Tag Archives: Hysterectomy

Sex Life Story

Safe Contraception Options: Who Should Use Protection

Who should use protection, men or women? It is an interesting question. Sex, contraception options and protection are mutual responsibility. Both men and women should know how to choose the right method. Both of them should think about their own and their partner’s health and well-being. It is not enough if one partner is responsible: both parties should know how to prevent pregnancy. Safe sex is not a matter that you can shrug away, saying that your partner is on the pill and it is not your problem. Contraception pill may not solve sexual problem and not forget about the side effect.

Honesty, Trust, Contraception Options and Your Health

Is your partner honest with you? Does your female partner tell you that she takes birth control pills – and is it true? Probably she has side-thoughts and she thinks it is time to settle down and have a baby, so she has just “forgotten” about her birth control pills. Maybe she is the happy-go-lucky one and she has skipped one or two days, so now both of you are at risk of an unwanted pregnancy. Has your male partner told you that he has undergone vasectomy, so he is perfectly safe for you; but what about sexually transmitted diseases? Would your partner tell you if they had some minor infection? Do you know your partner well? Are you in a serious relationship, based on trust? Are you into one-night stands or short-lived relationships? These questions are not moral issues. They have a lot to do with your health. Never leave protection to your partner! Whatever he or she says, make sure that you do your best to avoid an unwanted pregnancy or an infection. Has he had a vasectomy? Is she on the pill? Great. You should still use protection. Combined contraception options are safe. If he did have a vasectomy, you still can take your birth control pills and ask him to use a condom.

Prevent Pregnancy: Choose the Right Method

While hormonal contraception is unbeatable when it comes to avoiding unwanted pregnancy, do not completely dismiss barrier methods. Condoms protect you from sexually transmitted diseases, and even some kind of cancers like cervical cancer.

Prefer male condoms over female condoms. Male condoms have a lowest failure rate of the barrier methods. Use a condom with spermicide. Never restrict your protection methods to female condoms alone! They have the highest failure rate of all birth control methods (with the exception of coitus interruptus, the withdrawal method). For instance, diaphragms are not reliable when you want to avoid pregnancy. Neither do they protect you from the diseases of the upper genital tract.

The safest way of having sex is when both partners use some kind of protection. For women, combined oral contraceptive pills, implants, combined injections, intrauterine devices are the safest methods, and, of course, the irreversible methods: hysterectomy, tubal ligation, and essure. They should also insist on using a condom. For men, vasectomy and lubricated latex condoms will be the safest way (make sure that you use water-based lubes and avoid oil-based lubes that may damage the condom). They can use plastic wrap when giving oral sex to their partner. Oral sex may seem safe, but it can lead to ugly surprises – for instance, human papilloma virus that can cause serious sexual health issues.

dating, sex and relationship, Sex Health

How Not to Get Pregnant: Hysterectomy as a Birth Control Method

How Not to Get Pregnant: Radical and Total Hysterectomy

Hysterectomy is an abdominal surgery; a doctor removes your entire uterus, or, if you have a subtotal hysterectomy, only part of your womb. It is one of the very rare how not to get pregnant methods that are absolutely 100% safe. At least, radical hysterectomy and total hysterectomy are safe, unlike subtotal hysterectomy. Both radical and total hysterectomy means that you have your womb removed, so a fetus will not have a place to grow in your body. It is a how not to get pregnant method that will last for the rest of your life. It is irreversible. There is one option of having a child without having a womb: in case your doctor has left your ovaries intact, you can produce an egg and a surrogate mother can bear your biological child. For medical and legal reasons, this alternative is not very feasible, so think twice before you decide to get this abdominal surgery. First of all, consider the possible disadvantages. Gynecologists usually do not recommend hysterectomy as a how not to get pregnant method – they perform this kind of abdominal surgery to cure serious conditions or, at least, problems like excessive bleeding.

Hysterectomy as a how not to get pregnant method is quite rare and unusual. It is a major abdominal surgery that has its risks.

On the other hand, women who have had hysterectomy are less likely to suffer from ovarian cancer, even if their ovaries were spared.

Types of Hysterectomy

Your uterus can be removed through your vagina or through your abdomen, and there exist laparoscopy-assisted hysterectomy.

If you undergo radical hysterectomy, your doctor will remove your ovaries, too. Many doctors are reluctant to remove them. Ovaries produce hormones that contribute to bone density and your general health and well-being in your old age. If you do not have your ovaries anymore, you might be prone to osteoporosis, fragile bones in old age. You can suffer other unpleasant hormonal changes, from migraines to fatigue or dizziness, and you can reach menopause much earlier. You can undergo hormone therapy to cease these symptoms.

Total hysterectomy means that a doctor removes your entire uterus but leaves your ovaries intact. Your ovaries still can produce hormones, which is beneficial for your sexual health.

Subtotal hysterectomy means that only a part of your uterus will be removed. One still can conceive a child after a subtotal hysterectomy.

Once you get your womb removed, you will not have your period anymore. There can be some bleeding, however, it will be considerably lighter and more convenient than your period.

Possible Disadvantages

Doctors avoid this abdominal surgery, they say it is not a how not to get pregnant method. There are a couple of disadvantages of this abdominal surgery. Some of the patients who have undergone a hysterectomy reported that they had pelvic pain afterward. There is a higher risk of urinary incontinency and vaginal prolapse many years after the surgery. It means that when you have your womb removed, you might not have these unpleasant symptoms right after the surgery, but you might have problems ten or twenty years later. After a hysterectomy, some patients have health issues like adhesions (forming of fibrous bands between tissues) and bowel obstruction.