So as a quick background; I have Endometriosis and this is the 6th hormonal option I have tried to control my symptoms (4 combined pills, 1 mini pill, and 1 progestin treatment). I am also quite susceptible to mental health issues, both on and off hormones. I decided to start hormones again after my Endo pain started to increase again, meaning I had to rely on opioids quite a lot for pain relief, and a scan found evidence of adhesions, leading to me being referred for my second operation. I am SO thrilled to say that Eloine has worked wonders for me!! I first heard about it via a consultation with Dr Fran at The Lowdown when she mentioned Yasmin, the higher estrogen version of Eloine, as an option for me, but I stupidly didn't give it a go (I had trust issues with doctors at that point due to my bad experiences with other hormones and the Endo lived experience generally). I next heard about Eloine during a consultation with an NHS contraception specialist I was referred to, who recommended it to me due to hormones (particularly progestins) causing me to feel very depressed, and previous birth control pills causing me to gain quite a significant amount of weight. I was also having a hard time with my mental health at that point, and was scared about making that worse by starting a new birth control pill, but really wanted to make sure my Endo remained under control (I was on another combined pill before this point which controlled my Endo symptoms, but dramatically worsened my anxiety). Happy to say that my Endo is currently very under control (I haven't had to use codeine since October last year!!), as is my mental health, on Eloine!! It is worth mentioning that it took a few months for my "period" to settle - my periods got longer, and I was cramping for a longer amount of time, etc. However I definitely recommend pushing through if you experience the same! I made the mistake of taking pill breaks (I had been told to take it back-to-back) in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but Dr Mel told me in a consultation that it would be better to keep taking the pill through these bleeds (this was my advise to me personally based on my history of Endo and having a particularly stubborn uterus). Once I did this, my bleeding dramatically decreased, and I now get 2-4 days of incredibly light, barely-there bleeding every 15-17 days, with NO PAIN! I have taken a pill break a couple of times since then, as last month I felt very emotionally PMS-y and had a lot of water retention. Another tip, if you're like me and have had a bad experience with hormones in the past, is to order your pill and keep it in your drawer until you feel ready to take it. This really helped me because I could get use to having it in my house without the dramatic doctors appointment and walk to the pharmacy all at once. Plus, the Eloine packet looks different to a lot of mainstream pills, so psychologically that helped a lot. Another thing - in the interest of being totally honest, I did start taking Sertraline (an antidepressant) a couple of weeks after I started taking Eloine which obviously really helped get my mental health under control. However, this was due to PRE-EXISTING mental health issues, not anything caused by Eloine. I just feel like me on Eloine, and honestly have barely had side effects (apart from maybe bigger boobs and the aforementioned bout of PMS and water retention). I intend to stay on Eloine for the foreseeable <3 Good luck!

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