Can't Keep My Mouth Shut - Get to Know: Exploring All Types of Contraception

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

I don't think this topic is discussed half as much as it should be. The more we educate ourselves, the better equipped we are to lead a life that we love, with self-protection in mind. I hope this helps you all when deciding on your perfect choice of safe-sex contraception. With love, Nixalina. ​For more awesome content to read including beauty, fashion or dating & love features, please do head over to my digital platform www.nixalina.com. Don't be shy, come say hai! Head over to my Instagram or Tiktok @nixalina to slide into my DMs.

Hi, it's Nick Salina and welcome back to Can't Keep My Mouth Shut. This week, we're going to delve into the archives and enjoy a blast from the past. This is one of my personal favourite episodes, so I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoy making it and I'll see you all next week. This podcast contains strong language and discussions about relationships, sex and love. It may not be suitable for younger listeners. This is the Can't Keep My Mouth Shut podcast, and I am Nixalina. Hello, it's Nixalina. Welcome to another Monday of my show. Thank you for joining me. I hope you've

had a great day. As always, such a pleasure to have you listening to me talk. God love you. And today we're talking about contraception. Let's talk about contraception. As we all know, very many different methods of contraception. And I want to go through the main ones and kind of educate you guys on, I don't mean guys, I mean you, everyone, guys and girls. There we go. That makes you feel better. Educate you all on the different types of contraception. Please note, always a disclaimer not a doctor uh yeah not professional this is just um me as always for my experience and my past 15 years in the industry so yes always seek medical professional advice on such things but if you want to you know just listen to me go over and just help you out like

a beginner's guide to contraception if you will or maybe you know about a few of them the rest of I'm like, well, I didn't know that existed. Yeah, I'm here for it. So let's go. First one, the condom. The condom is the only form of contraception that is going to protect you against most STIs and, of course, pregnancy. Let's just say that again. It's the only form of contraception that would starve off STDs. So unless you want to, you know, catch chlamydia or herpes or syphilis, don't worry, syphilis died out like in the 19th century. I think it did. Maybe it's still around, but it's, you know, treatable. Whereas back then you'd die from it. Oh, digression. This is not the History Channel. Yeah, condoms are the only ones.

um unfortunately it says like if you look on the internet it says most stds the reason it says most is because actually there are some that you can still catch when you're wearing a condom so these will be stds that live i guess on the outer parts of the genitalia that can be genital warts that can be herpes complex. The others mainly like you would be okay, chlamydia, gonorrhea, they're all within the condom, okay? But there are a couple that are still contagious. I know it's ridiculous, right? However, condom is your safest bet for sure. The pros to a condom, of course, is, you know, buy one down the shop, stick it on, you're good to go. It's also hormone free which I love because me and hormones we are not best friends the cons though is that it

doesn't feel good I say that look disclaimer I'm not saying condoms don't feel good I with my like ex for example I didn't love using condoms we didn't use it because I preferred like that connection right so if you're looking this is the way I'd say if you're if you're looking to have like a hookup or you're just like getting to know someone, please use condoms. You do not want an STD, right? You just fucking don't. And without tea spilling on myself, a member of my family passed away from AIDS when I was very young. So just always use a condom. That's the only thing I can fucking say. That being said, if you're in a relationship with someone and like you've both had your test done your std free yeah i like and you're like fucking hell this it can't be like

what sex feels like then yeah i would definitely look to another alternative personally and just drop the condom because also as well you have to keep buying loads right and then like what if you're like oh i want to have impromptu sex and like fuck we run out you know and it's 6 a.m and the shops aren't open or whatever you know or you hang over and you don't want to leave the house there's many issues but yes the condom is the number one go-to you can buy them in different sizes in different flavors different thickness and um yes please wear one I can only just keep saying that please please please wear one when it comes to the condom conversation if he's like nah I don't like having sex with it I want to have sex with you out and you don't know his

background tell him if he doesn't wrap it he ain't going in like dude just put you don't feel don't feel scared or embarrassed just like please put a condom on if he won't then done respect your body enough to say no because look this is the way I see it right when it comes to STDs it's not just about him that you don't know about it's who he slept with background you don't know about so the girl we slept with last week she slept with that guy months ago that guy's a male whore and slept his whole way around the island right you don't fucking know what she's got and she might not know it and now she's passed it to this guy and this guy's gonna pass it to you like it's a chain reaction you don't want to be involved in so put a fucking condom on okay next one

the oral contraceptive pill there is two types combined pill and the mini pill so both of these is a little tablet that you take every day the mini pill only has one hormone right which is I'm going to pronounce this wrong progestin progestin and progestin is a chemically made or medically made version of progesterone, which is the female hormone, right, for the reproductive system. So the mini pill contains just this one hormone, which is the chemical of progesterone. The combined pill contains estrogen and progestin. So there's two different hormones going in, right? So you take the pill. I think we're all quite familiar with this contraception you take the pill at the same time every day you take it for a cycle of three weeks

you have seven days off and then you men pick it back up again with the pill the problems arise when you miss one like say you forget to take it if you are on the pill and you have to go on antibiotics that often stops the effectiveness of the pill and that that is how a lot of pregnancies happen, believe it or not, because people don't realize that the antibiotics encounter at the pill. It also means for women who struggle with hormone replacement stuff like this, you could end up with a really bad side effect pill. Example, I've tried many, many, many, many. The most recent one was Yasmin, which I was on for years when I was younger. I went back on it in April last year, because my ex was like, you know, I don't want to risk having babies, but

you know, whatever. Honestly, I cried. I was so depressed for a month. So I was on Yasmin just the month of April. That whole month, I was a raging, psychotic, crying mess. Soon as I was like, shit, I think it's the pill and I come off it. Oh my God, I was like a different human. it really really got to me and I remember saying to my ex at the time like I can't do it I can't fucking do this it's not worth my mental health and I feel like the pill is often overlooked in that level where it's like oh yeah I just take the contraceptive pill and I'll be fine it really plays with your mood swings as does a lot of the hormone replacement contraceptions that we have on like like the implant which I'll get to that's also hormones in there so

I feel like the pill is good if you find one that suits you that you find doesn't affect you like yasmin in my early 20s I didn't have a problem with that's why I went back on it I was like no there's no no side effects whatsoever oh my god when I'm like 32 wow it's awful so if you if you start taking a pill and you find that you are in a very weird space mentally it is probably the pill come off it the doctor will probably tell you as well you know that you might settle down so maybe try it for three months but like i said you've got to get advice from the doctor here this is not just me i'm just talking you through the different types that are available for you and of course you can try a combined pill and a mini pill as well they both are effective in avoiding pregnancy

so maybe one works better with your hormones than the other one you also have to remember take it at the same time every day every day set an alarm if you have to um and what they're also really good for if I'm honest is reducing very heavy periods and making like periods a lot lighter that was great like I suffer from period cramps oh my god it's like it's like a migraine going on in my tummy it's awful and the pill really starves that off so yes for that okay and the third one is the iud the copper coil the inch i can't pronounce this the incheterin i know there's probably medical students out there like your dick the iud is a tiny t-shaped little device that um you have two types there's one that has the hormone progesterone and then

the copper one, I believe is hormone free. This is what I was told because I opted for a copper one. So they get put into your uterus. Not yourself. Can't go down the shops and buy one. It has to be done professionally. And they can stay in for, God, like three to 10 years. They're, you know, they're brilliant. They go inside. Forget about it. There's no pill. There's no worrying about a condom there's no nothing and then you just don't get pregnant right they also unlike others where like you where like say the pill you come off it you might not get pregnant straight away when you remove them you can actually actively start trying straight away if you decide that you want to have a baby so as soon as they're out they're out right okay so I had one oh my

fucking god it was all full it was so bad every period I had I was in so much pain crippling pain at one point I was in the UK um I was back from Singapore for a trip to see my family and I ended up going to the hospital on morphine in an ambulance yeah um and I was just like begging them get it out get it out get it out and he's like oh we we don't have a gynecologist here we don't have anyone trained to take hours I just cry like please take it out take it out the pain was fucking awful I put up with that little bastard inside of me for I think seven seven to nine months in total never ever ever again but then I find out um I got it removed in Singapore and they said to me yeah we never advise the the coil the RUD for women who haven't had children

yet because like the pain when it when they put it in in the UK I just want you to know that it was the worst pain I felt sick I walked I couldn't stand up so I hobbled out of that clinic and my friend at the time drove me home and I've never it was awful I felt sick I had cramps I couldn't sleep I had a hot water bottle I took paracetamol nothing would take the pain away and when she put it in I was it was agony it was like someone's inserting a knife into me it was awful it was just awful from start to finish that being said my friend who also didn't have children who was also my age had the copper coil fitted about a month later fine absolutely fine wasn't in pain, not a problem. Every period was fine. Um, yeah, great. So cool. I'm like, I have to be

honest, you know, I don't want to just say my horror story and then someone else is like, yeah, it's fine for me, but it's, um, yeah, it was awful. The upside of course is the fact that, yeah, it can be for years and years and years and you don't even have to worry about it anymore. If you're lucky and it doesn't affect you the way it affected me, then that's probably definitely uh for me the best contraception for a woman especially the copper one the hormone free one like that's great I wish I didn't have that reaction in my body because I would still have it in now to be honest okay the next one is the contraceptive implant so this is quite a common one as well it does carry hormones um sometimes they'll advise that you can try to take a certain

pill first and see whether the pill sits well with you and works with you. And if it does, they'll match up the same hormone for your implant. It's just a tiny little flexible rod that goes under the skin. Sounds a bit gross. It's probably not fun. I've never had one. In the upper arm, tiny little like bump, like you wouldn't know it's there. And then offers out progesterone. Very similar to the pill, I believe. It's basically just putting hormones into your body obviously means you don't have to worry about taking the pill and also very easily to reverse you just take it out I believe that you might have to be put under local anesthetic to have it done and it also does need to be replaced after like three

years as well I've had a couple of girlfriends of mine who had the implant one of them loved it the other two really suffered they said it actually did make them very moody as well and this is the problem with this hormone stuff man it's like so you go under low kinesthetic you get the implant in maybe you've tried a pill maybe you haven't maybe you're like yep no this will work for me I'm going for it and then it's inside you and you're you know in a mental hellhole like you're kind of fucked because it's already in there that's why I get so I'm so wary um I think probably I've just been burned in the past about putting hormones into my body but yes this was a popular choice for my friends group the next is the contraceptive injection I don't think many people know that

this actually exists so once again this is the hormone progesterone so this can be injected into your upper arm or your bum I'm not a fan of injections if I'm honest I will freak out if someone has to take my blood so this probably is not good for me it lasts up to three months so your contraceptive injection you've got three months there and then the hormones slowly released into your bloodstream from the injection and you're covered from getting pregnant bearing in mind all of these can interrupt your periods um all of these uh can give you irregular periods they can give you cramps or less cramps or you know like it is so subjective which is why it's very hard to talk about this in a way that I'm not like stating too many facts I hope I'm not

because once again not a doctor and these are subjective with the injection it can cause irregular bleeding also it makes you have to keep a track of your three months like because you have to go back so you can't possibly slip on that or if you're going away for a vacation or you you know you got busy at work or forgot if or you lost your diary you really have to keep on top of those three months. You can't risk even like a week or two weeks. I believe this could not be the case. Maybe it carries through. But yeah, I think for your own sanity, you have to really go within those 12 weeks at the limit. Okay, the next is a contraceptive ring, which I don't think many people know about either. This ring is basically like an inside version of the pill. So the ring

is a little flexible plastic ring that releases hormones and it's placed into the vagina inside you right it stays in place for three weeks you then remove it you take a week off and then you put another one in so like the same with the pill where it's a three-week cycle three weeks on a week off and that week off is when you get your period this is what the contraceptive ring does the ring is like the combined pill where it releases two hormones the estrogen and progesterone and um it's a lot but it's a lower dose usually than the pill itself so with the contraceptive ring you can put it in and remove it yourself right which is kind of cool because obviously like the ejection you have to go to the doctors the implant you have to go to the doctors the

coil you'd have whereas this you can pop it in yourself it also gives you the control about you know like your periods and obviously you can just whip it out and then you're able to return pretty quickly to your fertility cycle if you then want to start trying for a baby the cons about it is the same with the combined pill if you can't handle the combo the estrogen and the progesterone then no that's it then it's a no and also you have to remember to replace it at the right time as well but it's the same as keeping track with your contraceptive pill right so you just always got to keep on top of your schedule and your diary and making sure you're not missing any days. The next one is the patch, which I don't think many people know about. So

the patch is a square sticker, looks like a tiny little thin plaster. And that's also got two hormones, estrogen and progesterone, and basically you stick it on your body. That is literally what it is. It does help usually to make periods lighter, and you have to change it once a week. so the downfalls with this is you've got to then be more on top of it like every week make sure you change it but this is not too an issue like okay you change it every Sunday night you stick your patch on the main problem for me with this one is it's visible like when I was trying to quit smoking like for the 55th billionth time I would put the knicker rep patches on and they were visible this one wherever you put it it'd still be visible to someone who's got you naked

and having sex, right? And obviously, we're talking about contraception because we want to have sex. So the patch will be visible. It just depends if you're chill about it. It's not ugly. It's not huge. If it's got the two hormones in, estrogen and progesterone, you need to make sure that you're okay with that. But I sound like very daunting with this. Like, make sure you're okay with the hormones. It's not as scary. I'm sure many girls are like, Nick's chill. Like, I felt nothing. I pop a pill every day. Life is good. I stick a patch on. Life is great. Implant? No problem. I just want to make sure you girls know that there are possibilities where it's not all fun and easy and games and there are adverse effects to all of these. The next one is the

diaphragm. Did you know about that? This for me, I feel like is almost like a female condom type thing. In fact, I think there might even be a female condom. But the diaphragm is like a small little soft dome. It's usually made of silicon and you push it into your vajayjay before you have sex. And it basically just forms a dome barrier for the sperm. That's it. You put it in and he goes in, has a great time, spunks, pulls out and the diaphragm has stopped the sperm. it has to be in there for six hours after you have sex right but no longer than 24 hours so this is the a little thing with the diaphragm is like you know it depends on when you're having sex like the time you really should be taking it out also I always get a bit worried about whether

it like whether they can feel it like I don't know how deep I've never used a diaphragm how deep you have to like put it in but I always think like would it stop them going any further I don't know I mean it's also it's also going to take practice I think the same as a contraceptive ring for you to really get a handle on it it's it's hormone free and it means you don't have to use a condom you know so if that's what you guys want to venture down then here for it it's an option for you final one is the morning after pill aka emergency contraception this is not really a contraception for long term use it is for preventing pregnancy if you think you might have made a mistake uh maybe a condom broke during sex or maybe you're in a relationship

and he accidentally spunked inside of you when he was supposed to pull out or maybe you got too drunk with your partner and you both threw caution to the wind then spunk to the vagina and you're shit. Anyway, the morning after pill should be taken as soon as you can after that sex took place. You take one pill and what it does is it's obviously got the hormones in it as well and it stops you, prevents you from any pregnancy. So the sooner you take this pill, the more effective it is. But I think it can be taken up to 72 hours, so up to three days after you have had sex whether that's changed now and it's up to like maybe it's longer or shorter but that's what it used to be for me yeah it's a great safety net if you fucked up by getting

fucked let's be honest but let's not put this in in the list of contraception as our go-tos okay because no um it needs to be talked about because it does exist so if you are you know freaking out because you're like shit shit shit you need to go and get an emergency contraception can give you side effects can make you feel nauseous or you know sometimes vomiting if it is vomiting and you vomit up you should go back and obviously talk to the doctor they may prescribe you another one but the main side effect with a morning after pill that I've experienced is it really screws with your next period so you want you might come on within a week or your next period might never come on or you know like it just switches up like your cycle for me it did anyway like I had no idea

then when I was due on and yeah I just really fucked with my body which I also you know as we've heard from this whole episode I don't like happening so there there you have it I think I've covered all of the major contraception if you want any more um conversation with me about this I'm not going to say advice because like i said not a doctor this is just me detailing for you guys to listen to um and my some of my personal experiences i have tried um the condom i've tried the coil i've tried the morning after pill i've tried both a combo and a mini pill and i've tried um the emergency contraception pill as well personally yet to try a contraceptive ring but i'm liking the sound of it i think that might be my new thing but yeah always please remember aside from

like the diaphragm the copper coil and the condom most of these have hormones in and so really get to grips with what's going to work for your body don't be scared or sad to try something and go that didn't work for me i'm going to try something else you know like okay that pill didn't work for me what other pills you got okay that pill didn't work for me let's try you know the injection or the implant like mix it up until you find what suits you because it's very subjective and we are all individuals and on that note my lovelies it's the end of this episode thanks for listening to the can't keep my mouth shut podcast produced and hosted by me nick selena i'm recorded in the splice car studios in singapore i'm available to listen to on spotify

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