When on earth are they going to put the male contraception on the market?

My birth control pills story started very early. From condom to pill, from pill to condom, and back to pill again. Since I do not want to reproduce, at some point, I also thought about sterilization, but what if the price exceeds my income, and you do not get rid of the period with it? There is a lot of contraception for women, but every once in a while, I wish that men would finally get it too. 

Although I am a woman of rules and in the past sex without a condom was out of the question for me, over the years, as relationships have lasted longer, I have decided to embark on a journey of hormonal contraception. Although this was a period when Slovenia had some deaths due to pulmonary embolism as a result of taking hormonal pills, I still decided to take them despite smoking at the time. I remember the impatience that the pills would finally show an effect, and the past shameful purchase of condoms, an honor that was given to me every once in a while, would leave my memory. And it was terrific - I wasn't as moody at one point; my body hair seemed lighter and thinner, my periods lasted only a short time and passed almost painlessly.  

When the relationship was over, my cooperation with hormonal pills was also over. Although I felt good while taking them, I felt relief when I stopped taking them. It was only when painful and heavy periods knocked at the door again that I began to miss them. However, this did not last long either, as benign tissue appeared on my breast, the formation of which was caused, according to the doctor's opinion, by hormonal pills at the time. After the surgery, I swore I would never eat them again. In the following years, the condom was my number one choice; only every once in a while, I took the morning pill due to an unexpected accident.  

My hormones were raging. Night sweats, painful periods, and aching periods appeared as a consequence. I only slept peacefully for a few nights a month, then woke up wrapped in soaked bedding. I was also in a bad mood, so I turned to a gynecologist for help. I had a UID in my head with a low level of hormones, but for the reason that I had not yet had children, the gynecologist knocked it out of my head. She suggested a new hormone pill containing estradiol, which I can take despite my previous lump in my breast, smoking, and my fear of clots, which has intensified with age.  

I went home confused with three boxes of Drovelis contraception pills and the comfort of a gynecologist that these pills were safer than the ones I took years ago. The feeling of safety was dispelled when I pulled the instructions for use out of the box with the listed generic warnings and side effects of hormonal pills. Nevertheless, I decided to trust my doctor and took the pills for the next two years. At first, everything was fine, but later I started bleeding daily, and when the menstrual window started, there was not a single drop of blood. At that time, my gynecologist confirmed the occurrence of myoma and prescribed me other pills, which are at the same time a medicine for reducing myoma and contraception. The night before I started taking it, due to sweat and wet bedding, I could not close my eyes again, and began to wonder where the hell is the contraception for men? I probably should have asked myself before why the gynecologist did not want to prescribe me a uterine implant, but my thoughts wandered elsewhere.  

I have nothing against female contraception, but in cases where every one except the condom fails for women, I wonder why they have not yet discovered the right alternative contraception for men. I have read numerous articles on this topic over the years, and every experiment has failed in clinical studies. I hope that the last one, which was all over the news at the beginning of 2025, finally succeeds. Today, as in the past sixty years, a man can only contribute by using a condom or vasectomy. With the flood of many contraceptives, women can control reproduction, while for men, this option is severely curtailed.  

Half of the 15,000 men surveyed in the US would use male contraception. Due to accelerated development, we may have the opportunity to obtain it very soon. Among the studies, the most successful are two contraceptives - the daily NES/T hormone gel, which inhibits sperm production, and the ADAM injection gel, which would block ejaculation. NES/T was used by 400 men in the first phase of testing, and the results were better than expected. The gel was applied by men for four to twelve weeks daily, and a decrease in male gametes below the fertility limit was observed in all of them.

Side effects, those that should have also prevented the development of contraception for men in previous years, were minimal in this study. Some men had acne and mild mood swings, with only a few participants discontinuing testing due to severe side effects. However, this still does not mean that the medicine will be approved. A few years ago, testing of another male contraceptive was stopped due to a large number of men reporting mood swings.  

The gel mentioned above has been developed, studied, and tested for twenty years and is entering the third phase of testing, where the number of test subjects will be larger. Nevertheless, scientists are hesitant to predict a positive outcome.  

Although I have my fingers crossed that this contraception is confirmed, I think I will experience menopause sooner. Until then, I will sail at my own pace, with pills or a uterine implant, if possible, and with as few consequences as possible.