When to get on birth control

Please, like everyone else has suggested...consult your doctor.

Talk to your doctor! I would say your doctor's appointment should be at least three months before the wedding if you want to get yourself adjusted in time.

Thanks everyone, i know i have to talk to my doctor. i was just wondering how soon before the wedding to do so.

thanks for the advice

Of course you will talk to your doctor. You're not dumb. You're curious about other women's experience. One thing first -- most of the serious weight gain from hormonal birth control came from older, higher dose versions of the various pills. Yes, hormonal birth control doesn't agree with everyone, etc. BUT the fact is, the dose of hormones in modern pills is dramatically smaller than what was prescribed 30 years ago.

Honestly, my advice is to get on birth control the exact second that you realize that you are not ready to be a parent yet. And yes for pity's sake do it before the wedding. Holy crap.

I can't tell you how many of my friends are the product of sex shortly before their parents' wedding. Don't bet against the house (biology), because the house always wins.

Signed, a Honeymoon Baby (yes, really)

You need to have a conversation with your doctor. Not all doctors are okay with you coming in and saying "I want birth control." For me I get migraines, so my doctor wanted me to talk to a neurologist before he would prescribe anything to me. Your doctor is also going to discuss different methods and what is going to be best for you. You might also deal with spotting for a few months and definitely won't want to deal with that on your wedding day. Definitely the sooner the better.

Any doctor that is not OK with a patient coming in and saying "I want birth control" is one you should clearly avoid. Regardless of other health issues, you have the right to have access to and be educated about birth control. At the very least any woman wanting birth control should be educated about natural family planning.

Instantly and permanently fire any doctor who isn't kind and supportive about supplying birth control. If they think you aren't allowed to make those decisions for yourself, what else are they deciding for you without talking to you about it? FAIL!!!!!!!!

Almost_MLF? You know what they call people who practice natural family planning? PARENTS! Offering natural family planning as an answer to a question about birth control verges on malpractice.

@PrivateUser, if you are interested at all in learning about Natural Family Planning and Fertility Awareness Method, I strongly recommend the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. By understanding your cycle and signs of fertility, you can prevent pregnancy hormone free. A lot of people who do not understand NFP and FAM will tell you that it isn't effective, but in truth, it's up to 99% effective, same as taking a birth control pill.

If you will prefer to take hormonal birth control, I'd start a few months before the wedding. This way you will have time to learn how your body reacts to it and have time to adjust to the hormones. You can also use this time as trial and error to find what combination of hormones works best for you.

@Lori, Natural Family Planning is highly effective when done correctly. "verges on malpractice"? That's ridiculous. There are plenty of studies that prove its effectiveness. Now this is not the Rhythm Method, I agree that that is usually not effective, since woman's cycles are not all the same. But true NFP works wonderful for many people.

If the ONLY answer someone gets from their doctor is NFP, yes, I would say that does verge on malpractice. It is not suitable for all women, by a long shot. NFP works for people who are prepared to devote a ton of time and effort to it, in the service of religious scruples that no doctor has any business assuming are held by all of his or her patients.

First, Almost_MLF didn't say anything about being a doctor. She mentioned NFP as her opinion, so malpractice does not come into play here at all, not sure why you are even throwing that word out there. Nor did she say "doctors should only tell you about nfp", she said that everyone should at least be educated about it, even if they don't choose to use it. That is her opinion and is totally valid.

No-one said anything about a doctor telling her to choose NFP and not offering any other choices.

Also, NFP is not only used for religious scruples. I use NFP because my body reacts badly to hormones. NFP takes less than a minute out of my day., not much time or effort there.

OP, IUDs are also an option. And one super important thing to know about NFP that you won't hear from NFP propagandists is that it can require that you skip sex up to half the month. Which is such a popular choice for newlyweds. Not.

And Mrs. Kassy, if you read my posts, I didn't accuse anyone of claiming to be a doctor.

@Lori, do you know what malpractice means?

You said "Offering natural family planning as an answer to a question about birth control verges on malpractice." in response to Almost_MLF. You basically called her comment "malpractice".

Malpractice is "improper, illegal, or negligent professional activity or treatment, especially by a medical practitioner". Since Almost_MLF is not a medical practitioner, as far as we know, nothing she might have said is malpractice.

I know you backtracked in your next comment and said "If the ONLY answer someone gets from their doctor is NFP, yes, I would say that does verge on malpractice.", which is closer to actual malpractice, but still makes no sense in the context of this discussion.

Also, not sure why you are so defensive against the suggestion of NFP. It was only offered as an alternative, no-one said it's the end-all-be-all. It's important for the OP to know all of her options, wouldn't you say?

Yes, NFP does include some abstaining for part of the month, although some people use condoms or pull out during that time instead. It worked fine for me as a newlywed, and I don't see anything wrong with people mentioning it to the OP as an option.

OP, get on it as soon as you can to give your body time to adjust and switch methods if need be. my first month-2 months on the pill I got horrible acne and was super bloated with water weight. My third month everything went back to normal. Give yourself time just in case!

I stand by my second statement. If I go to a doctor to explore my options for birth control, and the only thing I'm told about is NFP, that verges on malpractice. I think there is nothing unclear about this. Nitpicking my initial statement doesn't change that. And you know there's something dubious about NFP by how wound up its partisans get when someone criticizes it. If it was a great idea for everyone, everyone would be doing it. But they're not, because it's a pain in the a$$ and demands a kind of consistency in practice that is rare and difficult.

I agree with your second statement, I never said I didn't. But it still makes no sense in the context of this discussion, because no-one said that should be her only option.

I'm not wound up by anyone criticizing NFP if their criticisms are valid. Yes, some people find it a pain in the ass. That's fine, it seems to work great for others. Yes, it does call for some abstaining or barrier methods, some people will be okay with that.

But if your criticism is not based on fact (for example, calling it ineffective), I will try to educate you. No-one said it's a great idea for everyone. It's a great idea for some people, and OP might be one of those, so I don't see the problem with mentioning the option to her.

Woooow.

Lori, you have a LOT of misinformation and glaring ignorance about how your body works. It's pretty sad.

NFP can be highly effective, given the following:

The woman has extremely regular cycles

The woman tracks her basal body temperature, and cervical mucus

The couple is willing to abstain from sex and/or use condoms during the fertile period of the cycle.

I can tell you, with extreme accuracy, the day I ovulate each month. When I was charting,, I could also tell you when exactly my body was gearing up to ovulate, though I was charting trying to get pregnant.

IUDs are probably one of the least reliable methods of birth control. Go on over to babycenter and ask how many ladies there have Mirena babies. There are a LOT. They don't tell you that if your body rejects it, and many do, you are unprotected while the body tries to absorb/embed it, or push it out, which can take months. Further, getting pregnant with an IUD greatly increases your chances of ectopic pregnancy which is life threatening and can lead to infertility.

I HATE it when people give advice, yet have zero idea how their body works.

1. Read this:

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control

Well researched, balanced information is why I keep donating to them.

2. Talk to your doctor

3. For hormonal methods, would recommend at least 2 weeks- 1 month to see how things are working out. Personally, I would recommend at least 3 months in advance because it can take that long for spotting/bloating to work itself out.

4. There has been no proven association between any hormonal birth control and weight gain except Depo and that was ~5 pounds over 1 year+

I got on birth control 1yr ago and I'm getting married next year. I gained about 15lbs while on it. I've dieted and worked out like I did in the past and couldn't lose a damn pound the only thing different is the birth control. over the last month I really thought about what am I going to do to fix this I want to feel like me again. so I cut cheese and nuts and I also cut red meat. I'm eating a lot of veggie pattys I found dr pragers they are really good. I've lost 9lbs since I made those changes. I found the birth control makes my body cling to fat obviously everyone is different but I found cutting even the "healthy" fats made a huge difference. Good luck and maybe don't use the birth control.