So I've been looking into different birth control options. My boyfriend and I are not currently sexually active, but we want to be each other's first time and I would much prefer to be prepared sooner rather than later even though we want to wait. For myself, I really do not like the idea of hormonal BC options. I just don't like the changes they make to your body and I know I wouldn't remember to take the pill everyday. The patch I don't like because it isn't as private. I've done a bit of research on IUDs and I like that they are effective for several years and are easily reversible should I ever want to become pregnant. I wanted to know if any of you had experience with the Paragaurd non-hormonal IUD or know someone who has used it before. Was it effective? were there any complications? What were the costs like (I know it's initially expensive)? Was it covered by insurance? Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Google and the Paraguard website can probably answer most of your questions (that is where I got most of the information) and a lot of it is going to depend on YOU and your situation. It can be up to $500 upfront depending on your insurance and the best thing you can do is call them and ask them what they cover. Some don't cover BC at all, but others do. It's supposed to be almost as effective as being sterilized, but from what I understand when people DO get pregnant while it's in they generally have to abort because its an ectopic pregnancy. It doesn't happen often, it's less likely than people getting pregnant on the pill. Side effects like painful insertion, more cramps, heavier periods for a few months after insertion seem to be the most common ones.

There is a lot of information and stories online. Just take all the stories with a grain of salt because there will ALWAYS be people it didn't work for and they tend to be the most vocal. For some people insertion is pretty bad and for some people the cramps after insertion and during their period are so bad they have it removed. For others it's not that bad, there isn't really a way to know how it's going to effect you.

I have Mirena, and I adore it.

The doctor I had at the time that authorized putting it in took matters of birth control incredibly seriously, and I know would straight up refuse to prescribe it to you. He looked at it as a step below sterilization, and wouldn't take that serious of a measure unless you had a kid, or had a real obvious reason you couldn't take the pill, outside of "I know I won't remember to take it." So be prepared to fight for it, in the event you run across a doc like mine.

I don't have to fuss with it, I don't have to remember to take certain things, and I've not had so much as a scare in the 4 years and some change I've had it in. LOVE. IT.

When you go to get Mirena put in, they actually try to put it in on your period, because it's easier (there's a reason why, off hand I don't remember it). I have super irregular periods, and I wasn't about to wait for one to show up, I went "Aah, let's just do it!"

Let me tell you - that was uncomfortable. It's not brutal, I wasn't sorry I did it, but it doesn't exactly tickle. I was crampy for about a week afterward. For what I got out of it, a week of discomfort ain't so bad.

I was on state insurance at the time, so it was fully covered. I've seen people that didn't get theirs covered quote prices as high as $900. Even still though, $900 beats the $5,000 it cost me to have my son! And that was just to get him home!

Sealed the deal for me:

Your periods will get lighter or stop altogether with Mirena.

Your periods will increase with Paragaurd.

I have Mirena and after the initial spotting for 3-6 months, I don't have to deal with Aunt Flo! Yay!

Both of the IUDs are going to be expensive. My insurance doesn't cover birth control, so I go to Planned Parenthood for all that. They run on a sliding scale and differ from state to state. It would have cost me $400. I applied to a special program and wound up getting Mirena for free! I just had to pay the $20 or something for the insertion fee.

I was SO nervous about the insertion, but it REALLY was not that bad at all. It felt weird - there isn't really any way to describe it - sort of like cramps. But it was over in a second, around the same time as a gyno exam and a PAP smear. I was on my period when I went, of course.

When I first went to my doctor to try and get an IUD years ago, she refused to give one to me because I wasn't married. I was in a long-term relationship with my boyfriend. If you get an STD, there is a ridiculously slim chance that it can get into your uterus if you have the IUD (if you just got it inserted, I think) and you can become sterile. Because I wasn't married, she said, I couldn't be sure my boyfriend was monogamous. I told her that just because she was married, she couldn't be sure her husband was monogamous.

Because the IUD - though temporary and easily removable by a doctor - IS one step below sterilization, you will probably get a similar response if you try to get one from your doctor. They claim that unless you've had a child, it's harder to insert. If you go when you're on your period, there's not really any difference. It doesn't feel great, but being uncomfortable for a few minutes or even a day is obviously a pretty good trade for FIVE YEARS (or ten years, with Paraguard) of birth control!

After it was inserted, I did have a lot of spotting. You just shoved something up your uterus, so this is to be expected. The doctor said this could go on for 3-6 months. I was spotting heavily around every other week for a month or so, and had irregular light spotting for several months after that. I think it went on a tiny bit longer than 6 months, but since September I haven't had any spotting.

I highly recommend getting either IUD. I love never having to worry about birth control. Of course it doesn't protect against STDs but if you're with your boy that's not a concern.

With the IUD there is a less than 1% chance that you could get pregnant. If you do get pregnant, there is an increased chance that it could be ectopic. Even if it's not, the fact that there is a plastic/metal T up in your uterus means that the pregnancy is probably not viable - premies and miscarriages are common. If your doctor takes the IUD out when you get pregnant, it IS possible to have a viable pregnancy. But again, we went through three levels of qualification there, so it's a very, very reliable method of birth control.

There is a string that you can reach in and feel to make sure your IUD is in place. Sometimes a guy can feel it during sex, but this shouldn't happen often and generally isn't a problem. If the string is too long you can get a doctor to trim it.

...that's about it I think!

I had an IUD for a few years in my 30s. I'd had 2 kids, and been back on birth control pills for some time. My doctor felt I should give my body a break from the hormones and I really liked the idea of not having to remember to take the daily pill. I don't believe the insertion was too bad nor was there much discomfort during the following days because I can't even remember it. My periods went back to being squirrely just as they had always been when not on the pill, averaging about once every 6 weeks; no change there. I really liked the IUD as a method of birth control until I got pregnant and had a miscarriage with it still inside. Yes, I was part of that "less than 1%". But that was back in the '70s and I'm sure the IUD devices of today are improved.

I'm surprised that doctors consider an IUD "a step below sterilization". If and when you want to become pregnant it's easy to remove. And with birth control pills when you discontinue them it may still take a few months before you can get pregnant. (But maybe the pills of today have improved, too, and that's no longer true.) Though when it comes to STDs, or any diseases, I suppose doctors like to err on the side of caution.

If you feel strongly about no hormones, don't let your doctor try to talk you into Mirena.

I had the Paragard and will be getting another one. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't too pleasant getting it put in. Take some motrin beforehand and plan to spend the rest of the day taking it easy. Your periods will be heavier for awhile, but that doesn't last long. My doctor told me that cramps and periods would be back to normal by 6 months, and it was more like 3.

I adored it. The only problem I ran into is that mine slipped down through my cervix and I had to get it taken out. However, my doctor told me that I was a freak case and that the chances of it happening again (or in general) were far less than 1%. I highly recommend it.

^ mine slipped too in the summer and I only randomly found it one day. I could easily have gotten pregnant because it wasn't uncomfortable and could have gone on a long time like that.

Other than the slipping, I loved it too. I don't currently have one as I'd be quite nervous about it happening again, so if you go for one just make sure to regularly check you can't feel anything hard poking through your cervix

This is just my persona story, so take it as you will. I actually brought up the idea of an IUD with my doctor. She said that she really doesn't like to insert them if you haven't yet had a child (one time she caved to a teenage patient and did just that: apparently the poor girl was in tears it hurt so bad.) I'm not trying to talk you out of it; just be prepared for that particular scenario should you decide to go ahead.

Should you decide against it, know that the pill doesn't necessarily change your body and mess you up. I've been on the pill for several years, and the difference really isn't noticeable. That's such an individual thing that you really can't be certain how you will respond.

Have you considered the NuvaRing? I know you're not into hormones but there are literally no side effects with this, and the hormones are so localized that they do not travel through your whole body (according to my doctor and the internet). It's easy to remember, and I had to get this one because of the super low amounts of estrogen- too much of that and it screws me up.

Just something to consider if the IUD doesn't work out.

^Nuva Ring definitely still has side effects, but some of them can be lessened due to the localized hormones. However, there are risks with ANY hormonal birth control, which should not be minimized.

No prescription drug has no side effects.

I second the NuvaRing. Of course, UberGoober is right that no medication is totally free of side effects. However, I've been using the NuvaRing for years and I've personally never experienced any ill effects or changes whatsoever from the hormones. I mostly like it because it's much, much easier to remember than taking a pill every day, plus it's easy to insert and you don't notice it once it's in there. I really like it; I recommend it to people all the time. I know you said you wanted something non-hormonal but from your post I wasn't sure if you had considered the NuvaRing and I wanted to suggest it.

My best friend got paragard when she got married. She really loves it! She said that the insertion was pretty painful and her first few periods were heavy, but other than that everything is great! She really likes it because it is hormone free (something really important to her) and it doesn't come out during sex (she had the nuvaring before and it fell out a LOT).

I think that the hormonal difference between Mirena and Paragard are why most doctors tell you to wait until you've had a child to use Mirena, not because of insertion and the size of your uterus. Paragard's website says nothing about waiting until after having children, whereas Mirena's does.

Hope that helps! I think Paragard is a really great form of birth control because it doesn't mess with your body and does an excellent job at preventing pregnancy.

I got Paragard a few months ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I got it inserted by the physician's assistant I see at the school clinic, who told me that most of the fears about it causing sterilization and not giving them to people who haven't had kids are based on how IUDs were a long time ago, not how they are today. I got it for free because my state has a contraceptive program for people who qualify (students and low-income people, I think), so I don't know how much it would've cost otherwise.

I got it done when I wasn't on my period and it hurt really bad. I have low tolerance for pain, though. And I'm a big baby so I cried too Luckily my boyfriend was there with me. The rest of the day I had bad cramping off and on, and then when I got my first period since getting it inserted there was bad cramping, heavy flow, and it lasted about 2 weeks.

Despite those awesome points, I definitely prefer having the Paragard to using birth control pills, which I was on before. I never have to worry about taking the pill on time, missing a pill, etc. The only bummer is that yeah, my periods are heavier and I can't skip them like I used to do on pills. But the fact that it's hormone-free and extremely low-maintenance is a plus for me. Looking back, I might have preferred the Mirena because of the lighter periods, but I just didn't want any hormones at all. Plus, the Paragard lasts 10 years versus the Mirena's 5.

Edit: I wanted to add that since that first period, my other ones have not lasted 2 weeks, they were normal length.

Nuvaring turned me into a psycho beeotch... def not for everyone.

thank you so much for all of your replies everybody! I really appreciate it and it has been really helpful so far. I am going to call my doctor tomorrow to make an appointment to talk to her. I don't know if I will get Paragard on that same visit, but I thought I should go ahead and open up the dialogue anyway. I did research Nuvaring as well, but I really just don't want any hormones at all.