Hormonal IUD vs Mini pill

Went on the IUD bc I had super painful periods. Modena stopped my period and once a month now I’ll have just a little bit of phantom cramps—but none that ever pose an issue. The first month was quite painful adjusting to the IUD, but COMPLETELY worth it in the end. Only negative side effect I’m experiencing is vaginal dryness. Vaginal discharge has decreased and when I’m with my partner, no matter how aroused I am, I’m still pretty dry.

I'm almost 28 years old, have had periods for the last decade and a half. They have always been regular and heavy to the point that if I didn't take iron supplements 5x a week and tranexamic acid during my periods, I'd have anemia. So I got Kyleena in December 2024. Insertion was fine, some cramping but nothing too serious. I had cramping on and off during the times my periods were supposed to come and some spotting/bleeding, but it was usually what I saw towards the beginning of my cycle. I had one reduced-level period in mid-August. I have had to go from 36D to 36DD to 36DDD/38DD bras over the span of a few months. At first I thought it was just weight gain (went from 170 to 195lb), but I have been almost 200lb before and my breast size increased this much this quickly. Even after losing 10 pounds my breast size has shown little to no decrease. I hate it. I also suspect that the IUD influenced my sciatica in my lumbar spine, which began in February 2025 and has taken several weeks of PT and a round of oral steroids to resolve. I am still not up to 100% all these months later. Overall a 2/5. The decreased period length, flow, and frequency is almost not enough to justify having this torture device in. If I get pregnant w/this in, I'll be so angry.

I've had horrible bloating. From when I wake up till I go to bed my clothing size changes up to two pant sizes because of the bloating depending on what I eat. As in it's so much worse with things like potatoes. I've had to switch to basically only wearing stretchy clothes because it gets so bad.

i was on the traditional mini pill for almost a year before switching to slynd. slynd fixed all of the issues I had on the other POP. I did not have breakthrough bleeding, irregular periods or a depressed mood with Slynd. it was a major win-at first. I suddenly noticed I was gaining weight, by month two on slynd I had gained 3-4 pounds, and by the time I quit in month 5 I had gained 11 pounds. 11 pounds in 5 months is insane! I did not change my eating or workouts, so I believe it really was this pill.

I am on Slynd for heavy period and clotting. It stopped the heaviness and clotting. I do have some dryness in my mouth and apparently my vagina. It may have contributed to acne but not sure.

I lost so much hair. I’m done using this. My periods are more painful, I’m so tired now

Best bc pill experience I've had

Really love it! I can skip my periods, don't experience migraines and my acne cleared up!

I gained 30 pounds after starting this birth control. Could not figure out what was going on with my body until I found a reddit thread where other people were experiencing the same.

I’m hoping it gets better. Switched from Errin to Slynd 6 months ago. Hair loss stopped. Acne got better. Those were an immediate win. Month 1 - bled for 1 week. Month 2 - bled for 3 weeks. Month 3 - bled for 2.5 weeks. Month 4 - bled for 2 weeks. Month 5 - bled for 1.5 weeks. Month 6 - bled for 1 week. I naturally have a short cycle, and in the process of trying to force my cycle into a 30 day cadence, I’ve gotten 1-2 days per month of severe headaches before my period (thought my head would blow off without Tylenol) and minor dull headaches for ~1 week before each period. The headaches didn’t happen with Errin - but they are happening with Slynd (and also happened a few year back when I took the combo pill).

It does what it needs to do, pregnancy prevention. Intense emotional fluctuations following the “usual” postpartum journey is definitely a downside

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My experience thus far has been great with minor concerns for acne.