Zoely pill side effects

I didn’t experience any major side effects on this pill. My mood was better when compared to other pills

I have endometriosis and I'm mid-gynae referral so we're in the position of trying the pill to reduce my endo symptoms. I tried Millinette and it was awful (really anxious and bad headaches) so we switched to Zoely. It's not prescribed much near me so we had a real struggle getting hold of it. After I started taking it the first thing I noticed was there were no headaches and my mood/anxiety felt fine so that was really good. The downside was being unable to get through 2 packs without spotting, the intention was to take 2 or 3 packs back-to-back to keep my periods at bay, but my body just decided it was going to bleed when it wanted, so I ended up having to break halfway through every second pack. My periods on this were actually MORE painful, and I found that I had sharp cramps most days but just for a minute or so. I've persevered but had to stop because it's completely out of stock on the NHS. So now I'm switching to Lucette and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

So far Zoely has worked really well for me. Unlike previous forms of birth control (other formulations of the combined pill, and the Mirena), I haven't noticed any negative side effects.

I found this pill effected my moods, over a longer period of time it gave me PMS like symptoms but without following a regular cycle so it could be hard to predict. However I have found coming off it harder, it’s really affected my skin I’ve developed bad constant acne almost immediately after coming off and it’s not settled down despite being three months. This is not an issue I had before using this pill and I found my skin had changed while on it.

I had high hopes for Zoely but unfortunately the experience has been pretty awful, so bad I had to stop at the end of the second month. Firstly, the anxiety on this pill has been uncontrollable. I am a pretty anxious person but luckily have always had it under control. Within the first week of starting Zoely, and until I stopped taking, I was hyperfixating on small things and spiralling from the anxiety. I was hoping this would subside after a few months but given the complete loss of sex drive, and discomfort/pain during sex as well as the severe anxiety I decided enough was enough and to stop taking Zoely.

This is the only pill that has stopped my years of breakthrough bleeding. It's also stopped my periods. Phenomenal.

I tried this after using Eloine for 8 months for pms and acne, this worked really well for my mood and my skin was fantastic. Sadly in the last few months it seemed to be causing quite severe ibs symptoms so I wanted to try something else. As soon as I stopped Eloine my stomach improved. I thought I would try zoely but within 2 weeks my mood was so bad I was crying every day and snapping at everyone and having awful thoughts. I really wanted to stick it out but I just couldn't.

The first 2 to 3 months on this pill were difficult. I was very emotional in a chaotic sort of way. But my main goal for using birth control was to manage hormonal shifts and how I believed they affected my quality of life and mental health. After the difficult first few months, I settled into a steady neutral zone. Yes, my libido is a little bit lower, but a lot less so than compared to other combined hormonal contraceptives I've taken. Ditto on vaginal health - I personally feel everything is a lot more healthy down there. I had previously taken a pill that I was convinced caused dryness to the point of occassional pain, whereas with Zoely things feel a bit more normal, with the obvious lack of ovulation not changing discharge week to week. This is of course my personal experience, but compared to at least one other pill I have taken which raised my blood pressure, Zoely has not (for me!) And my "periods" or withdrawal bleeds feel more natural in that the bleeds are short but bright red versus what I've experienced with other pills. I still struggle with the 4 days off the pill - with both good and bad days and acne coming through those days. And it does sort of feel like every time I start back up on the pill after the 4 day placebo pills that I need a few days to "get used" to it again. But I also don't personally feel that great skipping placebos and taking it continuously as it doesn't feel great for me. Overall, it's not a miracle but it does feel better than other pills I've taken, both physically and mentally. Having said that, it's not good as my very best physical and mental "natural hormone" days pre pill nor ever as bad as my worst "natural hormone" days pre pill. I probably hold on to a couple of extra pounds of bloat but other than that I do not believe this pill has had a good or bad effect on my weight. I take the pill like clockwork at the exact same time every day (evening) and never miss it.

A great pill! Have had no side effects and has essentially stopped my periods that used to be very heavy. More expensive than others but definitely worth it.

Personally I love Zoely. I changed from Rigevidon/Levest, which made my already severe PMS much worse, like scarily so. I was recommended Zoely by one of the doctors at the Lowdown. Zoely has kind of changed my life. I no longer have any notable PMS. I also had very heavy, debilitating, painful periods that exhausted me and lasted 10 days. Now I hardly bleed at all. My periods were literally controlling my life - I would spend a week so depressed in bed with PMS, then a week in bed or stuck on the toilet in agony, dealing with constant flooding and massive clots. Now I don’t even think about my period anymore. I have a few days of super light bleeding, nothing else. I get some very light cramping throughout the month. Nothing notable tbh, I hardly feel it. I do also get headaches on and off (I used to get these just before my period), but they aren’t too debilitating. I can still do whatever I need to. I use a yoga with Adrienne video to help with those. I have had quite severe dizziness whilst I have been on it, but I don’t think it’s related to the pill but to an issue I have with low blood pressure (this is what my GP has said). As far as I know it’s unlikely the pill could be causing low blood pressure, and I have also had this issue in the past when not on any contraception. It took me a long time to agree to use the pill again, as I so desperately wanted to be “natural” and had bad experiences with the implant in the past. But I had to accept my periods were kind of ruining my life. I think being natural is great but if your periods were like mine, I’d highly recommend this pill, as it’s given me back control of my life that I hadn’t had for several years. I had to try a few pills before I found this one and it wasn’t pleasant when I was on a pill my body disagreed with, but it’s been worth it overall. Highly recommend.