d select in a lady who’s already having heavy durations.”

Start Management Implant

Your physician inserts this small, skinny, and versatile plastic rod into your arm. It is the scale of a matchstick. Like a hormonal IUD, the implant releases progestin into your physique. It really works for as much as 3 years, and your physician can take away it any time earlier than that.

Like IUDs, implants are 20 instances more practical than tablets, patches, or rings.

Some girls have irregular bleeding throughout the first 6 to 12 months. For many, durations get lighter and occur much less usually.

“What comes with the implant is that it’s very unpredictable,” Micks says. “Some will cease having durations, however some may have fairly a bit extra bleeding.”

Along with her sufferers, Micks says, “in the event that they don’t see themselves eager to get pregnant inside a 12 months, then I like to recommend that they do an IUD or an implant,” she says. “They’ll have it taken out any time, even a day later, a month later, every time.” 

A examine in Finland confirmed that offering without spending a dime long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) just like the IUD or implants resulted in additional LARC use and fewer abortions locally. 

The Shot (Depo-Provera)

This methodology protects in opposition to being pregnant for 3 months at a time. It makes use of progestin to do this.

Only one in 100 girls who get the shot each 12 weeks will get pregnant. For individuals who don’t get their shot on schedule, 6 out of 100 will get pregnant.

Much like different progestin strategies, the shot could cause irregular bleeding throughout the first 12 months. About half of ladies may have fewer and lighter durations after that. Others might have recognizing or heavier, longer durations.

The shot could cause bone thinning, which stops after the injection wears off. Because of this, girls in danger for osteoporosis ought to use a unique type of contraception.

If you wish to use the shot for greater than 2 years, it’s best to discuss to your physician concerning the dangers and the advantages of constant it. Girls with breast most cancers and people who take some medicines for Cushing’s syndrome (a illness from being uncovered to excessive ranges of the hormone cortisol) additionally mustn’t get it.

Some girls won’t need the shot as a result of it requires going to a physician’s workplace each 3 months. In some elements of the U.S., girls can get a prescription for an injection they offer themselves. If giving your self a shot makes you squirm, discover out if there are handy locations to get it — akin to a neighborhood well being heart — earlier than you resolve.

If you wish to get pregnant inside the subsequent 12 months, you may contemplate different strategies of contraception. It will possibly take 10 months or extra to develop into fertile once more after you cease the shot.

Mixture Start Management

Like most contraception tablets, the patch and the ring forestall being pregnant with the hormones progestin and estrogen. You employ the patch and the ring for 3 weeks, then cease for 1 week. Throughout this “week off,” you get your interval. Some girls who wish to cease their durations utterly don’t take every week off.

Girls who take the fourth week off usually get lighter durations with much less signs.

You need to change your patch or ring on time. 9 out of 100 girls who don’t use them as directed get pregnant.

Just like the tablet, each the patch and the ring can increase your danger for blood clots. They’re not advisable for girls with danger components for stroke, blood clots, or coronary heart illness, akin to girls over 35 who smoke.

The patch is a skinny, beige, plastic sticker that you just put on in your pores and skin always for every week. You stick it on the surface of your higher arm, your again, your behind, or your abdomen. You exchange the patch each week for 3 weeks, then sometimes take every week off.

Some girls complain that the patch falls off or irritates their pores and skin the place it is utilized.

The ring is another choice. Bought below the title Annovera or NuvaRing, it’s small ring that you just insert in your vagina, much like a tampon. You permit it in for 3 weeks. After that, you’re taking every week off to help you expertise a interval. With Annovera, you then reinsert the ring. With NuvaRing, you insert a brand new ring.

It’s potential for the ring to fall out earlier than it’s time to alter it. If that occurs, simply rinse it and put it again in. If it’s damaged, it’s best to insert a brand new one.

The patch and the ring should not as efficient because the tablet, IUDs, implants, or pictures. However some girls nonetheless use the patch and the ring, Micks says, as a result of they really feel extra in command of a technique they’ll cease at any time with out a physician go to.