Table 3.

Selection of responses: reasons for hormonal contraceptive (HC) use.

Participants' reasons for using HC
Symptoms	Practical	Compound reasons	Health-related
“I use it to reduce severe menstrual cramps” “I suffered from prolonged, heavy, frequent bleeding that disturbed my everyday life. It became easier to handle with combined oral contraceptives. My menses became lighter, and my bleedings shorter with longer duration between each bleeding” “To reduce the amount of bleeding, pain and a consistent bad feeling” “Heavy bleedings, and some menstrual cramps” “Severe menstrual cramps” “Bloating, ailments, and abdominal pain” “To reduce menstrual pain”	“To get continuity in my menstruation, the ability to skip menstruation and as contraception” “To avoid menstruation at competitions/training camps etc.” “Have control/avoid menstruation during training and competition” “Loss of menstruation” “Can postpone my period when I am competing or at training camps” “The possibility to skip menstruation, but the main reason is contraception” “To prevent menstruation and therefore make it more convenient, such that I do not need to think about it”	“To regulate when I have menstruation because I get painful cramps that I feel reduce my performance. Because of this, I can avoid having my period during important competitions” “To avoid bleeding at training camps and during training as it is both annoying and painful. The intrauterine system reduces my menstrual pains” “… Also had very strong menstrual cramps, and needed to be able to control my menstruation in relation to competitions etc…” “To avoid menstrual cramps during important competitions” “Severe and unpredictable menstrual cramps especially the first four days, which reduce my performance extremely” “[I] had so much menstrual pain before I started on combined oral contraceptives that I could not train” “Abdominal pain. I have struggled a lot with stomach cramps due to menstruation, which sometimes affected my performance”	“Both for contraception and due to low production of estrogen” “… polycystic ovary syndrome. I had a too low estrogen level” “Iron deficiency”