Junel Fe 1/20 birth control pill vs Nortrel 0.5/35 birth control pill

This birth control really helped with regulating my moods but did make me gain weight significantly even when working out more because of major appetite changes be aware. My skin cleared up a lot and after 3 months haven’t had one breakout related to hormones. My first 8 months my breast grew 2 sizes with about a 8 pound increase in weight, my second round after taking a 6 month break my breasts did not change size but i did gain the 8 pounds back again after losing about 15 in the break period. I stopped getting my period and do not have even spotting when taking the iron pills. Lastly my sex drive almost disappeared and i find getting wet a challenge when i’ve never had that problem. My experience is about 50%-50% positive to negative.

All things considered, I’ve experienced minimal negative side effects while on Junel Fe 1/20. It does seem to have affected my mood and sex drive somewhat, so that’s worth considering.

Junel was great for the first 6 yrs on it. After that, the side effects started snowballing. Gained 10lbs, dryness, and my sex drive vanished to the point I became borderline asexual which ruined my relationship and contributed to our breakup. It also made me angrier. I didn't realize it was the cause of these things and stayed on another 5 yrs until it triggered weekly/biweekly migraines when I used to have 1 or 2 a year. When I came off, the migraines stopped. However, my body had become so dependent on Junel it destroyed my body's ability to regulate my hormones. Hormonal pills cut off your brain and reproductive system's connection so my brain didn't know how to do it's job anymore and I struggled very badly and almost went to the hospital. I regret ever staying on for so long. I would not stay on any hormonal method more than 5 years in the future. My libido also has not come back after 9 months.