Penny and Contraception
Recently had a message from Vani88 on FF about the idea Penny would get a contraceptive hormonal implant
"The synthetic hormones the BC delivers makes the natural hormone cycle pause so on the pill, Penny would feel the variation only with the chemicals. With the implant, she'd be permanently stuck in the "postovulatory" phase of the cycle with all the associated disadvantages that go with it.
Sheldon, IMO, would be the kind of guy to take care of his property and want her "honest", not chemically induced reactions and thus get her off the hormones immediately. He'd be the one charting her cycle and know when to use condoms and when there'd be no need... because he's just that much of a control freak :wink: accepting an 8% chance of failure is not his style "
So I did a bit of research and talked to a friend who's a Biopsych scientist*.
Rather than an implant like Nexplanon it seems the best option is an IUD, a hormone saturated coil that uses the same hormones as the combined pill. As it's in the womb the levels of hormones needed are a lot lower than oral contraceptives, so it has fewer side effects.
But it'll trick the body into thinking she's pregnant, so eggs aren't released and the endometrium doesn't thicken. No more periods, no more cramps and it'll last five years
Charting an ovulation cycle isn't really effective as a means of contraception, especially as sexual pleasure and orgasms can stimulate an egg to be released outside of the normal cycle, and they're definitely having a lot of wild sex. It's best used to *get* pregnant, as you can work out times of peak fertility but you can never guarantee zero fertility.
Used properly, modern contraceptives are 99%+ effective. The failure rates come from things like forgetting to take them, screwed up stress/sleep/health, illness and interactions with other drugs.
Implants and IUDs don't suffer from those worries, so most are 99.8% effective.
But Sheldon's a gamer, he knows the probability math but also how often you have a slim chance but roll a natural 20. Also, for virile heroes such as himself, he knows million to one shots happen nine times out of ten.
So he'd opt for a barrier method he can see and control – a condom – on top of the hormonal contraception. That way the IUD will control, stabilise and mediate the pain and cramps plus help stabilise emotional changes, while providing 99.99% effective birth control when combined with the condom.
Del
(*aka mystic sex witch)
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