Sex w/o birth control

[monochromepengu]

My boyfriend and I have been together for over two months now. We are both almost 18 and are getting further in exploring sexual experiences and desires with each other (healthily and consensually). Last year I went on the pill for a couple months and I was having severe mood swings & other side effects that caused me to go off of it. I am currently not on any BC but am nervous to engage in penetrative sex without BC as a back-up (we WOULD be using condoms and/or other protection). Is it safe to use condoms without birth control? I know it would be safer to double-up, but I guess I'm concerned about the risk and I'm not sure what my other options are, as other hormonal BC options are going to have the same/similar side effects as well, but a non-hormonal IUD can cause pretty bad menstruation issues as well. (this is a heterosexual relationship). Any advice/suggestions is appreciated!

[Sam W]

Hi monochromepengu,

While the condom is a very effective method of birth control all on it's own, you're right that it offers more protection to add in a second method. And since it sounds like you'd feel much more comfortable using two methods, I think it's worth doing a little extra digging into what your options might be.

To start, when you decided to go off the pill, did you and your healthcare provider discuss any alternative options? Or was it more that they agreed it would be best if you stopped the pill and didn't dig into other methods that might be better fits?

[monochromepengu]

My mom and I had decided to go on the pill using a website "simplehealth" which didn't require a doctor's visit or appointment. While i had access to doctors via this website, my mom and i just decided it would be best to cancel the subscription and wean off the pills about 3-4 months in. I did not have an appointment with my healthcare provider in regards to bc.

[Sam W]

Got it. So, one option here might be to schedule an appointment with a healthcare provider, even if it's just something like telehealth appointment, where someone could go over your options while taking things like your medical history into account.

You could also take a look at the different non-hormonal methods out there that could be paired with a condom. This chunk of our birth control bingo goes into them each in more detail: https://www.scarleteen.com/birth_contro ... hod_for_me. You could also look into progestin-only hormonal methods, like the mini-pill, in case what was causing the intense side effects was a reaction to the estrogen in the pills: https://www.scarleteen.com/birth_contro ... _minipills