Fertility awareness methods (FAM) vs Combined pill

I've had an entirely positive experience using Natural Cycles. While using the impant I was struggling with acne, mood swings, irregular periods. And since swapping to use Natural Cycles I've felt much better in myself, my periods are very regular, I feel I understand my body and cycle so much more, and my skin has cleared up. In 5 years of using it it's been 100% effective at preventing pregnancy, I'm very careful to measure consistently, and I use the Oura Ring to help get accurate readings. But this small effort seems like a small price to pay in exchange for getting rid of all the nasty side effects of my previous contraception

I started using Natural Cycles a few years back. I was never on any birth control as a teenager as my mum didn't want my young body being put on hormones. However, once I settled down with my current long-term partner, I wanted to have the peace of mind that I wasn't going to fall pregnant. The first few years of using Natural Cycles were great and empowering, understanding the changes in my body and knowing when I had ovulated was great. What I had failed to understand was it predicted with its algorithm your date of next month's ovulation based on your previous month. Well. I managed to fall pregnant not once, but twice in the space of 8 months. The first time around, I thought it was my fault and I had not taken my temps properly (even though I never had an issue in the past). I had a surgical abortion as I was 3 months pregnant before I actually found out. I was willing to try again and really get to grips with it even though the clinic was very strongly advising me to go on some form of HBC. In the past 6 months, my body has recovered from the abortion and got back into its usual swing of periods and I saw I was ovulating again. This time around I invested in an Oura ring to pair with my NC app to be certain of my temps being taken. All was well, I stuck to my green and red days religiously. I use the pull-out method on red days (if we do have sex). And I trust our pull-out method completely because we definitely know he does not ejaculate inside of me or we tend to stick to oral sex rather than penetrative. I noticed my temperatures lately had been higher than usual and my ovulation was confirmed a bit earlier than usual. I didn't think much of it as I had stuck to our red days and green days as shown. When I went on calendar view, I saw that my fertile window just gone was a lot shorter than 6 days and I had unprotected sex (on a green day) that was 2 days before I ovulated. I did a test and indeed am pregnant yet again. I contacted NC straight away and got them to go through my data, which they did and have taken full responsibility for the muck up with their algorithm. I advise you to check your fertile windows and note any other observations (cervical mucus), because the algorithm cannot be trusted. And from what I now know, ovulation may change throughout different cycles (stress, sleep etc). I will no longer be using them ever again which is sad as I did so enjoy using it.

Amazing

It’s okay. The positive is that my cramps are less. I experienced thrush for the first time in my life. I am more weepy but not depressed. I have acne on my lower face after a few weeks that is starting to clear now and I can see my hair is thinning. I also feel very sleepy on this so I am planning to change.

Millinette gave me full blown acne and made me a lot more teary which is so unlike me. Initially, I was on Rigevidon for 2.5 years, stopped as I experienced breakthrough bleeding/didn’t need it. Discovered I had major brain fog on it, and my thoughts / perception on dating became a lot better once off it. Decided to try Millinette based on that as I got into a new relationship, tried it for 3 months as advised. I’ve not always been spotty, I get hormonal breakouts but that’s it. I’m happy and healthy otherwise! Millinette made me start to break out in hormonal spots - on my forehead, chin (especially) and cheeks (which I’ve never experienced before). It was making me miserable! I also noticed how much more teary I’ve been lately - as if anything slightly upsetting can make me cry. I’ve been using differin (a retinol acne gel treatment) and it’s helped slightly but not much. I’ve also gone up an entire cup size, and my breasts are slightly achy all the time. I also have experienced headaches when I came off the pill for a bleed - I now take it consecutively because my body seems to react badly to the drop in hormones. I’ve stopped Millinette now, and based on a nurse’s advice I’m going to try Yaecella. I think my body/skin reacts badly to the progesterone in Millinette/with pills that have less oestrogen in them. Hopefully Yaecella works (it’s a new generation version of the famous Yasmin pill). I’m 21, 5’10 and 57kg if that helps too!

I had been taking this pill for 25 years, since I was 15. Now I’m 40 my GP won’t supply me with the combined pill anymore and wants to switch me to the mini pill. I had periods, when I was 13-15, where I would bleed heavily for 2 weeks, with regular flooding, plus extreme abdominal pain, followed by 2 weeks no bleeding then I’d go back round again. Brevinor changed my life! I could not recommend this pill more. You will more likely hear the negatives than the positive from these reviews but honestly this was amazing for me and would still be taking it if I could.

I changed to marvelon from cilique/ levest because neither were helping my skin. this one did!! however my sex drive has gone down massively. but periods are all regular no issues there just low libido :(

Overall good but feel like unable to lose weight and slight dizziness.

Initially, I had little to complain about with the pill. My skin became clear after a few months and my breasts increased a cup size. HOWEVER, I had always felt more ill and generally tired on this pill, emotionally I also felt very static. Not depressed or unhappy but I could not feel my emotions as normal. My doctor advised me to switch from a 7 day break every month to a 4 day break as the guidelines had changed. This increase in the pill caused my breasts to get even bigger and very very sore. My doctor found multiple cysts in both breasts, I explained that I thought this was due to the increase in the pill I was taking but they said they would drain the cysts rather than me coming off the pill. I decided to come off the pill to see if it would decrease the cysts and they went completely of their own accord within a month of coming off the pill. I lost a lot of hair and my skin got worse but I have never felt better in myself, more healthy and happy since coming off. I will not go on any form of hormonal contraception again.

I started using contraception again to help manage my PMS, particularly the mood swings a week before my period. At the time, I was also struggling with severe anxiety, which made PMS even harder to cope with each month. I hoped contraception would help regulate my hormones and provide some relief. Initially, I was prescribed Rigividon, but it didn’t work for me. A week before my period, I had intense emotional spikes, irritability, increased appetite, cramps, and breast tenderness. While I could just about manage it most of the time, I worried about how difficult it might get during stressful periods. My nurse suggested switching to Gederal. Since switching to Gederal, my experience has been much better. My periods are lighter, and my PMS symptoms have improved significantly. I feel much more emotionally stable in the week before my period. However, I tried skipping the 7-pill free days to avoid the break, but by the third packet, I felt PMS symptoms building up again, including mood swings. I have had a small amount of reoccurring dermatitis on my nose and chin since starting the pill. Overall, Gederal has been a much better fit for me compared to both Rigividon and my experience without contraception. It’s made a noticeable difference in managing my PMS and emotional well-being.

I’ve been on a couple of pills in the past which have been fine other than the odd side effect. But I’ve changed over due to those small side effects getting worse such as the main one being water retention in the arms. Brevinor, this is by far the worst pill I’ve tried. The first 3 days were terrible. I felt faint, tired & dizzy. My boobs were so sore for the first 21 days when I was taking this pill. Swollen and sore, even putting my bra on. I have gone back to my GP and they have prescribed rigevidon….judging by the reviews on here I will not be taking it or any other pills. I will be starting to track my cycle naturally in the new year whilst using barrier methods such as condoms.

My experience of this pill was very positive, only reason I do not use it joe is because my pharmacist switched to a different brand (same hormones)

I wish that I never stopped taking this pill! It was brilliant. Cleared up my skin very quickly. Doctor took me off it because I had some headaches. I don’t know whether these headaches were connected but the rest of my experience with this pill was positive !