What is the combined pill?

The combined pill contains two hormones oestrogen and progestogen, these prevent the ovaries releasing an egg each month. The combined pill also:

• Thickens the mucus in the neck of the womb, so it is harder for sperm to penetrate the womb and reach an egg
• Thins the lining of the womb, so there is less chance of a fertilised egg implanting into the womb and being able to grow

But with over 30 brands of the combined pill to choose from, what is the difference and which is right for you?

Read on to discover the ingredients, side effects of the pill and read real-life reviews for the most popular brands available today.

What are the main differences between combined pill brands? 

You are not alone when it comes to the confusion about differences between pills, even healthcare professionals find it challenging to understand. We have a blog about how we at The Lowdown look at different pill groups if you want more information.

There are two main things you can change between types of combined pill:

• the oestrogen – most combined pills contain ethinylestradiol but have varying strengths. Low dose is counted as 20mcg, normal dose is 30mcg and high dose is 35mcg. Qlaira , Zoely and Drovelis have a different type of oestrogen compared to the rest.
• the progestogen. There are a range of different progestogens which may have slightly different side effects, usually we describe this in terms of some pills being more androgenic and some being anti-androgenic. To find out more about androgens check out our blog.

There are brands of combined pills which actually contain the same hormones and doses, for example the Microgynon contraceptive pill and Ovranette both contain, ethinylestradiol (oestrogen) and levonorgestrel (progestogen). Same hormones, same doses…. but different brands…..

You might be aware of this as some health boards in the NHS ask GPs to change people onto the cheapest brand to save cost, the theory being that it is the same hormones so there should not be a difference. Unfortunately, we do hear some people have different side effects when changing between pill brands, even thought they contain identical hormones and doses, although it’s difficult to say why this might be. Lloyds chemists have suggested that although the different brands have the same active ingredients, there may be differences in the other components of medication which affect absorption and release.

For more information, you can look at side effects for Ovranette v Microgynon, and in fact between any combined pill brands using our comparison tool.

All combined pills have a slight increased risk of blood clots, some more than others. Have a look at our blog about blood clots to understand what that means to you and how changing the progestogen type in the pill can affect the risk of getting a blood clot.

What does ED mean in the name?

The combined pill normally follows a “21/7 format” which means 21 days on the pill, 7 day break, repeat.  You might have noticed that some pills say ED after the name, this means ‘everyday’. These contain a number of dummy, (also known as placebo, reminder or sugar) pills which mimic the break, you keep taking a tablet everyday but will have a withdrawal bleed during this time. Some other pill brands like Qlaira, Eloine and Drovelis contain dummy pills but aren’t labelled as ED pills. These dummy pills are often a different colour to the active pills that actually contain the hormones in the pack.

We have done a guide about taking the combined pill continuously which is a little more tricky with the ED pills as it means missing out dummy pills.