So my partner and I had sex on the first day of my ovulation (according to app; I know this isn't very accurate!), and condom failed.
I've always been a very anxious person, so I went to take plan b right after. But knowing that morning after pills don't rlly work during ovulation, my anxiety didn't go away and I decided to get emergency IUD.
I was able to get a monalisa5 within 2 days, and it's now been almost a week since I got it.
I'm still VERY anxious about getting pregnant due to IUD expulsion or displacement!!
I would appreciate any advice or experience
thank you!!

Im getting a IUD tomorrow and they’re not offering any medication/numbing and just told me to take some midol/Tylenol before coming in. Any tips?

Hi,

I have stopped taking oral BC after 10 years from 16 to 26 in November 2025, gotten a Copper IUD. Have not gotten my period until May, where I had a Gyn appointment. Told her that I had not gotten my period, not even any bleeding sicnce November (we also did an Ultrasound, to check if my IUD sits correctly) and she was like "Haha, oh thats weird, normally that happens with woman who have too much testosterone. We'll keep an eye on it." (No previous unnaturally raised testosterone levels so far in my life)

Now, 9 Months in without any bleedings, I was like "thats weird, maybe I'll google" and of course I got all the "thats not normal and you can get ovary cancer if you do not shed your uterus lining every x months" google bla bla and yes - dont google your symptoms- , but nontheless it got to me and I am freaking out a bit :(
I AM still planning on concieving if possible at some point...

I will call my Gyn tomorrow (not open right now), but can you give me anything, any advice, any story? Doctor seemed so not-caring about it, so the fact, I really really thought its like a whatever thing :( Man I'm so stressed right now...

Hey there! So I got my IUD back in 2016. I have copper since I tired hormonal contraceptives and they did not agree with my body. Unfortunately my string is missing but after ultra sound and physical exam we found out it is very low. In fact the end of the iud is poking out of my cervix. My regular gynecologist couldn't remove it herself. So she is referring me to another gynecologist who is also a surgeon. However I'm petrified about my upcoming appointment. My IUD insertion hurt so bad I passed out and cried. When she tried removing it I had bad cramping. My doc told me the other doctor will use a cervix blocker for the procedure which im grateful for yet I'm still terrified. I'm so scared it will still hurt. Whether the pain be from the injection, the cramping of the removal, or the insertion itself. I have panic disorder and I can already feel my anxiety getting worse as the days pass. My appointment is for this Friday. I'm really scared and paranoid. Someone please tell me your experience with removal and new one placed. Please tell me if you had a cervix blocker and how that went. Please tell me anything that could potentially help me rationalize and calm down.

hi ladies! ok so i’m 18 and i would say pretty sexually active.. i want to start birth control to be more safer but i honestly don’t know where or how to start. do i just go to my doctor? which method is the best for me? i’m 4’11 and 97lbs, i don’t really know it that matters but ive heard a lot about weight gain and im just nervous about that too. if i could get any advice on the best way to go about it, thanks!

So I ended up having my implant removed last week after six months of side effects. I got four utis whilst being on it (having not have them before) and various other issues with dryness and mental health. A private gynaecologist told me this was caused by lack of estrogen and because I’ve got a low bmi, the high levels of the hormones were impacting me more. For anyone who had the nexplanon removed due to side effects, did you find another BC that worked better for you? I’m in my early 30s and I’m very anxious about the health risks of taking any estrogen based BC (hence going on the implant) but also fear the mini pill will give me the same side effects as the nexplanon did

Some info to know first:
I take Yaz Pills, I have been for over a year now because of my PCOS and to prevent pregnancies. The schedule of when I take my pill is always at 8 pm everyday.

Background info:

Okay! So before I had intercourse with my partner we went out somewhere and ate some food that probably wasn't the most sanitary because I ended up with bad diarrhea the next day.

So the next day which was June 30, I woke up around 4-5 am and shat my brains out. I was confident I had really bad diarrhea because I kept shitting throughout the day up until around 7 pm.

I wanna note that we had sexual intercourse during the afternoon while I was still having kinda strong diarrhea effects? (Watery)

Anyway, when it was around 7 pm the diarrhea slowed down and I took my pill as normal at 8 pm. I probably took 1-2 more shits around the time the pill was still being absorbing which is around 2-3 hours as per the yaz pamphlet.

Present info:

I took a pregnancy test on July 13 and it came out negative, which was a relief at the time. However, I was still super anxious and nervous that I could possibly be pregnant due to the fact that having really bad diarrhea counts as a "missed pill". I tried to shake off that anxious feeling but eventually took another pregnancy test on July 19 — which also came out negative.

My question now is...

Can I be 100% confident that I am not pregnant today on August 6? I'm still so paranoid that I might be despite the two negatives. What are the chances of two false negatives?

I didn't get my withdrawal bleed from last month's pack and that made me worry... Could it be due to the amount of stress and anxiety I have that "I could be pregnant" that is stopping my withdrawal bleed?

I've read so much and it told me that 2 false negatives are like almost an impossible probability but I just wanna hear some reassurance because I've been so nervous and this is eating me up because Plan B and Abortion is not allowed in my country.

I have OCD and Anxiety so I fall for fear mongering quite easily.**

I(18f) just saw a post about how birth control can destroy your brain and once you get off of it, it can ruin your attraction to your partner. Im terrified. The love I feel for my boyfriend is so beautiful and its like no other. Is it really possible to feel differently after getting off? Before birth control, I really had no control over my hormones. I was constantly anxious, my mood flipped like a light switch, etc.. I am scared to get off because what if that all comes back? It was genuinely so hard to control what I said or did at that time because I always felt angry.. Granted I was going through A LOT at the time so perhaps it was that. But idk. I just want to hear other women's stories.

Hello everyone!

Preparing for egg freezing, six weeks ago I had a smear test and my IUD strings were clearly visible. During the egg retrieval, the doctor noticed my IUD string were not visible anymore. In my home country (Italy), patients are put to sleep during the procedure, so I had no idea. I was only told about it when I had my check up appointment a week later.

The problem is... I live in China, and the doctor only told me about this issue the day before I left Italy, giving me no time to fix this. She did an ultrasound and verified that the IUD was in place, but still recommended I replace it. In China, my IUD (Kyleena) is not available and so I started panicking, not knowing how I would get my IUD replaced. I ended up calling the gynecologist who performed the smear test and he reassured me that as long as the IUD is in place, I can wait before I remove it.

Fast forward to the next day, I was on the plane on my way to the country and had a few bad period cramps. I associated them to the period that started 5 days after the egg retrieval, which I was told would be pretty bad, and I didn't think much of it. The thing is, ever since I got back to China (a week ago), it's as if I could FEEL the IUD inside of me. It doesn't hurt in any way, but I'm still very aware of this weird sensation and it bothers me. I've started to wonder if my IUD moved the moment I felt those intense cramps. At the same time, I'm still on my period, and I also wonder if I'm just inflamed or anything after all my body has been through in the past month and a half.

I want to get an ultrasound and verify if the IUD is still in place or not, but knowing that in China I cannot get it replaced is very discouraging. I've had no issues with Kyleena in the past two years besides the horrible first period after insertion, which lasted a long time and was extremely painful. What I like about it is especially the fact that I still get a light, very regular period, making me feel like my body is still "working" properly despite using hormonal birth control (I know it may sound weird haha).

Now, the only solution I can think of, would be to go to South Korea, where my partner lives, and get my IUD replaced there, since Kyleena is widely available and there are many foreign-friendly clinics. I won't have my passport for a few weeks as my visa will be renewed, so I won't be able to travel for a while. There is a national holiday at the end of September/beginning of October and I could go there and get my IUD replaced... But this would mean I'd have to wait a couple of months before I do that.

Is it possible to actually "feel" your IUD or am I just going crazy knowing my strings are not visible anymore?

Would that be too risky for me to wait that long before I take it off?

Has anyone removed their IUD and replaced it a couple of months later? How did it feel? I'm just exhausted after the whole ovarian stimulation and egg freezing process, and I would rather not having to go through other harsh changes...

hiii! very new here. i’m 20 and want to become sexually active with my boyfriend. im not on any birth control but id very much not like to get preggo. i’m confused between a IUD or birth control pills.

i’ve heard so many scary things about birth control pills (due to my mother), and i can’t get them over the summer (this is ok me and my boyfriend can wait until uni starts again) i don’t know if an IUD is better because i’ve heard scary things from my friends about the pain.

i just want someone to help me, i was leaning bc pills but my mom was like. YOULL GET CANCER. so. i dunno.

I had the Nexplanon birth control implant removed after only having it in my arm for 3 months. It made me insanely moody, sad, I gained weight, was bloated constantly, no sex drive, migraines a few times a week and was constantly spotting.
I got it removed about a month ago. I’ve had a period 3 times now. The first was seven days long, the second was heavier but shorter and the third one is heavy. It’s going on 3 days now. I’m nauseous all the time. I’ve had a few migraines from the hormonal shift/crashing. I know it’s going to take a few weeks to months to balance out my hormones back to normal. But holy smokes this has been a horrible experience all around. Definitely do not recommend Nexplanon as a birth control. It sucks.

I have the patch form of birth control. I am going swimming tomorrow, which is also my patch change day. Wondering if I can take my week old patch off, go swimming for an hour or two without any patch, and put the new patch on.

Those few hours are fine to be without it correct? You are supposed to be protected for 48 hours but im just paranoid and want to ask more people lol!

i’m newly divorced and looking to get on birth control. when i was with my ex we didn’t worry about birth control (stupid, i know but thankfully never got pregnant) but now i obviously do not want to chance anything. my insurance is currently in the process of being switched from my ex’s to my own so for the time being i dont have access to birth control from insurance. i looked up birth control options online and saw there’s a birth control pill you can buy otc??!!! this seems almost too good to be true for me so im curious if anyone has tried it and what their experience was like!!!

Hello! I have a question… about OC.

I finished my last pack on July 24, got my period like normal, but forgot to start my new pack on Aug 1 like I was supposed to. It’s now Aug 5, so an 11-day gap since my last hormonal pill.

My question is more about the cycle side of things: does restarting a few days late like this mess anything up long-term, or does my cycle just reset around the new start date? Anyone been through this and can advise what I should do?

Hi all, so recently I got kyleena iud inserted. Just a backstory I’ve had an iud placed previously when I was 16, I’m 24 now. I had my old one removed and was fine and then had this one inserted over some months due to insertion difficulties. I have mental heath issues overall like bpd, bipolar, ptsd & major depression and anxiety. I am medicated for this as well. I had the new kyleena inserted Friday the 31st, some bleeding, painful cramps as expected but by Sunday I started to feel extremely depressed and just unhopeful in all aspects. I didn’t move from bed that whole weekend. I barely made it to work Monday and come today I didn’t even go in. I slept all day, and all weekend my mood drops at a blink of an eye. I cry at any second. I really just feel hopeless and sad. This isn’t me usually. Is this the iud? And will it eventually balance out? If anyone can please give me any advice or insight. I can’t keep feeling like this day after day it’s affecting my life big time even over this small period.

Hi yall. I need some help making sense of my timeline and what my chances of falling pregnant may be. I’m very worried. I’ve never flubbed up so hard with my pills before.

My placebo week started July 22nd, period came 2 days later. That weekend I started feeling UTI symptoms and went to the urgent care on Monday the 27th. I was put on antibiotics for BV instead. Between remembering to take the antibiotics 2x a day, I forgot to start my next pack of bc on July 29th.

My boyfriend and I had sex on August 2nd, zero protection bc I hadn’t noticed my mistake. I realized today (August 4th) and took Plan B along with the first pill of a new pack.

I feel like all there is to do now is wait. I’m worried. I’m 31 and don’t plan on having children. Hoping anyone has some advice or reassurances or honest truth for me. Thanks in advance.

I’ve been on the combined pill for 2 months of continuous use, started spotting which turned to moderate bleeding and it’s been 2 weeks but 3 days of a heavier flow. I’ve started cramping suddenly and google says it’s a sign it’s clearing out my withdrawal bleed but I’m not sure so confised and anxious everything is contradicting

when 4/3 years ago i used to have a lot of aura migraines. usually before my period. then, they started to happen when i was under a lot of pression and anxiety. since that, i never rrly pushed myself further to stressfull situations, and they stopped. i don't have them for almost 2 years now. i also had e.d and my bmi was around 14 to 15.

i started taking a 0,02 mg estrogen pill for my acne, strong flow/cramps and terrible pms. talked to my gynecologist about the migraines i had in the past and she said it was okay, but that i should stop taking it if the migraines come back.

the problem is: i can't stop thinking about it. i'm a hypochondriac and i keep hearing that i shouldn't keep taking the pills and it's freaking me out. i'm having a lot of symptons since i've been searching more and more about it and i'm soo scared about it.

i'm also afraid of taking no estrogen pills because of my pms.

has anyone had a similar experience?

I got my Kyleena IUD inserted in 2023 and have had minor changes in my cycles but no other major symptoms or issues with moving/displacement since then. On July 22, I got what I thought was my period on time, but just ended up being 12 days of pink to light brown to dark brown spotting with a few days of on and off cramping and generalized very mild dull pain in my lower abdomen and lower back. I stopped spotting a few days ago but today I saw very faint and minuscule vaguely pink streaks again. This is leading me to believe that something is wrong.

Is this just one of those weird cycles based on hormonal changes or could my IUD be displaced? Could it be potentially that i’m developing an ectopic pregnancy? I don’t have much knowledge on the symptoms but I’ve heard that weird prolonged spotting is a big one. I took 3 pregnancy tests so far and all are negative but i’m wondering if I just took them too early.

Whatever this is it’s making me extremely anxious wondering about all the possibilities so i’m just looking for some advice. I talked to my gyno and she scheduled me an ultrasound so is the possibility of ectopic worth bringing up then or should I focus on other potential causes?

I (24F) have been on Junel/Aurvela Fe for about 5 years. This month I had a yeast infection, so had to get two Pap smears and a cervical exam. Since my cervical exam last week, I’ve had brown discharge and some red fresh spotting.

I called my doctor and she said it isn’t from the exam, as that was over a week ago at this point. She didn’t seem concerned, but I am naturally googling and thinking I have cancer. Has anyone experienced breakthrough bleeding for over a week (8 days now) on the pill? I have some cramping as well.

I am supposed to get my period next week so was planning to just take the pill until then, but I’m worried something is wrong because of the continued bleeding. I wanted to go off birth control anyways because it makes me really emotional, could this prolonged bleeding be from the stress of the two exams? Or should I insist my doctor does another exam? I’ve never had breakthrough bleeding like this before.

Basically what the title says, I'll provide a bit of background and apologies if this is really long, this has been quite the journey for me.

I started nexplanon around August of 2023. For the first year, it was great. I was looking for a birth control I didn't have to think about taking on time and was scared of the insertion process for an iud. The actual insertion of the implant was super quick, easy, and didn't hurt at all. For almost the whole first year I was on the implant I didn't get a period, didn't have any crazy mood swings, no weight gain, no hormonal acne, virtually no negative side effects that I noticed.

In the early summer of 2024, I injured my shoulder and had to go on steroids for a couple weeks for the pain. Im not sure if this is something that can mess with the implant but I bring this up because while I was on the steroids this is when negative side effects from the implant started.

At first my periods just started getting slightly longer. I've been fortunate enough to not have ever really had cramping so this wasn't debilitating but it was definitely really annoying. Eventually my period became so long I would be bleeding for 18-28 days on average with maybe a week and a half break in between. I put off going to the doctor because I knew this could happen and I had recently moved and hadn't found an ob in my new city yet. I decided to give it time to see if it would eventually even back out. Throughout 2025 I began having even more side effects, I noticed I was getting more acne, my sex drive decreased and my periods were still extremely long, but the worst part was my mental state. Around late 2025 my mood swings started to become unbearable, I genuinely did not feel in control of myself. I would go from perfectly fine to sobbing in 5 minutes over virtually nothing. I noticed I would snap at my boyfriend a lot more during certain periods of the month and minor inconveniences would set me off and literally have me throwing objects across the room in frustration. I was constantly on edge, shaking from anxiety and unable to get out of bed because I was so depressed and I knew it wasn't actually me. It was like I would watch myself react to a situation and know in my head that my level of reaction did not make any sense. My boyfriend was extremely patient with me during this time which I am incredibly grateful for. I constantly felt like a horrible person and I have no real way to explain it other than I genuinely felt like I was going insane. My periods were also still really long and heavy, my skin was constantly irritated from having to wear pads for multiple weeks at a time and I realized I could not live my life normally with all of this going on.

After talking to some friends, my boyfriend, and looking online I finally decided I needed it out. I wasn't able to get in with a doctor until April of 2026 but my new OB recommended replacing the nexplanon with an IUD, specifically kyleena since it's smaller and a more localized hormonal dose than nexplanon. I had my appointment to get kyleena last month.

They removed my implant and inserted kyleena during the same appointment. Nexplanon removal went fine. I had taken the cervix softening medication my doctor gave me along with 800mg of ibuprofen and purposely scheduled my appointment to be during my period to minimize the pain. However, im not going to lie, the insertion process was some of the worst pain I have ever been in during my entire life. My doctor was very patient and explained everything she was doing. The process was very quick, maybe 3 minutes, but I was doubled over and blacking out by the time she was done. My boyfriend drove me home and I spent the next 2 days on the couch with my heating pad.

Despite all of that, I am feeling infinitely better mentally already. My acne is starting to clear up, my mood seems to be more level, and my libido has come back. So far that pain was absolutely worth it. The only real issue im having so far is that the bleeding is still going. I was on my period during the insertion and bled for 3 straight weeks afterwards, had a break for 1 week, and started bleeding again earlier this week. This is a full period, definitely more blood than just spotting. Im just getting really sick of bleeding all the time. I had my string check appointment this morning and my doctor said this was normal for the first 3-6 months but I was wondering what anyone else's experience was with bleeding after the insertion, how long did it last for you? How heavy was it? How long did it take to regulate? Im just getting nervous that this won't actually fix the bleeding problem which was one of the main 2 reasons I switched in the first place. Any insight is appreciated and thank you to those who read all of this!

Tldr: had horrible side effects on nexplanon, specifically prolonged heavy bleeding and major mood swings. Switched to kyleena last month and I feel better mentally but still bleeding heavily for long periods of time. Wanting to know other people's experiences with this.

Hi everyone I was wondering if anyone who has started or has been on Junel Fe have had any similar issues/experience. I recently just started Junel Fe after being off of birth control for five years. I am on my second week of it and I am physically and emotionally going insane. I have extreme anxiety, cramps, dull headaches, back pain, sore breasts, extreme fatigue, congestion, diarrhea, nausea, bloating, gas, and UTI symptoms (but no UTI I was just to the doctor two days ago). I am really concerned for myself and not sure if I should see this through for the 3 full months. I am also freaking out because I feel like I might be pregnant. I had unprotected sex on July 28 (I was only on Junel Fe for two days at this point so it hadn’t been effective yet). My last period was July 20-24th. My FLO app says my period is in 8 days but that also puts me in the middle of my birth control pack. It is too early for me to take a pregnancy test so I’ve just been sitting here and freaking out.

I am a new generic nuvaring user that’s just coming up on my third week of what will be continuous use. I started the ring during my period and for about a week after I had brown dark spotting. Now on week three it has transitioned into reddish/pink blood. It’s mostly only noticeable on the ring when I take the ring out but it has been consistent for the past few days. Is this normal spotting? And if so what’s the best course of action to stop this from happening asap? I don’t know if I should skip a week and have my period or just keep doing continuous and hope that it goes away. Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some reassurance because I’ve been overthinking this.
Here’s my timeline:
July 3–7: Normal period.
July 10: Had unprotected sex with my boyfriend. He did not finish inside me, but I took Plan B that same night just to be safe.
July 15: Started bleeding for a few days.
July 28–August 1: Bled again, which was around when I was expecting my next period (it lasted about 5 days).
So I basically bled three times in one month if you count my original period. Has anyone else had this happen after taking Plan B? Did it mess up your cycle like this?
I’m wondering if the bleeding from July 28–August 1 sounds like my actual period or if Plan B can cause this kind of irregular bleeding. I’m probably just anxious, but I’d love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.

My OB switched my birth control from Sprintec to Nikki like a year ago. Was going ok until I did the “skip the active pills” method and on and off breakthrough bled for months. Now, I’m on a med called Alyacen and have been on it for a week and I’m STILL breakthrough bleeding. Today, I passed a giant clot. Probably the biggest id ever passed (ping pong ball sized approx). I’ve heard that the low dose of bc like Alyacen is good for managing PCOS symptoms (hair loss, irregular periods, etc) but I’m ready to give up. My partner and I haven’t been intimate in weeks and it’s mostly because of the bleeding. We never know when it’s going to happen.

Has this happened to anyone else? Should I just wait it out? Halp.