IUD

The hormonal IUD (Mirena) dramatically reduces blood loss during one’s period, protecting against anemia. It can also reduce menstrual symptoms in women who have fibroids. And, if you’re a woman who can’t use estrogen, both the hormonal IUD and the copper IUD (Paragard) are good options.

Using a method of birth control with estrogen, like the pill, patch, or ring, increases the risk of forming a blood clot, but the risk is so low that if you don’t have any factors that increase your chances of having a blood clot, you can safely use all types of birth control. If you do have an increased risk of blood clots because you’ve had one before you’ve had a stroke or heart attack, or you have a medical condition that increases your risk of a blood clot, like high blood pressure, then adding birth control with estrogen to the mix increases your risk too much and it’s not recommended that you use birth control with estrogen in it. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a birth control method for you! 


If you can’t take estrogen, you have quite a few options available to you. First you have the non-hormonal methods, like the copper IUD. You can also use any of the hormonal methods that only contain progestin, not estrogen, like the implant, mini-pill, shot, and hormonal IUDs, like Mirena, Skyla, Liletta, and Kyleena. These don’t increase your risk of blood clots and are all really good at preventing pregnancy.

If you’re worried about blood clots or don’t know if you have risk factors, talk to a health care provider about which birth control methods are options for you.

If you have dysmenorrhea (the medical term for extremely painful periods), hormonal birth control can make a big difference. Options like the combination pill or a hormonal IUD can reduce the level of pain and heaviness of your bleeding, basically making it easier for you to live your life when you have your period. There are a bunch of hormonal methods that can help regulate your periods, decrease bleeding, or even make your period go away completely.

For most people, the risk of blood clots when using the ring, the patch, or the combined birth control pill (which is the most common type of pill) is low. But smoking increases this risk. If you are over 35 and smoke 15 or more cigarettes a day, the combination pill, patch, and ring are not safe options for you. If you’re over 35 and you smoke less than 15 cigarettes a day, talk to your provider about whether these birth control methods are safe options for you. People who smoke can always use the IUD, the implant, the shot, the mini-pill (progestin-only pill), and any method that is hormone free (like condoms, for example).

If you feel like your birth control is changing your behavior, it’s time to talk to your health care provider. Everybody responds to birth control differently, and your provider can help you decide whether it’s time to try something else. It might be a matter of switching hormonal methods or deciding whether to avoid hormonal birth control altogether, or you may choose to wait it out since some negative side effects go away with time. The bottom line: If your current method is making you feel blah, don’t settle. There are a lot of methods to choose from and sometimes it can take a few tries to get it right.

If this is the case, you’re probably using a copper IUD (Paragard). Sometimes things get better if you just give it a couple months. You can also take ibuprofen the first few days of your period.

The IUD shouldn’t hurt your partner. You may have heard that the IUD strings can bother partners while having sex, but most partners can’t even feel the strings. If your partner can feel the strings, and that bothers them, your healthcare provider might be able to trim them. Plus, they usually soften over time.

IUDs are safe for most people with a uterus, and copper toxicity is super rare. That said, it can happen, especially in people with Wilson’s Disease, a rare genetic condition (about 1 in every 30,000 to 40,000 people have it) that affects your body’s ability to process copper. Given how low the daily dose of copper is from the non-hormonal IUD, it is extremely unlikely that someone who does not have Wilson’s Disease would experience copper toxicity.

It can be complicated to tell exactly how hormonal birth control affects mood, but you’re the only one who truly knows how you feel. Everyone reacts to birth control differently, so if you feel your birth control might be contributing to depression, talk with your health care provider. Remember, there are a lot of birth control methods out there—you can find the right one for you!

IUD insertion pain can vary from person to person, but unfortunately there isn’t a great drug to take to make insertion less painful.

You can try taking ibuprofen beforehand, and make sure you get the IUD inserted when your cervix is open, such as when you’re on your period or ovulating. Even if there is some pain, it might be worth it for years of worry-free boot knocking.

Most birth control methods will not cause weight gain. Everyone’s body responds to birth control differently, but research shows that the pill, patch, the hormonal IUD, the ring, and non-hormonal birth control methods like a copper IUD or condoms don’t cause weight gain (or loss). Studies do show that about 1 in 4 people who use the shot will gain some weight (around 5% of body weight).

Any medicine has some side effects, but when people hear the negative stuff, it sticks in their brain like a cheesy old song you can’t stop humming. That’s just human nature, and it happens to all of us.

Remember that drug companies list every single scary thing you could possibly experience with a medication. Even if it’s super rare. They have to. It’s the law. So before you run for the hills, consider this: the potential side effects of something as harmless as aspirin are pretty scary when you read them, too. Birth control is definitely worth it if you aren’t ready to have a baby. Trust us, pregnancy has more side effects than we can count. There are so many different birth control methods that there’s something for everyone.