This is about BIRTH CONTROL. The only thing that protects against STIs are condoms. Many of the mentioned methods can be used together to ensure effectiveness. Percentages of effectiveness are based on typical use v perfect use.

It's just a brief overview for the essential information. If you're interested in a certain method, googling it will prove fruitful. I swear.

I. Barrier Methods

A. Diapragm

1. 84%-94% effective

2. A shallow latex cup that’s inserted in the vagina. It can stay there for 24 hours before use.

3. Increases chance of bladder infections

4. Should be used with spermicide.

5. Rx only.

B. Cervical Cap

1. Fem Cap – A silicon cup used to prevent sperm from getting to the egg. 71%-86% effective

2. Lea’s Shield – A silicon cup with an air valve. It’s 85% effective. I’m not sure what the air valve is for, but I’m looking into it.

3. Can be left in for 24 hours before use.

4. By prescription only.

C. Male Condom

1. 85%-98%

2. Should be rolled down erection with all air bubbles squeezed out to prevent breaking.

3. Are available in latex or lambskin. Since lambskin is porous, it’s not as effective as latex.

D. Female Condom

1. 79%-95%

2. Is a lining that prevents the sperm from contacting the egg. The end of it should be outside of the vagina.

3. Also available in lambskin or latex.

E. Sponge

1. 68%-91%

2. Can be inserted hours before. Fairly cheap and over the counter.

II. Hormone Methods

A. Combined-Hormone Pill

1. 92%-99.7%

2. Prevents implantation of fertilized egg. Thickens uterine wall.

3. By prescription only.

4. 21 active pills are taken followed by a week of dummy pills while you get your period.

5. A new pill, “Seasonale” is a pack of 91 pills instead of 28 with 84 active days. This adjusts your body to have 4 periods a year.

6. A “low dose” pill can lower the severity of side effects such as nausea and weight gain that often accompany the normal pill. Usual pills have 30-35 micrograms of estrogen while the low dose only has 20.

B. POP (Progesterone Only Pill)

1. 92%-99.7% effective

2. Take every day of the year.

3. Is used by women with allergies to estrogen.

C. Ring

1. 99.7%

2. The ring stay inserted into the vagina for 3 weeks where it releases hormones. Is taken out for the week of you period.

3. Increases vaginal discharge

D. Patch (Ortho Evra)

1. 99.7%

2. Place on your butt, stomach, upper, or upper torso.

3. You put a new patch on one a week for 3 weeks and off for the 4th week for your period.

E. Implant (Impanon)

1. 99.9% effective

2. The doctor places the implant under the skin of your upper arm.

3. It prevents ovaries from releasing an egg and thickens uterine wall.

4. It’s progesterone only.

5. It may give you irregular bleeding patterns, headaches, nausea, dizziness, sore breasts, you know, the usual.

F. IUD (Intra-Uterine Device)

1. 99.2%-99.9% effective

2. The doctor will insert a copper T that will release hormones for up to 12 YEARS! If you get the brand “Paraguard”.

G. Injectable Contraceptive

1. 97%-99.7%

2. You get a shot every 3 months

3. $30-$75 per injection, not including visit fee.

III. Other Methods

A. Spermicide

1. 71%-82%

2. A jelly-like substance used in conjunction with other methods, it kills sperm. There’s also a suppository option.

3. Nonoxyl-9 can irritate genital tissue and increase risk on contracting HIV is used multiple times a day. Use here and there, isn’t dangerous.

4. Only effective up to 2 hours before use.

B. Withdrawal

1. 73%-96%

2. Can be VERY effective if the man knows his body. People often knock it because it depends purely on the couple’s actions, there’s no other physical help. But it can be more effective than a lot of other methods.

3. Coupled with periodic abstinence is best.

C. Periodic Abstinence

1. 75%-99% effective

2. You keep track of your period on a calendar to determine when you’re ovulating and when you should abstain.

3. You can’t use this method if you have periods that are shorter than 26 days or longer than 32

4. Temperature right after waking should be recorded. When your temp is highest, that’s when you’re ovulating.

5. Mucous should be noted as well. There’ll be more right before your period.

D. Sterilization

1. Female – Tubal – blocks tubes where sperm joins egg.

2. $2000-$6000

3. Male – Vasectomy – blocks tubes that carried sperm.

4. $350-$1000

5. Both are 99.5-99.9% effective. Those that do slip by have a high chance of become ectopic pregnancies.

E. Morning After Pill

1. 75-99.7% effective

2. Taken within 5 days of unprotected sex can help prevent pregnancy

3. It’s basically a strong dose of the normal birth control pill.

4. You take 2 pills 12 hours apart

5. Emergency IUD – 99.9% effective if inserted within 5 days.



FAQ about the pill

Planned Parenthood

Everything you ever wanted to know about the diaphragm.

Cervical Cap facts

Condoms

[This message has been edited by MrMojoRisin (edited 06-26-2006).]

It is sad you listed the "pull out" method as up to 96% effective, other than that, good guide.

[This message has been edited by among_the_living (edited 06-26-2006).]

Sad.. why? I can give you 5 sources right now that list withdrawal as a very effective method. Scientifically it's an appropriate option, although they do advise against TEENS using it.

Pulling out is NOT 96% effective. You are crazy. Even if the guy doesn't orgasm inside of her, he still may secrete before (precum) which contains sperm. Other then that, I say that was pretty informative.

73-96%

81-96%

Average of 81% effective

73-96% effective.

73%-96% effective. Argue with Planned Parenthood and tons of PhDs.

And I'll add in my own experience of using ONLY withdrawal for about 6 months. I've never been pregnant. It takes self-control on the man's side. Provided that a woman cannot get pregnant for the majority of the month, i really don't understand why it's so hard for you guys to grasp the pulling out WORKS.

Of course I wouldn't recommend it to those who have no self-control.

[This message has been edited by MrMojoRisin (edited 06-26-2006).]

I'll vouch for the pulling out method - it really does work as long as you can know and can control yourself.

I still want to know what male contraception exists for water-based environments. Is there something like "water condoms" available?

And thanks for summing all this up, MrMojoRisin. Its excellent!

"self control" you use this like he can somehow stop the precum coming out of him.

No matter when you pull out, if the penis has been inside her then more than lilely some sperm containing liquid will have come out. It is far from 90% effective.

ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND.

Do some fucking research, where is YOUR information coming from? Mine comes from sources, I think yours is coming out of your ass.

Tell me then, oh great one, how effective IS pulling out.

From a totally unbiased experiment, Yasmin, a birth control pill, listed in their information that comes with the pills every month, that pulling out can be 96% effective. I'm looking at ANOTHER birth control packet, Seasonale, right now, and it also says this.

I am the messenger, not the doctor. Stop fucking arguing with me.

You forgot to mention the risk of potential allergic reaction to any of the devices that you mentioned that contain latex. I know they make special plastic or cellulose surgical gloves for doctors who are allergic to latex, but I do not know about condoms (I wouldn't be surprised if they did).

My girlfriend and I used the withdrawal method for about a year, having sex quite often, and not once was there any problem.

It's kind of funny, but when you are trying to have a kid and can't, people will tell you how hard it is to become pregnant. When don't want to become pregnant, they will tell you how easy it is to become pregnant.

Something doesn't seem right to me.

Jack, you're funny.

I was listening to either NPR or watching MSNBC and caught the tail end of a report concerning a new pill approved by the FDA that eliminates periods altogether.

This is cool as hell.

But I don't trust the FDA.

There's got to be SOMETHING wrong with that. Maybe I'm a hypocrite, I've been taking Seasonale (4 periods a year) for a few years now after being on regular BC, Yasmin. And although I think it's been an improvement. For 5 years I was fighting off UTIs and yeast infections when I was sexually active. After being pretty much neglected and pushed through at my doctor's over the period of this time I took it upon myself to be my own gyno. I told him the BC was causing my yeast infections and that I need to switch. He blew me off and wrote a prescription for fucking yeast meds (which btw the otc didn't do ANYTHING for me).

I'm sure you can guess what Mojo did?

I went to a different doctor, he was more than happy to help me out and listen. And I LOVE HIM.

Point of the story? Well there's two. One, if you have yeast infection constantly and you and your partner clean thoroughly change your BC!! Your doctor should have a whole graph on the different measurements of progestin and estrogen are in different pills. Get one with less, haven't had ONE since I've been on Seasonal.
And two, if you're not totally in love (and of course comfortable) with your gyno get a new one! If he looks at the paper more than you, LEAVE. Most doctors really don't know what the hell is going on.

But that would be evil!:P

Don't you think it's a SIGN that I was smote with an internal hemrrhoid(SP?) just DAYS before the EAS was supposed to take place? I think GOD was all saying, "You'd be fucking CRAZY to put that in your butt, so here is my divine intervention.":P

No! Don't! It hurts!

That's not what HOZ says.:P

Men are all alike, I swear. My husband is always talking about how wonderful it would be if we did that...But he's never had anything even remotely near the size of his penis go up his ass, so there's no way he could know! I mean his penis won't even go in my VAGINA without a lot of help...And even then he can only get about 2/3 of it in there!

It was very good birth control when I wasn't bleeding though.. So long as you're in a monogamous relationship, I'd recommend to give it a try.. It just didn't agree with my body.. I had it inserted right after I had my daughter.. So my periods were already screwy.. It is THE MOST EFFECTIVE birth control out there.. (Minus abstinence, Jack )

It may be better for your body than it was for mine.. I was so adamant about it because the Paraguard is non-hormonal..

I'm almost considering getting it again.. It was a lot easier to deal with.. You didn't have to think about birth control at all.. No condoms to run out of at inconvenient times, no forgetting to take pills, no inserting gooey creams or rubber caps.. You can't even feel it when it's in..

I loved it, but hated it..

Lol.. Don't brag!

He likes to let eveyone know that he gets tons of back-door-entry with me and that I enjoy it, prefer it, in fact.. He lives in a dream world.. He wishes..

Don't forget I have had a cock in my arse before....and it was good!

__________________
Harry Potter "Deathly Hallows" ends "19 Years Later" on the platform with him seeing the 1st of his and Ginny's 3 kids off to Hogwarts. Hermione has a child with Ron.

Due to my lack of prostate, I did not enjoy any time I've had anal..

Heh, believe me I'm not bragging...More like bemoaning my cross to bear.:P

My husband probably tells everyone that I love it and prefer it too./sigh:P

I've been off the pill for about 2 months now on doctors orders because due to my migraines it can increase my risk of stroke and blood clot. Well SCREW THAT. I now remember why I went on BC in the first place. The horrible, horrible cramps. Tear inducing, unable to move, want to kill anything that comes anywhere near me cramps. So I'm pretty much ok with increasing my non-existent risk of stroke not to deal with this crap anymore.

Anal sex... gah. It scares me.