vegan contraception

[ska face]

[quote="downhillingdemon"][quote="ska face"]

I'm glad you didn't - they are very important - I had one last month which picked up severe abnormalities in the cells and I am going for a colposcopy in a couple of weeks to see what needs to be done.

Please keep on with them.[/quote]

I only just read this - hope everything was ok.[/quote]

Thanks muchly - I had a chat with the gynaecologist who told me it was CIN3 - not cancer but would possibly become cancer if left without treatment, I think it's known as "carcinoma in situ".

He did a LEEP right there and then after the colposcopy and removed two lesions from my cervix - all shown in glorious technicolour on the clinic monitor. I'm just waiting for the biopsy of the lesions to find out whether I need further treatment or whether Mr Potancok can release me from his care.

Not able to exercise for a while which is making me a bit twitchy as I want to be at the gym or on my bicycle!

[virago]

Not able to exercise for a while which is making me a bit twitchy as I want to be at the gym or on my bicycle!

Worth it for your long term health though. Glad you're ok, wishing you a speedy recovery

[downhillingdemon]

Thanks muchly - I had a chat with the gynaecologist who told me it was CIN3 - not cancer but would possibly become cancer if left without treatment, I think it's known as "carcinoma in situ".

He did a LEEP right there and then after the colposcopy and removed two lesions from my cervix - all shown in glorious technicolour on the clinic monitor. I'm just waiting for the biopsy of the lesions to find out whether I need further treatment or whether Mr Potancok can release me from his care.

Not able to exercise for a while which is making me a bit twitchy as I want to be at the gym or on my bicycle!

Well, sounds like they have caught it in time from the sound of it. Hope the biopsy results are good and you don't need any further treatment

[thestoatyone]

Yeah, all the best SF.

[mouche]

Just adding my best wishes to everyone else's, Skaface - let us know how everything goes!

[Superflor]

I use the diaphragm and spermicide. Probably the diaphragm might not be vegan but they last a long time. Also the spermicide is no doubt animal tested. I'd use this and condoms as back up til I was steady with the fella. Diaphragms alone don't protect against std's.

I read in an earlier post about the higher risk of ectopic preganacies with them which i didn't know about. Have to read up on that.

I like it cos I'm in control and you can put them in hours before so there´d be no interruption if you got caught up in the pash (although you must top up with the spermicide after a certain time).

They can be a bit messy but the placing of them isn't that hard with a little practice.

I started to use it after having bad side effects with the combined pill from age 16-19. Also the doc said if I carried on smoking and using the pill I'd be dead before i was thirty (being seriously addicted back then I chose to come off the pill. Luckily I haven't had a cig in over 10 years now

Seems to be a contraceptive method that is losing popularity, however as trying to get spermicide cream either here in Spain or the UK has become harder and harder.

Haven't read anyone on here mentioning female condoms. They're quite popular over here...

[baldy]

Hello ...........

To answer your question, all Mates condoms (including SKYN condoms) are suitable for vegans, in the sense that none of them contain animal derivatives or material at all.
However, the biocompatability testing that is carried out to ensure it is not a skin irritant or skin sensitisation is carried out on rabbits and guinea pigs as like all condoms.
The standard stipulates what we have to do so we cannot change that element of the testing.

Wishing you all the best and lot of nice moments with our range of Mates products.

Kind Regards

Found this really interesting, I assume the animal testing they are talking about is FDA testing.
Am I right in thinking even vegan branded condoms would have had this kind of testing?

[annavegan]

Fusion make great condoms, guilt free:)

[loveliberate]

Everyone know that anyone - at least any woman - who is concerned about birth control is a slut. And probably a baby murdering slut at that. <Ducks & Runs>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/1 ... 41449.html

[muchluv]

Fusion condoms have the vegan logo on them, which means they must be free of animal products, and I suppose, animal testing. The VS's list of animal-free condoms is larger now but notes that they may be tested on animals. When checking, Fusion condoms lubrication is non-spermicidal. So I suppose that's why there's not testing. However, that would make the condom less safe, I suppose?

[blinki]

However, that would make the condom less safe, I suppose?

People still use spermicide? I've never seen it in my life but then I've get free condoms so don't look at that shop shelf. I'm fairly sure the NHS is actually against spermicide use- I've done their sex ed training for teachers and it isn't even mentioned. It does nothing to HIV and repeated use can cause irritation which leads to higher risk of STIs. When you weight it up against how much additional benefit it gives when you already have a condom then it's not worth promoting it's use. The exception is when it's used with a diaphragm then the additional benefit is higher but still lacks STI protection and lower rates of preventing pregnancy than a condom alone.

so yeah, I wouldn't really worry about it being less safe. It is but by an amount that's not worth worrying about. I'm no mathematician so correct me if I'm wrong but I recon if a condom if effective 98% of the time (with proper use) and spermicide is effective 75% of the time (proper use though the exact number is more debated) then spermicide when used with a condom prevents pregnancy 1 time in every 66.7 so it makes you 0.015% more safe

[muchluv]

Seems you may be right! One Mates ultra safe condom uses sperimicide but durex condoms don't apparently.

Great, so now, if I want to be guilt free that limits to one single condom brand that I would probably have to order offline as it wouldn't be stocked in shops, grr.