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I've been shocked by how many women, my mother included, didn't know what an IUD was when I told them I got one.
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Jul 20, 2013 17:10
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Brazilian Werewolf posted:IUDs are pretty popular though when they're available, at least in my experience. Most of my girl friends with good insurance have IUDs, but a lot of birth control decisions hinge on cost and insurance coverage. I'm still using the minipill because it's free for me now and it's a completely financial decision as my insurance isn't very IUD-friendly. I thought that thanks to provisions in the ACA that are already in effect insurers are now legally mandated to cover 100% of the cost of IUDs in addition to pretty much every other form of female birth control short of hysterectomies? My wife had all of the cost of her Mirena covered by our insurance, minus the two ultrasounds they did during the initial consultation and then again during the procedure (she has an inverted uterus.)
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Jul 20, 2013 20:44
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Tshirt Ninja posted:I've been shocked by how many women, my mother included, didn't know what an IUD was when I told them I got one. When I told my mom I was thinking about getting an IUD, she did know what it was since her sister had one once. But she was still really freaked out about it and warned me "You know you can still get pregnant with those right?" like it was a certainty. To her credit though, she kind of corrected herself by adding you could get pregnant on any birth control. I've run into a lot of people who only seem to have a vague idea about what they are. A lot of the women I work with hate hormonal birth control and condoms to the point where they just have really risky sex instead. I've tried telling them about Paragard, but they don't seem to get it and just dismiss it with "Birth control just doesn't work for me." At least one's pregnant again already.  Geoj posted:I thought that thanks to provisions in the ACA that are already in effect insurers are now legally mandated to cover 100% of the cost of IUDs in addition to pretty much every other form of female birth control short of hysterectomies? My wife had all of the cost of her Mirena covered by our insurance, minus the two ultrasounds they did during the initial consultation and then again during the procedure (she has an inverted uterus.) If you're talking about the new healthcare laws that are in effect, I'm pretty sure that only applies to new policies and ones that went into effect after a certain date. There are still plenty of insurance policies out there that didn't get grandfathered in, so there are bound to be some women who still haven't benefited from it yet. For Mirena in particular though, there's always the ARCH Foundation that gives out IUDs free to people who qualify. Might be worth looking into if your insurance won't get it.
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Jul 20, 2013 22:25
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Tshirt Ninja posted:I've been shocked by how many women, my mother included, didn't know what an IUD was when I told them I got one. My mother did not know what and IUD was and when I told her, she became very concerned it would get lost in my body, as she also did not know the uterus was a closed off organ. A woman who had had sex and had a child, and then later had that organ removed had no idea how it worked. I was a little stunned.
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Jul 20, 2013 23:11
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Geolicious posted:My mother did not know what and IUD was and when I told her, she became very concerned it would get lost in my body, as she also did not know the uterus was a closed off organ. Somehow it doesn't surprise me considering how many women I've heard who were convinced tampons would get lost in their body if they weren't careful.
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Jul 20, 2013 23:48
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Kimmalah posted:I've run into a lot of people who only seem to have a vague idea about what they are. A lot of the women I work with hate hormonal birth control and condoms to the point where they just have really risky sex instead. I've tried telling them about Paragard, but they don't seem to get it and just dismiss it with "Birth control just doesn't work for me." At least one's pregnant again already.  Surely ANY form of BC, even the morning after pill, would be less stressful on her body and her marriage than that.
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Jul 21, 2013 18:19
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Bamabalacha posted:Yeah, my office mate is one of those women. I've been working with her for two and half years and in that time she's had three abortions. I'm 100% pro-choice, but her situation just makes me Yeah I think they must be getting Paragard and Mirena mixed up because I when I mentioned it they just kind of wrote it off as "I can't handle hormones well" even though I tried to explain the difference. She went with the withdrawal method, which I know can work if done right, but the guy she's with has already had at least one kid that way. This area is pretty crappy as far as education and cheap birth control options go anyway. Just to get cheap pills you have to go into the county next door and the Planned Parenthood that gave me my IUD is 30 minutes away. So I guess it's not a huge surprise.
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Jul 21, 2013 20:16
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It's like these insurers and law-makers can't do basic math. Pay for an IUD or an implant, and that's 3-5 years of not paying for pills, patches or rings, and emergency contraceptives, and the possible HUGE costs of pregnancy. I'd think one pregnant lady would wipe out the cost of at least 30 people on IUDs. (pulled from my butt, but it's gotta be something around there). This is like the only time I really wish I lived in the USA's Tophat. They can do math, even when it starts out with Un Deux.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:59
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DoggPickle posted:It's like these insurers and law-makers can't do basic math. Pay for an IUD or an implant, and that's 3-5 years of not paying for pills, patches or rings, and emergency contraceptives, and the possible HUGE costs of pregnancy. I think the term you're looking for here is "pennywise, pound-foolish." They're likely looking at the cost of an IUD at $650-1000 per, vs the relatively low $20-30/month for whatever other hormonal/barrier birth control method. And I doubt paying for a pregnancy even occurs to insurers - these women are on birth control after all!
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Jul 23, 2013 04:47
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A lot of the time I think they are counting on you being on some other insurance by the time they would incur enough cost to make getting you the IUD worth it.
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Jul 23, 2013 05:35
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DoggPickle posted:It's like these insurers and law-makers can't do basic math. Pay for an IUD or an implant, and that's 3-5 years of not paying for pills, patches or rings, and emergency contraceptives, and the possible HUGE costs of pregnancy. I'd think one pregnant lady would wipe out the cost of at least 30 people on IUDs. (pulled from my butt, but it's gotta be something around there). This is like the only time I really wish I lived in the USA's Tophat. They can do math, even when it starts out with Un Deux. I think a lot of it has to do with birth control methods like the implant and IUDs still being less common in the U.S. When people (including insurance companies apparently) think birth control, they pretty much automatically think of the pill in some form. Long-term options still aren't seen as being very commonplace yet I think and if it's not commonly accepted you can pretty much count on an insurance company being hesitant to pay for it. Especially something with a hefty upfront price tag. Of course that just compounds the problem, since these options won't become commonly accepted until more people can actually afford to get them. It also might depend some on the individual company. I've had some insurance companies that wouldn't pay for anything, while I've had at least one that (for example) shelled out for the relatively new/expensive Gardasil vaccine because they considered it a cancer preventative (and therefore more cost-effective over the long-term). I would think most places would have number crunchers who would have figured this out already, but apparently not! Even though I don't have insurance currently, it was similar red tape stuff like this that made me just give up and pay the whole thing out of pocket (which I realize everyone can't necessarily do). I got tired of trying to navigate the maze of paperwork/requirements just to get something I really needed at a reasonable price.
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Jul 23, 2013 14:52
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It definitely depends on the insurance company/plan. I got Gardasil and Implanon, and the only cost was my normal copay of $15 per office visit.
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Jul 23, 2013 17:02
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i like nice words
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Ceridwen posted:A lot of the time I think they are counting on you being on some other insurance by the time they would incur enough cost to make getting you the IUD worth it. This sounds about right, and there's also the "welp it's been 3 months and the [insert long-term option] isn't working for me, time to try something else!" so there's all the insurance company's money down the drain. Not to mention they're still probably working under the assumption that expulsions are more common than they are, and all of a sudden it turns from a great solution to a huge gamble as to if it'll pay off or if the woman will be unhappy with it and decide to change it. Not everyone's experience with BC has been "Oh hey this is my first ever and it's wonderful", so I see why they'd be hesitant about covering it all. See all the pages in this thread alone where people've asked what else they should try because they dislike their current method. Edit: under our insurance we still had to pay ~$800 for my Mirena. Best money we've ever spent as a couple, but it would've been nice if it'd been free 
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Jul 23, 2013 17:22
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Today is the day for Multiload (copper IUD) removal and Jadelle (implant) insertion! Fingers crossed that it'll work for me. I'm paying NZD70 all up, but I think that's pretty much all either materials or the usual visit charges.
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Jul 23, 2013 18:25
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I finally had one of my healthcare professionals take me seriously when I said I wanted to move toward a low-dose hormone method of birth control like an IUD or implant. It was my counselor, not one of my doctors, but still, I feel like this is a huge step toward moving forward with the idea. I start a minipill at the end of this week, and if that goes well for the next three months, then at my next pelvic exam I'm bringing a question list for the nurse practitioner and really pushing for information. If she can't/is unwilling to do either, then there's a fairly large OB-GYN practice a block down my street that's in my insurance network. If progestin-only works for me, hopefully the lowest dosage possible will be even better as far as the hormones affecting my mood goes, and maybe I'll eventually be able to be weaned off of SSRIs, which I don't like because they mess with my ability to write to varying degrees.
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Jul 23, 2013 18:41
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BlueOccamy posted:This sounds about right, and there's also the "welp it's been 3 months and the [insert long-term option] isn't working for me, time to try something else!" so there's all the insurance company's money down the drain. Not to mention they're still probably working under the assumption that expulsions are more common than they are, and all of a sudden it turns from a great solution to a huge gamble as to if it'll pay off or if the woman will be unhappy with it and decide to change it. I must be lucky because I talked to my doctor's office and my Mirena is only gonna cost me roughly $160. Apparently my insurance lumps Mirena with the medical devices (10% out of pocket) instead of wellness like they do with Paragard and Implanon (completely covered). I don't know why either Speaking of which, I'm getting my Mirena inserted next Tuesday! From reading the OP, I know I should take some ibuprofen about an hour or so before my appointment. Are there any other suggestions/advice about what I need to do that day?
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Jul 23, 2013 23:49
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I wasn't sure exactly how much my Nexplanon would cost when I scheduled to get it put in and frankly I was willing to pay for the upfront costs. Oddly enough, my clinic's business department called me a week before the insertion and said they had already talked to my insurance company, who agreed to pay for the whole thing. V  V
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Jul 24, 2013 00:39
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My paragard was I think around $400 out of pocket with Aetna in Seattle. My new insurance and provider would fully cover it though. Yay group health (they seem to be alot more into preventative medicine than i've ever seen before)
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Jul 24, 2013 00:44
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Miz Kriss posted:I must be lucky because I talked to my doctor's office and my Mirena is only gonna cost me roughly $160. Apparently my insurance lumps Mirena with the medical devices (10% out of pocket) instead of wellness like they do with Paragard and Implanon (completely covered). I don't know why either It's not absolutely necessary but if you can arrange it, see if you can get a ride home from someone that day. Have plenty of ibuprofen, a heating pad, and some pads/pantiliners on hand. And if you can get the day off work and everything, just kick back and take it easy the rest of the day. Spoil yourself a little.
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Jul 24, 2013 01:39
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I got my Paraguard for free because the appointment I made at the sliding scale women's health clinic (associated with the state university) happened to fall when I was unemployed and living off of credit cards. :\
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Jul 24, 2013 05:33
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GoodBee posted:I got my Paraguard for free because the appointment I made at the sliding scale women's health clinic (associated with the state university) happened to fall when I was unemployed and living off of credit cards. :\ This is how I got my pills for free for almost 4 years running. Even when I had a job, my income was so low I didn't have to pay anything. I probably would have kept on doing it except I couldn't stand the pill. Still get free pap smears too. Edit: I always say this about a million times in the thread, but always check out your local health department if you have one. That's where I get all this free (and very competent) healthcare/birth control. They even almost got me a free Mirena until I chickened out about the hormones. Kimmalah fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Jul 24, 2013 |
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Jul 24, 2013 15:25
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I ended up having to pay $380  for my Mirena. My current insurance wouldn't cover it since it was only for contraception and no "real" medical reason. I was kinda surprised since I'm in Canada and this the first time I've had something not covered.So far I'm about 6 weeks in with my IUD. Not having to worry to take a pill is awesome; the bleeding not so much. Post insertion I only had 5-7 days of very light spotting and then nothing until my period. Which of course was a week early and lasted 2 weeks. Since then I've only had 3 days of not spotting for all of July. Over all the spotting is still light just annoying. I just hope it stops before I go on vacation! I knew going in this would happen but for some reason I just thought it would be less continuous. /end whining
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Jul 24, 2013 16:20
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County health departments kept me in free pills and paps while I was in college and the first part of grad school. Free was good. I had to deal with a lot of shamey bullshit in a couple of them, but I got the care I needed.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:32
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Geolicious posted:County health departments kept me in free pills and paps while I was in college and the first part of grad school. Free was good. I had to deal with a lot of shamey bullshit in a couple of them, but I got the care I needed. Yeah I've dealt with that kind of thing a bit, but this seems to be pretty common at a lot of the reduced price clinics I've gone to. I know the nurses at the health department always seemed a bit put off when they read my medical history form that specifically asked what kinds of sex I've had. And the Planned Parenthood kind of lectured me a little when she found out I don't always use condoms with my partner (even though we'd already gone over the fact that I was in a long-term monogamous relationship where both parties were healthy and I was on birth control pills). It's annoying, but when you're broke with no insurance you kind of deal with it. My health department was also a great motivator, since they do a lot of vaccinations and early childhood care as well. So every single visit I was stuck in a waiting room with about 3-4 hyperactive toddlers and/or screaming babies. Nothing reminds you of why you want birth control better than that.  And hey, they gave me a free tetanus booster once at an appointment just because they were giving them away that month or something.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:53
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Anyone up in here have any experience with Marvelon (also known as/similar to Desogen and Apri)? I got switched to it by my gyno today, after the Ortho Evra patch couldn't hack it as continuous use BC. I'm super bummed to be going off the patch, but I'd rather go without it and get fewer periods and have a lower chance of monster cysts 
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Jul 25, 2013 00:21
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Kimmalah posted:My health department was also a great motivator, since they do a lot of vaccinations and early childhood care as well. So every single visit I was stuck in a waiting room with about 3-4 hyperactive toddlers and/or screaming babies. Mine was specifically the women's health clinic. The waiting room had a giant no children allowed sign. I guess they were serious because I never once saw a child. It was seriously awesome.
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Jul 25, 2013 00:50
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Bamabalacha posted:Anyone up in here have any experience with Marvelon (also known as/similar to Desogen and Apri)? I got switched to it by my gyno today, after the Ortho Evra patch couldn't hack it as continuous use BC. I'm super bummed to be going off the patch, but I'd rather go without it and get fewer periods and have a lower chance of monster cysts As all the pills can have different effects on different women, take this with a grain of salt, but Marvelon was as smooth a ride as I've experienced on the pill. If I remember correctly, I did experience boob growth, but that was it, no acne. Hell no would I ever change back from the IUS, though.
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Jul 25, 2013 13:39
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GoodBee posted:Mine was specifically the women's health clinic. The waiting room had a giant no children allowed sign. I guess they were serious because I never once saw a child. It was seriously awesome. Man I wish they had done that. But it was a pretty small clinic, so I can understand why they had the one communal waiting room. Also it's in the bible belt, where the motto might as well be "Babies! Babies! Everyone loves babies! Especially you women!" Also thought I might add that this latest (7th I think) period with the Paragard has really been smooth sailing. Things aren't quite so heavy and much less cramping than usual. There used to be one full day that was just a crampfest, but this time it's just been a few random spells taken out by ibuprofen.
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Jul 25, 2013 14:25
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Lady Xava posted:So far I'm about 6 weeks in with my IUD. Not having to worry to take a pill is awesome; the bleeding not so much. Post insertion I only had 5-7 days of very light spotting and then nothing until my period. Which of course was a week early and lasted 2 weeks. Since then I've only had 3 days of not spotting for all of July. Over all the spotting is still light just annoying. I just hope it stops before I go on vacation! I knew going in this would happen but for some reason I just thought it would be less continuous. /end whining So is this common? I've bled 9 of the last 10 days that I've had my Mirena. I wouldn't really call that "spotting" like all the pamphlets told me - it's straight up bleeding.
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Jul 26, 2013 08:06
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Tshirt Ninja posted:So is this common? I've bled 9 of the last 10 days that I've had my Mirena. I wouldn't really call that "spotting" like all the pamphlets told me - it's straight up bleeding. Yes, you're fine. Everyone takes to it different. I spotted for a few days and then got a week long period. Then spotted off and on for a month, and got a lesser period. I'm three months in now and it was three weeks of nothing, and then a lesser than the last month period. If all I wind up with is spotting I'll be happy, hell I'm just happy to not be taking a pill everyday.
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Jul 26, 2013 08:22
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Tshirt Ninja posted:So is this common? I've bled 9 of the last 10 days that I've had my Mirena. I wouldn't really call that "spotting" like all the pamphlets told me - it's straight up bleeding. I had full-on bleeding for at least a week or so after my IUD insertion. I'm sure stopping the pill at the same time probably didn't help since that will usually give you some bleeding and weirdness for a little while too. It eventually stopped (after I think 7 days give or take) but then I don't have a hormonal IUD so that will probably change your experience a bit. Bleeding must be a pretty normal/expected part of the process since I remember my doctor mentioned swabbing some kind of clotting agent on my cervix to keep bleeding to a minimum at first. I've also had spotting off and on occasionally ever since. I used to get pretty anxious about it, but eventually I figured if the IUD seems like it's still in the right place and I'm not having any other symptoms it's probably just one of those weird things.
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Jul 26, 2013 13:00
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My sister bled for over a month after getting her Mirena put in.
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Jul 26, 2013 17:34
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Ah, a relevant time for me to ask this question! For the ladies who still get periods with Mirena, how do you know when you're going to come on? I haven't had a 'proper' period for nearly ten years (hooray for the pill), so I vaguely remember tracking my cycle and what a pain it was to have to wear a pad for about 3 days before the date I calculated I was due. I assume it would be much the same as this? Or is it even less predictable than that? How common is totally random spotting? The idea of ruining heaps of underwear is incredibly unappealing...
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Jul 26, 2013 18:11
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Bollock Monkey posted:Ah, a relevant time for me to ask this question! You remember your body's cycle after 2 or 3 months. (I was worried about this too!) For example mine is: "Wow my boobs hurt" - "All food should be covered in chocolate" - Start wearing undies I care nothing for(or a liner). For the first month-ish/initial bleeding just wear a liner all the time. Sucks yeah, but it winds up being worth it. I now know that it's around the same time every month to start watching for it.
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Jul 26, 2013 20:30
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Bollock Monkey posted:Ah, a relevant time for me to ask this question! I don't, it kinda sucks but every three months or so my vagina will be like "haha here's some blood, enjoy!!" and then spot for a few days. It's usually old looking blood, too. I tracked it for a while, figured out it was pretty loving random and just gave up. I don't get cramps or anything.
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Jul 27, 2013 07:01
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Bamabalacha posted:Anyone up in here have any experience with Marvelon (also known as/similar to Desogen and Apri)? I got switched to it by my gyno today, after the Ortho Evra patch couldn't hack it as continuous use BC. I'm super bummed to be going off the patch, but I'd rather go without it and get fewer periods and have a lower chance of monster cysts I was on Apri for 18 months. No major complaints, I stacked packs of pills with it all the time- like six months once, and didn't have any issues with spotting. Periods were light and short. Only reason I went off it was to go to a $9 a month pill instead of the $20ish I used to have to pay with my insurance pre Mirena/Affordable Healthcare Act.
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Jul 28, 2013 04:23
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How long should it take me to get back to normal after getting an IUD inserted? I got a Mirena put in on Thursday to (hopefully) help control endometriosis symptoms and it was probably the most painful experience of my life. The insertion wasn't too bad but the cramping afterwards was bad enough that I wasn't able to walk or move around for the rest of the day even after taking a couple of Norcos. It's easing up some but I'm still having to take pain meds to function and any sort of physical activity is totally out of the question. How much longer is this gonna hurt because this really sucks
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Jul 29, 2013 22:58
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Honestly, I was back to normal by the next day aside from some bleeding and random cramping. But I don't have any other medical issues like the endometriosis so that could be a contributing factor.
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Jul 29, 2013 23:07
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Triangulum posted:How long should it take me to get back to normal after getting an IUD inserted? About 1 day for me to not want a heating pad, 3 days before I stopped taking tylenol every 4 hours, and beyond that was pretty normal with what I call "settling" cramps every so often for a few months (like an hour after I did squats i'd get a twinge) Honestly though, nothing was worse than the cramps I already had every month so it was a non event.
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Jul 30, 2013 06:42
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Triangulum posted:How long should it take me to get back to normal after getting an IUD inserted? My body did weird cramping things for about a week. You should be over the worst of it now, with every day getting better. Your first period may be a day or two of aching but nothing like the past few days for you. Then the one after that is even easier, etc. (I had a Mirena put in to stop menorrhagia symptoms. For about three days it sucked rocks)
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Jul 30, 2013 07:05
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