Loestrin 30 pill vs Yaz pill 🇺🇸

Although taking it on time was a bit of a chore. It was the best method I ever used. After a couple of years it stopped my periods entirely which was great and any bleeding I did have whilst on this pill was very minimal and over in 3 days or less. It cleared up my skin beautifully and I never had any issues with it which was a relief as I had to try many different pills to find this one. I stopped taking it for a bit because although it had no negative impact on my mood I did feel like it dulled the highs and lows of my emotions a bit and I wanted to see what I would feel like off it. Sadly, while I was on that break they discontinued this pill. I am so sad about it. Currently back on the hunt for an alternative and it's not going well. Really wish they'd bring it back!

Context: I was put on Loestrin in 2014 as an attempt at controlling my endometriosis. I'd had a tubal ligation a few months prior so wasn't using it for birth control. Within a month of starting it I wound up in the ER with severe abdominal pain. When I say severe I mean it felt like a cross between gallstone attack and labor pain. A CT scan showed that my small intestine was severely inflamed and the docs said it looked like Crohn's disease. I was given antibiotics, steroids, potassium, and pain meds and it started to get better. Two weeks later I was back in the ER again with the same symptoms and was asked if I had recently made any changes to my diet or taken anything new that could have caused it. I never even suspected it could be the pill until I realized that was the only change I'd recently made. I stopped taking it and started researching and found that there is a link between hormonal birth control pills and intestinal issues and Crohn's. My gyno said it was a very rare side effect and agreed I shouldn't take it anymore. Lo and behold, I don't have Crohn's and haven't had any issues since, nor have I bothered with trying to control my endometriosis with any kind of hormonal birth control after such a miserable experience. It's just not worth it.

Overall I thought this pill worked really well for me however for years didn’t realise that my dwindling sex drive was due to it. This actually caused ongoing difficulty between myself and my partner as we slowly mis-matched in drives which could be upsetting and confusing for both of us. I’ve been with my partner over 8 years and knew it wasn’t because I wasn’t attracted to him. Coming off the pill has confirmed that as I’m nearly a year off and am very nearly back to what I was like pre-pill which is amazing. I had to stop taking it because of supply issue and moved to Yasmin as after researching a lot it seemed most similar. I reacted so badly to that one though it finally gave me to push to stop using contraceptives (apart from condoms) and I’m so glad!

I generally felt great with this pill. No mood changes and lost weight but unfortunately I had vaginal dryness which lead to regular thrush infections. I took a break from Yaz and the thrush infections stopped. I've just swapped to Zoely to see if this suits me better.

But worried about getting a PE and forgetting to take the tablet

I’m having a really good experience with Yaz. I started using it because of PCOS and it helped a LOT! I had lots of hair loss, bloating, acne, dark hair, mood swings… and all problems were gone in months. First 2 weeks I was a bit moody from the hormonal change but then it settled. In just 9 months I went from having 25 cysts on my ovaries to 0. I have clear skin, I’m in much better mood, I have more energy, I have beautiful shiny thick hair and no body hair, I lost weight (almost 10kg), and my boobs grew a size up. Only negative thing I experienced were headaches when I took the 4 placebo pills but after consulting my gynecologist we solved the problem by not taking the white pills and starting the pink ones right away in 3 month intervals. Another change I noticed was a slight loss of appetite or more like loss of cravings. It didn’t effect my sex drive at all and in general definitely improved my quality of life. Thanks to Yaz I can “save” my ovaries from the harm my condition was causing and have much better chances of conceiving naturally one day. 9.5/10

Useful as I could buy over the counter in Dubai where I was working. Unfortunately my periods stopped coming and it gave me too much anxiety! Negative pregnancy tests though- swapped back to Microgynon so I’d start having my regular withdrawal bleeds again.

Have used this for a few years, but switched to Yasmin to deal with breakthrough bleeding. Might switch back at some point. This pill has made my life much easier bc I have had PMDD and bad PMS in general and with Yaz I skip periods altogether. Sex drive went down just a little bit compared to Yasmin.

I was on the ovreena for about 4yrs and wanted to change as every second period was tough, and the Yaz has definitely stopped the every-second-month issue. I had regular periods, with lighter cramps but slightly more tender breasts. I now take the pill back-to-back every month and it's proved super. It's been three months doing that and I have gotten spotting & cramps this month, but other than that it's been super and I dread that week less and less.

I used this pill after trying Yasmin and having some of the oestrogen side effects mainly water retention, so I was switched to this and it was much better in that I didn't have the water retention. I used this pill for a long time until I moved to the UK where it is unavailable, but I found this pill very good with no bothersome side effects. I was a bit irregular at taking it in that I would skip the break for few months here and there so I had issues with spotting and breakthrough bleeding. When I spoke to the GP about it she said to either take it with continuously, or with a break every month or every 3 months rather than randomly after packets, so once I started to have a regular pattern of 3 monthly breaks the spotting stopped. It improved my skin, I had decreased body hair and could go much longer without waxing which were the main benefits being an anti-androgenic pill and I liked the packaging and stickers for the days. Also, placebo pills rather than just no pills for the pill break made it so much easier to not forget to restart it, and the shorter 4 day gap was much better than the 7 day one for me in terms of having shorter bleeds. I liked this pill most for the significant improvement in my skin, no weight gain (important for me as that it a dealbreaker), no bothersome side effects and less worry with the lower oestrogen dose. I recommend this pill to any acne sufferers out there.