There's a highly effectivy method called symptothermal method. It is basically a combination of temperature measuring and cervical mucus observation, as both symptoms change during the menstrual cycle and when ovulation occurs, you can tell from the symptoms. After you successfully determined that the ovulation passed, a woman is infertile until her next cycle starts.

This means that during that time, you don't need any condoms or anything.

Unfortunately, while being extremely well-researched in Germany for more than 30 years, it is quite uncommon in the US and only known as "Fertility Awareness", which is not the "pure" symptothermal method. The method is oftentimes associated (wrongly) with Christian groups.

You can check out Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_awareness

Edit: Perfect use application of the "pure" symptothermal method has a Pearl Index of 0.4 (99.6% effectiveness) and typical use is 1-3 (97-99%). This is quite comparable to the pill.

My fiancée cannot use hormonal birth control for the same reason. Instead, she has a copper based IUD. Your girlfriend has probably considered this already, but if not I strongly recommend looking into it. They're not perfect, but they're very good.

(There are only two real risks/side effects: Heavier bleeding, and it's important not to get Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (which is another way of saying, it's even more important than normal not to get STDs. If she can handle the first, and is in a monogamous relationship - or at least, always uses condoms with people who aren't guaranteed STD free - then neither issue is severe.)

Mind you, vasalgel sounds even better to me. :)

What happens with the survey? Are you affiliated?

No affiliation. I think they might contact you to get quotes for media about how cool it would be and to notify you of their progress.

You should talk to you doctor about progestin-only contraception.

Blood clots, heart problems, cancer, bone loss, and sun sensitivity are all associated with estrogen-containing birth controls. From my research, progestin-only methods don't have those drawbacks.

As always, IANAD and this is not medical advice, but you should talk to one.

I guess she already did, but have you tried switching pills? (after asking a gynaecologist I guess)

My girlfirend reacted very badly to a well-known and tested brand, however she seems to do much better with a local-brand product with different composition (started that one a few months ago).