Hi there CornSurpise,

Just letting you know that I saw this! Working on a response right now.

Hi there Hannah, If you're interested in reading more about ovarian cysts, we tend to refer people to sites like those of the Boston Women's Health Collective (they wrote Our Bodies, Ourselves), or the Mayo Clinic . However, if you're feeling nervous about the possibility of pregnancy or having an o...

Hi there sophmontttt, and welcome to scarleteen! If you're looking to learn a little more about your own anatomy, you can find it at Innies and Outies: The Vagina, Clitoris, Uterus, and More , and more about periods at On The Rag: A Guide to Menstruation . At the bottom of each page, there will also...

Hi there jasonquadruple, and welcome to Scarleteen! First of all, it's good to hear that your family is accepting of masturbation and has talked to you openly about it. It may be helpful to read our article about it- to help round out what you've already learned - Is Masturbation Okay? Yep. . To res...

Hi Hannah, You're spot on in that googling symptoms can definitely be a bad idea; I always joke about how WebMD is always telling me that my headaches are a brain tumor. But googling that stuff can be especially harmful if it's about pregnancy risk, because if you already have anxiety about it, thos...

Hi there Hannah21, and welcome to Scarleteen! All the questions you've asked about condoms and more can be found at Condom Basics: A User's Manual . Have you considered using any other backup forms of contraception along with condoms? As for your question about prednisone, we aren't doctors so unfor...

Hi clvmsy, So anytime you stop taking a form of hormonal birth control, you're likely to experience some bleeding (which may vary from light spotting to a full 7 day period), so that's probably what's happening here. It's a good idea to follow what you're doctor told you, so you should start the new...

Of course! Any considerations about talking to others about how you're feeling? Do you have friends or family members that you feel comfortable talking about your sexual identity with?

Hi there Reader, and welcome to Scarleteen! First of all, I want to say that I'm really glad that you've been able to do the work that you've already done in terms of recognizing where those thoughts of self-hatred come in and trying to interrupting them. Those first steps can be some of the hardest...

That's awesome to hear, clvmsy! I hope the upcoming appointment goes well. I just wanted to jump in here real quick and say that it's usually not a good idea to take any medications beyond how they were specifically prescribed, just because the provider who prescribes them is looking out for specifi...

Hi Tigger, Gotcha! Sorry, the language is a little different from country to country, but yes, we call that an IUD (intrauterine device) in the U.S. :) It is possible for you or your partner to feel the strings poking out through the cervix during penetrative sex. It could be that with more time the...

Hi there Tigger, By the coil, you mean the Essure coils, right? It had to be inserted surgically? If so, as long as it's been placed correctly, they shouldn't be affected by intercourse, as they're way up in your fallopian tubes. You shouldn't be able to feel anything hanging down or poking around i...

Hi there millal, It looks like we've covered this topic with you before. If you go back and carefully reread Human Reproduction: A Seafarer's Guide , you'll see exactly why indirect transfer (such as from penis to hand to vagina) is not considered to be a risk for pregnancy. On a side note, you've m...

Hi Jellowl, "Perfect use" in terms of birth control is usually defined as taking it consistently according to the manufacturer's directions. We generally say there is a 12 hour grace period for the combination pill and a 3 hour grace period for the minipill (progestin-only), so yes, your e...

Hi there Maria, It sounds like you're already started thinking about the important stuff - whether or not you feel ready to have sex, what contraception options feel right to you, etc. Those are the types of questions that we usually reflect back to people who are trying to decide when and how they'...

Hi there dragoness24! It's hard for us to answer any questions about what's "normal" in terms of how partners have sex with each other, because that tends to look different from person to person, from day to day. When people watch TV and movies, or read magazines, it can seem like there's ...

Hi OGW, I'd just like to jump in here and echo the things that thewrit3r has said - there seems to be a pattern happening in your description of your relationship with your mom and this gynecologist situation in which you're getting told "the way things are" rather than you getting asked h...

Hi there gatesy, You have gotten advice from the doctor and from Sam separately (and she's set a limit with you), so I'm going go ahead and lock this thread. If you'd like to talk about techniques for managing anxiety we can definitely do that, but for the moment we've answered all that we can with ...

Hi FairyEve- I just wanted to jump in and echo some things real quick. When I read your first post my face lit up because you and I have had some very similar experiences. I've been struggling with very painful periods and chronic pain ever since I started menstruating- in high school I was put on e...

Oh my word this is amazing. I'm so excited for it. The prospect of potentially hearing my own voice terrifies me but I would love to help provide editing skills/ideas for shows/background music. I also really like our Queer Sex Ed theme vis a vis Izzy's pins, so maybe we could tie that into the name...

Hi Jellyfish, Like you said, miscarriage isn't really a possibility for your situation because you a) had a period and b) got two negative pregnancy test results. More likely those little grey clumps are little bits of tissue or vaginal discharge. A lot of people refer to menstrual fluid as "bl...

Hello rabbit, We will not answer ANY questions about pregnancy fear or anxiety in our direct services from users who are not pregnant or who are not or have not otherwise been directly involved with an actual pregnancy. Please do not post this kind of question. If you are seeing this text, and your ...

Hi there FadedPassion,

Eating foods with soy in them shouldn't affect the effectiveness of your birth control - for a more detailed list of what can, check out Something You Can Worry About Less: Interference and Hormonal Birth Control.

Hi there gatesy08, There should be no problem with your birth control, even if you didn't have it with you in your carry-on bag. There are only a few things that can affect the effectiveness of contraceptives like that, which you can read about here: Something You Can Worry About Less: Interference ...

There is pie involved!!!