Femodette pill vs Microgynon 30 pill

Went on the pill to regulate my cycle after months of intermenstrual bleeding (suspected cause for which was a prolonged period of stress). The pill's been great in bringing my cycle back to normal and I've been taking it for 13 months now. The withdrawal bleeds at the end of each set of pills are very light and I have almost no cramps compared to what I had during my natural menstruation. The pill has also helped me with hair issues and I no longer have breast tenderness. No mood, no skin, no libido issues, etc. The only side effect however is vaginal dryness and it has been quite the issue issue - will likely switch to another pill just because of that.

I went on Femodette after using Microgynon and I immediately noticed a few improvements. Mental health-wise I started to feel more like myself again within about a week, and my appetite went back to normal after being constantly hungry on Microgynon. However, my sex drive completely disappeared, my breasts hurt constantly, and while my moods were nowhere near as low as they had been on Microgynon, after coming off Femodette I realised that it had still made me quite angry and emotional.

I was looking for contraception to manage my painful periods, heavy bleeding that doesn't help my anaemia and my period also sometimes causes my IBD to flair. I had been having no periods for almost a year because of getting sick from IBD. When the periods returned, I wanted to go continuous pill to stop the blood loss, but Microgynon didn't work for me before so I decided to try Femodette as I'd been on it as a teenager. Within 3 days of taking this my mood became extremely unstable, it was quite scary. I now think my depression and self harming in my teens may have been at least partially related to being on this pill!

This pill was pretty seamless for me. It did not affect my moods or skin. My periods were very light, lasted a few days with little to no cramps. My libido suffered significantly and this symptom worsened as time went on which is the reason I switched to a non-hormonal method. Other than this, it was a great option for me.

I have endometriosis and adenomyosis and was put on microgynon by my gynaecologist. I was happy at first because my severe and constant pain disappeared (and only reappeared during my period, and even then it was only 10% of the pain I used to experience. However, the negative side effects unfortunately didn’t make the lack of pain worth it. My mental health (which was already quite terrible as I suffer from OCD and anxiety) crumbled. I was depressed and had CONSTANT mood swings. I was irritable, always in a bad mood and snapping at my husband. I also felt like a zombie, unable to focus on anything and feeling so disconnected and dissociated. I also put on water weight. I’m a small woman who runs a lot, so it was definitely linked to the pill. After doing some research, I asked my doctor to switch me to Eloine, and so far it’s been AMAZING. My mood has stabilised and I honestly feel the happiest and most connected to the world I have in a long time. I think Eloine has balanced out my endometriosis-induced hormonal imbalances and I feel amazing. For context, I’ve tried 4 types of combined pill: microgynon (androgenic), cimiszt (less androgenic), millinette and femodene (also less androgenic). I’ve also tried the mini pill cerazette and I was on the implant for 1 year. All of these made my mental health crumble and I spent 8 years of my life (18-25) battling with deciding between having bad mental health or having endo pain. Don’t try microgynon!!!!! And do research into the different types of combined pill. I never researched and just took what the dr gave me. The Lowdown really helped me research!

It gave me constant headaches so I stopped taking it after a month.

Just very negative mood

This contraception affected my mood severely. I would feel sad and cry most days for weeks on end (not just PMS) without a reason. My breasts were also very swollen, lumpy and painful. My sex drive was also somewhat decreased. I was only taking it for 2 or 3 months but the symptoms were so bad that I couldn't stand to take it any longer to see if my body would adapt.

I didn't have any side effects with this pill other than it caused me to develop hormonal acne. When I started the pill and for the first 6 months my skin was clear, but then after that my skin got worse and worse, and I eventually realised the pill was the cause (because it contains levonorgestrel).

I've been on this since I was 17 (20 years). Generally it's been fine. I had a break once for a couple of months as Dr recommended it and found I was emotional and had awful irregular heavy periods, which put me off stopping it again. Have been getting migraines before periods recently, which may be related. Hard to tell, as I've been on it for so long and I can't find much info online on the effects of long-term use.

Honestly not the worst pill on the market. I tried a lot of pills and other sorts of contraceptives and I won’t say this one was the worst. It’s totally bearable but I couldn’t imagine using it long term. Period was perfect but other than that I lost motivation and was quite moody.

I started the pill to help regulate mood and lighten periods. It helped with periods but made my mood so much worse. By the end of my 3 month trial I was struggling with suicidal thoughts that hadn't been there at all before I started the pill. I can't believe how negatively it affected me.

I went on Microgynon due to painful periods and while being on it my periods became a lot less painful and became lighter as well. I feel like my boobs get more sore than they used to - this is more noticeable if I take the pill without the 7 day break. But overall I’ve got on really well and love that it’s such robust contraception (with condoms) as well as helping my periods