Fertility awareness methods (FAM) vs Combined pill

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

First few months lots of ‘red’ days (no unprotected sex days). Coming off the pill was a personal choice and brought back lots of issues i.e needing prescription pain medication. However, my sex drive and mental health have significantly improved and impacted on my relationship. I’ve used natural cycles for 2 years religiously and no problems or pregnancy.

I was automatically put on the pill as soon as i became sexually active, within 6 months of this I was on put on antidepressants, of course I didn’t realise and wasn’t told the possibility of a connection. I conceived my 2nd child whilst on the pill. As I got older and became single again I came off the pill and saw a huge change in myself, I also came off the antidepressants easily and felt healthier mentally, I also felt an increase in libido….Something I lost completely whilst on the pill. I’m now dating again and looking for an alternative contraceptive as I cannot go back to how I was before. I also recently found out that the pill can contribute to the production of gallstones.

I’ve been taking this for over a month and I’ve had terrible skin, I’ve never had spots in my life and I’ve got so many. I’ve also rarely ever had thrush, which I have now read is a common side effect. Also some hair loss. Not a great pill at all, have stopped taking completely.

Started off on this pill, I'm one of those lucky people who are never sick but while on this pill I would quite regularly feel nauseous a few hours after taking it and on about 5 occasions would vomit aswell, which for me was very unusual but after switching to a different pill these side effects went away.

I got prescribed the combination pill due to recurring endometrial polyps. I'm pretty happy with this pill, it took me 3 months to adapt to taking it with frequent mood swings, irritation and sore breasts in the beginning, but once I got past that I really saw the benefits. My hair had been progressively thinning for 3 years before I started this medication, let me confirm that as soon as I started taking this it went away like magic. My hair is thicker and my hairline is barely visible now, it's so much thicker and I'm thrilled. No pregnancies on this pill either so it does work. I do still have tender breasts from time to time and some light cramping but I still feel it's worth taking. 9/10 recommend.

I originally went on the Gederal 30/150 combined pill because I had irregular periods and acne. This pill was recommended by my doctor to specifically help with acne. I really liked this pill, I didn’t feel like I experienced any side effects and it really helped clear up my skin. I still got the occasional spot but my skin was so much better. I also liked the ease of being able to chose if/when I got my period by continually taking the pill or having a 7 day break. My periods were super regular and would typically start 2 days after starting the 7 day break, and they would last 5 days with 1-2 heavier days in the middle but mostly very light. I didn’t notice any mood changes. Unfortunately, after about 7 years on this pill I had a few migraines with auras and was told by my GP that I had to stop taking this pill due to the risk of Stroke. I am now on the mini-pill which I am experiencing some negative side effects with.

I decided to go back on COC pills after years of having depo injections. The pills have made my periods lighter and I only get some cramps the day before I have my bleed. No real side effects apart from weight gain and my breasts have increased in size and are more tender (all the time not just when having my period).

This pill has been awful for me. I went on as had really bad irregular periods but i have seen no change except bleeding in between, extreme abdominal pain and hair loss. I have also seen my skin which is normally clear be breaking out all the time. I am only speaking of my experience

Apart from the vaginal dryness and loss of sex drive, i’m happy with this pill as it did not have any really negative side effects for me, plus it grew my breasts which i liked.

I was only on this for 2 weeks because my anxiety was sky high. I had panic attacks so bad my chest hurt and I couldn't breathe. At the time, I had nothing to worry about in my life. It is scary because if I had taken Marvelon during the time I was severely depressed, then this pill might've sent me over the edge. GP said it wasn't the pill. However, a few days after stopping Marvelon, the anxiety and panic attacks disappeared. It was definitely Marvelon.

main thing for me was the super low sex drive. filling this out, interested to also see sweating a lot as an option. As I do sweat a lot, very easily so very interested (and hope) that is a side effect as looking to change/come off.