Born Dancer
I can't go for that
i posted this a while ago after talking to my doctor about implanon:
Born Dancer said:I was talking to my doctor about this last week. He says that he has never seen a case of a happy patient with the implanon. A couple things to consider that he mentioned:
- When lifting your arm (say for example holding on to a handle on a bus) this shows the implanon in your arm, and hence you should probably be comfortable with the assertion of being sexually active.
- The insertion device used to put the implanon in your arm uses a reverse technique to normal syringes. It's a pull back motion instead of a push forward. Also, the implanon is the same colour as this plunger thing in the device so there have been a couple of reported cases of pregnancies because the device was never put in at all.
- The level of hormones in the implanon are unpure (ie a mix with male hormones) and so there can be a lot of problems with increase body hair, acne and weight gain.
- Its apparently really difficult to get out.
- It can cause irregular bleeding /spotting.
I dont put this up to scare you, I have friends who have implanon and have absolutely no problems with it. My Doctor pointed out that he was being biased, and told me to go research it for myself. But to be honest, I am happy with the pill. I went on it ust over a year ago for acne problems, and I've had no real trouble with it.
The bottom line is that everyone reacts differently to different things. I would suggest talking to as many people as you can who have the implanon as well as your doctor.
As for IUDs, my doctor seemed to be much happier to suggest them - they get inserted into the womb, release a pure form of progesterone in slow release from what I can understand. Apparently they got a really bad name in the 70s but it has been proven now that their low success rate during this time was more a case of promiscuity than failure of the treatment itself.