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"I&amp;amp;#8217;ve been on one form of birth control or another since I was 17. There were brief periods of comfort, but mostly it&amp;amp;#8217;s been a crapshoot trying to find the right pill that wouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t cause weight gain, breakouts, or mood swings, or wreak havoc on my sex life. It&amp;amp;#8217;s been a long time and I&amp;amp;#8217;m sick of feeling crappy for most of it. So after nearly a decade, I&amp;amp;#8217;ve met the guy for me, I&amp;amp;#8217;m happy career-wise, and I&amp;amp;#8217;ve made a big decision: the Pill and I just aren&amp;amp;#8217;t meant to be. That&amp;amp;#8217;s why I threw in the towel and finally got ParaGard, a non-hormonal IUD, yesterday morning. One of my biggest motivators for getting off the Pill was to be hormone-free. Condoms weren&amp;amp;#8217;t totally out of the question, but I (not to mention J) wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t really enthused about having to use them again. So it felt like a no-brainer: I&amp;amp;#8217;d go with ParaGard, the copper (and non-hormonal) IUD that stays put for up to 10 years once inserted. How awesome is that? As excited as I was about ParaGard once I made up my mind, my nerves started to get the best of me. I knew there&amp;amp;#8217;d be some pain when my doctor put it in, cramping the day of, and then heavier periods with more cramping afterward. To me, all of that still sounded better than the struggle I&amp;amp;#8217;d gone through trying&amp;amp;mdash;and failing&amp;amp;mdash;to pick the right birth control method (and money I&amp;amp;#8217;d spent!). Of course reading some of the horror stories online on Monday night of other women who had gotten an IUD and had really painful experiences didn&amp;amp;#8217;t exactly settle my nerves. Well, yesterday was the big day, and this is exactly what went down in case you&amp;amp;#8217;re interested in getting one and want the scoop from someone who&amp;amp;#8217;s really gone through it: First off of all, YES, it was painful. But do I think it was worth it? Yes. The whole thing took less than five minutes, and the two worst parts lasted only a few seconds. I was literally sitting in the waiting room longer. I started my Tuesday morning off by taking 800mg of Ibuprofen an hour before my procedure as recommended by my doctor. Fast-forward, and I&amp;amp;#8217;m undressed from the waist down, assuming the position in the stirrups, and my doctor figured out the size and position of my uterus by inserting two fingers into my vagina and placing his other hand on my stomach. No big deal at all. Next was the speculum to open me up (it felt a little larger than normal, and that was basically just uncomfortable) followed by the insertion of a super-long Q-tip to clean off my cervix. Again, this wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t much different than getting a Pap smear or something. But then came the pain. Next up was this long instrument to measure the length of my cervix. My doctor warned me that I&amp;amp;#8217;d feel &amp;amp;#8220;a little pinch&amp;amp;#8221; and boy, was he right. It lasted for only five seconds or so, but it felt like a very deep, sharp pain&amp;amp;mdash;almost like the worst period cramp I&amp;amp;#8217;ve ever experienced but in the center of my body so the sensation was just very foreign. All I could do was stare at the ceiling and breathe, which did help a tiny bit. (Actually, before my appointment my doctor warned me that getting the IUD might feel like labor pains, so my mom told me to try the breathing thing, which helped her when she gave birth to me.) Right after he removed the sharp poker, my ParaGard IUD was inserted. That pain was a little worse because I could actually feel the T-shape going in, but it only lasted about 10 to 15 seconds and it was over. After that, he trimmed the strings and I was able to sit up (slowly, since I was a little lightheaded from the weird sensations). And that was it. I immediately had cramps and had to wear a pad because there was some spotting from the procedure, but that wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t horrible for me. I was told I could have sex and use a tampon right away, but I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t want anything else inside of me. I went home, had some of the worst cramps of my life ALL DAY LONG and spent hours in bed and on the couch. My saving grace was taking Ibuprofen before and after the procedure and cuddling up with my heating pad. J also stayed home from work to take care of me because I noticed that when I walked or moved around, the cramps would get worse. It was like my body knew there was something new inside of it and every movement irritated that. Otherwise, so far, so good. Yes, I could do without these cramps but mainly I&amp;amp;#8217;m excited to see how I&amp;amp;#8217;ll feel once all of the hormones are out of my body. I can&amp;amp;#8217;t even remember what that feels like. J is excited too and hoping he reaps the benefits once I get my sex drive back! It will also be nice to ditch my 12 P.M. reminder to take my pill every day and feel comfortable knowing the error rate for the IUD is so low. I just feel like there&amp;amp;#8217;s finally a light at the end of the tunnel (even if the next couple of months might still be rough), and I&amp;amp;#8217;m so excited about going hormone-free for up to 10 years! I feel like a brand-new me already. Which type of birth control are you on? Would you ever consider getting an IUD? Have you had any really good or really bad experiences with your BC? I&amp;amp;#8217;m sort of psyched I&amp;amp;#8217;ll finally be able to call myself a &amp;amp;#8220;low-maintenance&amp;amp;#8221; girl, even if I am just talking about my birth control. Hooray! Photo: Conde Nast Archive"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2013/05/want-to-know-what-it-really-fe>