What It Is Like to Use a Birth Control Implant?

The contemporary health care market offers a wide variety of planned parenthood methods. Nowadays, you can prevent pregnancy by means of sterilization, pills, condoms, injections, and even birth control implants.

In this article, we will check out the main peculiarities of a contraceptive implant for birth control. Keep reading and find the answers to the following questions: What are the most popular methods of contraception? What is the contraceptive implant, how does it work? What advantages, disadvantages, and side effects it has? And, finally, what is it like to use a birth control implant? So, let’s delve into the topic of contraceptive methods.

What Are the Most Popular Birth Control Methods?

It might be difficult to imagine but the earliest methods of contraception appeared around 1850 before Christ. Even though it was neither absolutely effective nor secure, ancient people used extended breastfeeding, silphium plants, acacia gums, and even lint (which, by the way, was the very first version of a cervical cap) in order not to get pregnant.

Luckily, birth control techniques have vastly improved since ancient times, so contemporary women can now choose from a variety of extremely safe and secure birth control practices. Below, you will find the description of the most popular ones.

1. Sterilization

One of the most efficient ways of preventing unwanted pregnancy is sterilization. The procedure can be performed on both males (vasectomy) and females (tubal ligation).

However, probably the most essential thing that is worth being mentioned when speaking about sterilization is that it is permanent. Therefore, you would not be able to reverse it in case change your mind and decide to give birth to a child.

2. Oral Contraceptive Pills

Another widely-spread way of birth control is taking oral contraceptive pills that are based on estrogen and progestin. Depending on your personal health condition, a doctor might prescribe one of the following types of such pills to you: a combination, an extended cycle, a progestin-only, a low-dose, or an emergency contraception one.

On the one hand, oral contraceptive pills are extremely effective. On the other hand, however, you would need to be very attentive and do not forget to take them on a regular basis in order to avoid the risk of pregnancy.

3. Condoms

Using condoms is also a popular way of birth control. Being referred to as “barrier” forms of contraception, they prevent the male sperm from getting into the female vagina.

Condoms are widespread all around the world due to a number of reasons, such as their convenience, safety, efficiency, protection from sexually transmitted diseases, and affordable price. However, they might diminish sensations and cause allergic reactions at the same time.

4. Contraceptive Injections

Contraceptive injections also belong to effective techniques of birth control. After being injected into a woman’s body, the hormone progestogen protects her from unwanted pregnancy for up to 13 weeks.

The main advantages of contraceptive injections are their long-term results and the preservation of senses during sexual intercourse. Still, they do not protect you against sexually transmitted diseases and might influence the stability of your periods in various ways.

5. Birth Control Implants

Finally, a birth control implant is one more efficient way of family planning that gains more and more popularity on the health care market nowadays. So, let’s discuss it in detail.

What Is A Birth Control Implant?

A birth control implant is a technique of contraception that is applied to protect women from unwanted pregnancy. It is a flexible rod of a size of a match stick that is inserted into the upper arm of a woman.

The implant is hormonal, which means that it releases etonogestrel (a type of progestogen hormone) into your blood. As well, it has a long-lasting effect that prevents you from getting pregnant for up to 3 years.

How Does a Contraceptive Implant Work?

Here is the working principle of an implant that is used for birth control:

• Once a woman gets the contraceptive implant inserted under her skin, it starts to release etonogestrel.
• The hormone, in its turn, begins to affect a woman’s menstrual cycle by thickening her mucus so that the sperm cannot get through it. As well, etonogestrel interrupts the process of a woman’s ovulation as it does not allow an egg to be released.

As a result, a woman has a very low chance (less than one percent) of getting pregnant as long as a contraceptive implant is inserted.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Contraceptive Implant?

Now, let us check out the main pros and cons of implant contraception.

Below, you will find the list of the implant’s advantages:

• The effectiveness of implant contraception equals 99.95%;
• It is long-lasting, as it prevents unwanted pregnancy for the time period of 3 years;
• Implant contraception has a minimal risk of influencing a woman’s fertility health after it is taken out;
• It might positively impact woman’s periods by making them less painful and drastically reducing the amount of bleeding.

When speaking about the disadvantages of the implant, here is a list of the main ones:

• It cannot serve as a protector against sexually transmitted diseases;
• An implant can impact your periods in a negative way by causing occasional heavy bleeding;
• The process of putting an implant into a woman’s body and taking it out of there might be a little bit unpleasant and cause minimal bleeding;
• It is a hormonal way of contraception and can thus have hormonal side effects on your health.

Does a Birth Control Have Any Side Effects?

So, how about taking a detailed look at the possible side effects of a birth control implant? Below, you will be able to go through the list of the most common ones:

• It might lower your libido;
• A contraceptive implant may cause frequent mood swings.

As well, an implant might lead you to a risk of experiencing such side effects as headache, nausea, acne, or breast tenderness.

How Does the Birth Control Implant Feel Like?

Most women who use a contraceptive implant claim not to feel anything unusual, namely:

• The procedure of inserting an implant is almost always pain-free. You might actually feel a tugging during a few days after the insertion, but it should not cause any solid inconveniences;
• You do actually feel an implant under your arm’s skin but it does not affect your arm movements anyhow;
• The process during which an implant releases a hormone is also not felt.

Therefore, a contraceptive implant should neither cause any inconveniences nor be unpleasantly felt.

A Bottom Line

Summarizing all of the above-mentioned information, there is a great number of contraceptives available on the market these days, a contraceptive implant being one of the most efficient ones. And it is totally up to you and your doctor to decide which method is more or less effective and convenient in your particular case. So, consult with your health care practitioner and enjoy the protected sex!