Progestogen-only / Mini pill and vaginal dryness

How our community feel they have been impacted by vaginal dryness on progestogen-only / Mini pill

Data is taken from self reported Lowdown user reviews

None or not sure

62%

A bit

13%

Quite a bit

11%

A great deal

8%

A lot

6%

Out of the 1312 reviews for progestogen-only / Mini pill, 499 people (38%) reported vaginal dryness.

Reviewers that reported vaginal dryness as a side effect

Data is taken from self reported Lowdown user reviews

Used for 6 - 12 mo
35 years old
🇬🇧 UK
  •  1 month ago

I really wanted to like Desogestrel. Initially, my skin was the worst - so oily and immediately broke out in painful acne. This quickly subsided after about 2 weeks. For 3 months, my breasts were so enlarged and sore all the time. I noticed around the 3 month mark that I was experiencing vaginal dryness too. My periods have been totally irregular - since starting Desogestrel in May I've had 10 periods. Many of these were trigged by intercourse. The volume of blood and the level of pain was variable for every period, making it hard to predict. The final straw for me was I started losing my hair around the 5-6 month mark. My hair is noticeably thinner on top and the ends are ruined / look awful. The only positive for me has been that it made me more energetic and have a better / more even mood. It did has not affected my sex drive and I gained a negligible amount of weight.

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Somewhat positive mood

2 more effects

0 helpful

0 comments

Used for 6 - 12 mo
40 years old
🇬🇧 UK
  •  9th Oct 24

I have been taking Desogestral for just over 6 months. It took 3-4 months of irregular bleeding/spotting before my periods seem to have stopped completely. I do notice that I have had several occurrences of thrush along with weight gain/increased hunger, tender breasts and occasional period like cramping without bleeding. Mood overall has been slightly lower and feel like I am prone to pms symptoms still (teary, low mood) at the time I would have previously been due on. Had been off contraception for several years as combined pill previously contributed to anxiety/depression. Wanted something to control v heavy periods and not impact mood greatly and this seems to be working so far despite some unwanted side effects


Somewhat negative mood

2 more effects

0 helpful

0 comments

Used for 1 - 3 mo
27 years old
🇬🇧 UK
  •  16th Sep 24

The minipill gave me pretty bad acne, which took years to resolve after I gave up the pill. It also completely killed my sex drive.


Worse skin

1 more effect

0 helpful

0 comments

Progestogen-only / Mini pill common side effects

Data is taken from self reported Lowdown user reviews

51% of progestogen-only / Mini pill reviewers reported tender breasts

46% of progestogen-only / Mini pill reviewers reported period like cramps

43% of progestogen-only / Mini pill reviewers reported vaginal discharge

41% of progestogen-only / Mini pill reviewers reported breast enlargement

38% of progestogen-only / Mini pill reviewers reported vaginal dryness


Possible progestogen-only / Mini pill side effects

Data is taken from self reported Lowdown user reviews

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