Norimin pill vs Microgynon 30 pill

I have been on multiple combined pills for 16 years. I recently switched to Norimin as my previous pill was no longer suitable. As I’ve been on so many different pills I’ve learned the first 3 months are always an adjustment. With Norimin I experienced increased night sweats, very low mood and anxiety. I kept pushing through and now I am on it for 6 months. The mood swings have lifted and my period is lighter and less painful. I didn’t find any major difference to my libido but maybe a slight increase. I have found I get a lot more spots around my period although I have taken up long distance running so this may also be a cause. I have had an increase in discharge although nothing uncomfortable or unusual just more of it. I have PCOS so was put in the pill 16 years ago to deal with it. This will be the last pill I will be on as I plan to come off in the next 1-2 years to start a family.

This was my first experience of a contraceptive pill as a young adult. As I did not know any better, I put up with the terrible nausea for longer than I needed to. It was an awful experience.

I was previously using Mercilon after Loestrin were not produced anymore. Mercilon made me so miserable, it changed my moods made me super sensitive, I would literally cry for insignificant reasons, gave me pretty strong headaches every time I was on the no-pill week. I felt very depressed and anxious, doubted myself and sometimes paranoid. Eventually I noticed I am not like this normally and finally decided to change this pill to Norimin. All those effects disappeared, my moods are stable and no depression at all. Only downside is that the sex drive is pretty low, but I guess it doesn't affect me as bad as the other side effects mentioned before. So, I'm pretty conform with it. Apart from the contraceptive purpose, I take the pill to help me with bad acne and polycystic ovaries which I was diagnosed more than 10 years ago, and the pill was the recommended treatment for that.

I started this birth control as my very first form of contraception. I was put off by the thought of breakthrough bleeding on the mini pill, so my doctor put me on microgynon without much thought. The first month was fine, although very quickly I started to get terrible headaches which continued until I stopped taking the pill altogether. After around the first month I vaguely noticed i’d be in a bad mood all the time - I was either very snappy and grumpy, or my emotions were very ‘muffled’ and I didn’t feel much of anything. It’s very hard to describe, but I wouldn’t feel happy or excited - i’d just feel low and ‘nothing’ all the time. I didn’t enjoy hobbies I liked before, and I wasn’t interested in anything. I think the craziest side effect I randomly realised was that I felt way less affectionate towards my boyfriend. I wasn’t interested in being cuddly with him, kissing him, ect. Honestly it’s the main reason I wanted to get off microgynon. Along with the headaches and mood, my sex drive disappeared completely (and I naturally have a very high sex drive), i’d experience brain fog all the time, and I felt immense fatigue. I’m diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so I assumed it was just that, but the tiredness I felt was nothing like i’d ever felt before, and I feel much better now that i’m off the pill. I’d be too exhausted to even get out of bed, and if I did manage to go outside i’d feel faint and dizzy. The positives were that I didn’t get pregnant (we didn’t use any other form of contraception and didn’t use the pull out method, although I did take a pregnancy test every few weeks to be safe), and I was able to control when i’d bleed. I’ve always had extremely painful periods where i’d throw up and almost pass out from the pain, but the bleeds were very light during my breaks and the cramps were tolerable. I would take the packs continuously for 3 months and then have a 4 day bleed, and didn’t have any cramping or breakthrough bleeding at all. Altogether I found microgynon to be a good form of contraception, the side effects were enough for me to come off it.

After taking the contraceptive pill for the past 15 years and being told it’s perfectly safe, I found out at the beginning of this year that I have 3 tumours on my liver as a result of long term usage of the pill. This week I underwent major surgery and had a liver resection to remove the biggest tumour, which at over 7cm was at risk of haemorrhaging. I’ve got two other smaller tumours which will hopefully shrink now I’ve come off the contraceptive pill. I hope my story highlights that hormonal contraception is NOT SAFE!

I have been able to live my life fuller due to the less horrific and heavy periods - now I only have 4 periods a year and it’s now in my control

I was on this pill for multiple years and ended up coming off because the longer I was on it, the worse my migraines became. It started to get unbearable to the point where I was feeling nauseous and couldn't get out of bed and I was prescribed migraine medication. When I stopped using it, the side effects stopped and my migraines disappeared, I've not had once since and I don't need to take migraine relief. My body also had a lot of water retention so when I came off I went back to my normal weight and the thrush disappeared too. Best thing I ever did was coming off it.

Ruined my life within months and I was extremely withdrawn and anxious

Used this to skip periods and reduce pain. It helped with pain but I couldn't go a few months without persistent breakthrough bleeding, so had to switch. Other than that it was a pretty good experience, didn't impact my mental health at all and had no other noticeable side effects.

The first couple of years I couldn't fault this pill, it was perfect. After about 2 years I was having horrific mood swings/PMS so my GP recommended I take the packets back to back so I don't have a period, that worked for a bit but my mental health had never been worse. After an attempt on my own life I decided to stop taking it and my mental health has never been better, I just wish I had connected the dots sooner so I didn't have to get to that point

I didn't get pregnant which was good but I cried everyday, got fat and hated sex. I couldn't get wet and sex just was sore and not good. My skin was great though... not worth it

good for me except it gave me painful cystic acne but didn’t experience any irregular bleeding or mood swings until the last month of using it (which is why i stopped)

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.