Natural Birth Control

Natural birth control is among the most popular options of couples who are into family planning. This is because natural birth control does not only ensure the health of the woman but also helps them to save money for not buying contraceptives or undergoing through birth control procedures.

Although natural birth control is among the safest in terms of health, this does not ensure 100 percent effectivity since there are no chemicals and procedures that would back up the process. For those who are planning to have natural birth control as a means of family planning, they should understand that this birth control option cannot work for everyone, especially with those who have busy and erratic schedule.

Couples must understand that though natural birth control will have no side effects, utmost dedication and attention should be given for it to work.

Natural birth control options

Once you have decided to get into natural means of family planning, it is always best that the couples are educated about the choices they will make.

Being educated means that the couple has enough knowledge about the pros and cons of their options and will help them decide which one will truly work for them:

The following are some of the natural birth options couples who would like to get into family planning can choose from:

1. The Standard Days Method. This is considered as a newest type of natural birth control options out there.

The Standard Days Method or SDM can help couples to determine their fertility schedules. The SDM can also help the man and the woman to be protected against various sex-related diseases during and after the intercourse. SDM can be used by tracking the length of the menstrual cycle and know when the days 8 and day 19—the days wherein the woman is likely fertile—should take place. Once these days have been determined, total abstinence should be practiced to ensure that no pregnancy will take place.

2. The CycleBeads Method. This method is closely-associated with Standard Days Method only that it uses a tool to mark fertility and menstrual dates. This tool being used in this method is called the "CycleBeads," a necklace with 32 color-coded in it. Attached is a ring made of rubber which is placed around the beads to mark the day the woman has the menstrual cycle. But this natural birth control option is not for everybody.

Only women who have regular menstrual cycles can use this method because they have longer days of infertility and fertility levels.

3. The Ovulation Method.  Also called as the “cervical mucus method,” this natural birth control option is known to effective but not to all women especially those who are not confident enough to check their cervical mucus regularly.

Here, no pregnancy will take place once there is no cervical mucus present because no venue for ovulation will be available. Women can check the cervical mucus by using their fingers, wiping a tissue on the opening of the vagina to check some mucus or by wearing a liner in the underwear to check for the presence of the mucus.

If there’s a presence of sticky and stretchy mucus, it indicates that there will be ovulation in the coming days so sexual intercourse should be prohibited.

Other natural birth control options available include the “Rhythm or Calendar Method,” the “Sympto-thermal Method,” and the “Basal Body Temperature Method.”

Just like in using other birth control methods, it is always best to get the opinion of medical experts to ensure the health not only of the woman but the child as well.

Male Birth Control: Simple Enough?

Yes, male birth control methods are simple enough and yet men still don’t get it. There are only three male contraception methods, although there’s news of creating a hormonal contraceptive pill for male but the development of the drug is still underway. So we are down to three male birth control methods for now.

Condoms, vasectomy, and withdrawal. These are the only three contraceptives that men have to worry about. But that number we can still narrow down. Vasectomy is often not an option taken by males since they often believe that the procedure is irreversible. For your information, the procedure is reversible. But still this method needs the man to be lying on his back on the operating table and going under the knife, and such an idea is usually not that appealing. Not that I blame the man, though, nobody wants to be lying in an operating table for whatever purpose.

The second method is withdrawal. You have a higher chance of getting your partner pregnant with this method. This can be effective when combined with the calendar method of birth control. The calendar method if in case you don’t know means tracking the menstrual cycle of your partner and having intercourse only during the first eight days of the cycle. This is quite effective when you have only one partner but can be highly risky if you engage in social sex.

With everything said about the other two methods, our last method seems to be the most suited in all occasions and situations. The use of condoms as a birth control method has a high enough success rate. It is not 100% effective since no birth control method really is perfect. And yet, men oftentimes fail in birth control even if there are only three methods that they have to choose from, or rather have a single method at their disposal if you follow our argument.

However, there are studies being done which gives men other options aside from those three. I really don’t know if these new contraceptive methods will help especially if men are in general not paying much that attention to contraceptives anyways.

But still, this development in male birth control is a welcome one. Research have been looking at developing medications, much like the female birth control pills, targeting the hormones inside the male body. This hormonal contraception can be administered as injections or as implants, although, like I said research is still being conducted and experiments are being performed to show if such contraceptives are possible.

This hormonal contraception for males will function as a limiting catalyst to the production of the male sperm. The tricky aspect of the research is finding a way of bringing back the sperm count level to the amount that men will be considered as fertile.

Other method that they are looking for includes implanting tiny plugs called IVD (Intra Vas Device) to block the sperm; applying heat to the testes to induce infertility; and even the use of ultrasound waves as a means to control the production of the sperm. The ultrasound waves will heat the testes which will result to reducing the production of sperms. Again, the issue of whether the sperm count will normalize after a few months or even years.

Well, regardless of the methods under study the present male birth control is quite simple enough so men should learn how to use them or else it’s off to the operating with you.

Effectiveness of Birth Control

Family planning is a necessity in our society today because of the fact that the earth’s resources are becoming less and less every year and in a study it is estimated that there would be 12 million infant births in 2025 alone. From 8 million in 2019 every year there is an increase of 1.004 million births.

Looking into these statistics the effectiveness of birth control as it relates the number of infant births per year is still pretty high. The campaign of different sectors of government has become more and more aggressive in the past few years targeting larger urban areas in big cities.

Even with the heightened awareness about the importance of family planning and birth control methods the effectiveness of the campaign still remains underwhelming in terms of results.

Some of the factors that may contribute to the lack of positive results of the campaign on birth control is the fact some people still are not aware of the different methods that are available to them. In the past it has been the problem for some government agencies to make people accept contraception because of the massive disagreement that Catholics showed saying that it is only God that can give and take people’s lives.

Of course these people are talking about abortion which in fact is not a form of contraception nor is it a form of family planning or birth control.

Abortion is in fact a crime in a lot of countries and most of the states of the US.

If people protests against birth control because they believe it is a form of abortion then that means they are under informed and that they are ignorant to the concept of Natural birth control. Because of the opposition that contraception received from moralists and religious orders, the concept of Natural birth control was introduced.

Though the confusion of the idea caused people not to believe in it at first, it has been regarded as more favorable by the anti-contraception groups.

Contraception methods are what we call artificial birth control. These methods include condoms (both male and female), hormonal method, birth control pills, Intrauterine device, ligation, spermicide (chemical only), spermicide with sponge, injections (Depo-Provera) and Vasectomy.

These are just some of the most common methods that include the use of different devices or chemicals to prevent sperms and egg cells from meeting.

Recently it was known that not only is birth control effective in planning the family but it also effective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases and other infection in people.

Because some of the devices used in birth control prevent contact of skin in the reproductive organs, the chances of catching the infection are minimized if not totally eliminated. So aside for the health department campaigning for married couples to plan their family for the future, young couples are also requested to use protection to prevent the spread of Sexually transmitted diseases and/or early pregnancy(that is also a big issue not only in the United States but all over the world).

The effectiveness of birth control methods greatly rely on the cooperation of people who are directly or indirectly affected by the issue. It may not be enough to just talk about it but more on acting upon it and getting the results that are badly needed by the country and the people of this planet.

Diaphragm Birth Control

There are different types of birth control devices in the market today. Women who don’t want to use pills can use something called a diaphragm.

A diaphragm is a shallow, dome shaped rubber disk with a flexible rim that fits nicely within the vagina as it is able to cover the cervix which prevents the sperm from every reaching the uterus. It should be inserted prior to intercourse and covered with spermicide. The spermicide works by killing the sperm thus making it impossible to fertilize the egg.

Women who choose to use the diaphragm may keep it in there for 24 hours. You just have to make sure to insert spermicide every two hours or before engaging in sexual intercourse again.

The general rule for using this device is that it must be kept in place for the next 6 hours after intercourse before it is removed.

Before you insert the diaphragm, it is best to empty your bladder and wash your hands with soap and water. The device itself should be checked for leaks by filling it with water or holding up in the light. If everything looks good, this is the time that you apply spermicide on the inner and outer layers of the diaphragm. The most important is around the rim.

The user will then insert this by standing with one food elevated using a chair or step, while lying down or squatting. The diaphragm must be folded inward towards the middle and inserted into the vagina as far as possible. 

The diaphragm birth control device cannot protect you 100% from getting pregnant. It also cannot protect you from sexually transmitted diseases such as Chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes or HIV.

There are advantages and disadvantages of using the diaphragm.

The advantage of using one is that it is easy to insert and remove and your sexual partner will not even feel it during sex.

The disadvantage of using it is if the female forgets to remove it after 24 hours, she may experience toxic shock syndrome or TSS. There are also side effects like the user may experience an irritation in the vagina or the surrounding skin and there may be a foul smell.

TSS or toxic shock syndrome is a potentially fatal disease that has been associated with this device and with vaginal tampons. Some of the symptoms include diarrhea, high fever and vomiting.

Diaphragms come in different sizes so this has to be fitted first before this can be purchased by prescription from the drug store. Some HMO’s may cover the purchase of this device and one example is Medicaid. If you are a member of another, you should inquire if they will pay for it.

A diaphragm costs around $30 to $50 and must be replaced every 2 years. As for the spermicide, you will have to spend about $.50 to $1.50 per use.

When you are done using your diaphragm, this has to be washed with soap and water then left to dry. Afterwards, you must dust this with corn starch before you put this back into its container. The diaphragm must be kept in a cool and dry place away from sunlight. You must never wash it with harsh or perfumed soaps or dust it with perfumed powders as this may damage the device.

Birth Control Pills and Weight Loss

Birth control pills have been around for many years and their success just shows that it can prevent pregnancies. In fact, there are so many of them around that despite the side effects women are still willing to make that sacrifice.

Side effects associated with birth control pills include light bleeding in between periods, skipped periods, nausea, weight gain, bloating and an increased risk of vaginal infections. You will probably experience either one or two of those mentioned since each person is different. Most of the time, this problem can be stopped by changing to a different pill.

But can birth control pills make you lose weight? Most studies have shown that you will gain weight rather than lose a few pounds because the hormone estrogen causes fluid retention in the body. So you can just imagine what a 50 mcgm pill can do compared to that of a lower dosage.

This is even if one pill called Yasmin, developed by Berlex laboratories made some women lose 2 pounds but then gained it back a short while after. Should the company be successful in proving that it can cause weight loss, the US FDA or food and drug administration may approve this as a weight loss aid.

Other changes in birth control pills include the volume of hormones. This means that there are fewer women these days that suffer from the side effects associated with hormonal changes or imbalances.

Since the objective of taking birth control pills is to prevent pregnancy and not to gain or lose weight, one effective way of doing this is by taking pills in 20mcgm dosages. Some examples that have this are Alesse, Levlite, Loesterin-Fe and MIrcette. You should also ask your doctor for other recommendations before you buy it from the drug store.

But if you are gaining weight as a result of the pill, you should have yourself checked by the doctor for insulin resistance. Should tests confirm this, you should go on a low carbohydrate diet. Exercise will also help a lot so you are able to shed off some of those excess pounds.

According to one population survey, more than 18 million women use one out of 40 birth control pills that are available in the market. All of them are prescribed by a physician and so if one doesn’t work, there are 39 others that you can choose from.

Birth control pills are not the only ones that can cause weight gain. The use of injectibles also produces the same result. The only difference is that most women gain about 5 pounds or less using pills rather than 6 to 7 pounds using the injection.

So, if you are considering using birth control pills or any other method, do some research about the side- effects? Gaining or losing a few pounds should be the least of your worries because other things may  happen such as blood clots, heart disease, heart defects, a stroke and severe migraines to name a few.

You could end up in the hospital instead of looking much bigger than you were before. Sadly, this is the price you have to pay if you don’t want to raise a family or have kids anymore until a pharmaceutical company is able to make a more effective birth control pill or method.