Fertility awareness methods (FAM) vs Progestogen-only / Mini 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.

Most of my life I was on Mercilon combined pills which was the only one working for me after tried few in my early 20tis. Had them with some breaks . Later I tried mini pill for few months which didn’t work for me. Mostly because of painful red spots on my neck like acne. Now I am 50 can’t take combined pills and trying the progesterone pills. Tried 1 month Cerazette but stopped after 1 month. I didn’t want to eat Titanium dioxide . Now 2 months in I am on Zelleta. Having acne on my chin and around my mouth. Now have very bad numbness in my hands especially during the night . And some in my legs too . Finishing 2nd pack but coming of it now . Can’t feel my fingers. My hands hurt . It’s not menaupase or lower estrogen level as got this suddenly within days. Very low sex drive like I am switched off completely . Also mood swings with anxiety. I am done with desogestrel pills they are not good for my heath, never was. I am trying natural cycles with app next . And my period should be completely stopping soon with my age.Also, Didn’t have any period with these pills.

Started this pill as I had horrendous migraines on Rigevidon. Was excited to start the mini pill and to not have bleeds in between pills but was I wrong. The first 5 months I’ve had random bleeding- which I expected (but not for over a week straight) I’ve also been heavily dizzy, nauseous and have had 0 sex drive which has affected my relationship heavily.

Hana has worked like a charm for me. I was a bit worried about starting it, as I had a horrendous experience with the combined pill, but my periods are heavy and painful, and I just couldn't stand it anymore. Not getting pregnant was a reason to start Hana, but I was mostly looking for period relief, and it really has delivered. At the beginning I had a few unusual periods - some shorter, some longer, and a bit irregular, but they were immediately lighter and less painful. After about 3 months, things had evened out, and now 2.5 years later, I can't even remember the last time I had a period, only that it lasted about a day or so and was so light I barely even needed a pad. My partner and I have had no pregnancy scares, and it works wonderfully for me. I think my mood is absolutely fine - it felt maybe a tiny bit flat at the beginning, but more because it was no longer fluctuating so much during my cycle. Now it's like I get to be at the end of the first week after my period, all the time. My main negative with starting Hana is that it really increased my appetite at the beginning - about 6 hours after taking it, I *had to* eat snacks. It felt impossible not to. This contributed to some weight gain, and while I've gotten used to the snack-attacks now and can manage them, I haven't been able to shift the weight, despite using methods of weight loss that have worked for me in the past. I can't say for sure if this is because Hana is making it harder for me to lose weight, or if it's just because I'm getting older. I am currently contemplating taking a break from Hana to see if I can lose the weight off it, but I'm reluctant to as it has had such a positive impact on my quality life. If you're also experiencing an increase in appetite, and want some advice, it really helped me to change the time I take Hana - I moved it to later, so that my craving hits much closer to dinner time, which is perfect. All in all, Hana has worked much better for me than I could've even hoped, and I would recommend trying it to see if it works for you.

I've only been on this pill for two months so there's a chance this may calm down after the full adjustment period, but the side effects have been interesting. Most notably, my cycle has gone from around 35 days to 13 days, and I have been having a period every other week. The first two periods gave me hope because they were significantly lighter - to the point where I was questioning whether or not I should even log it as a period - and painless. However, the next three periods I've had so far have been gradually getting heavier and I'm getting more cramping. It's weird though because, for most of my period it's still quite light, but on around the second or third day, I do have a few hours where it's quite heavy and crampy, then it subsides again and the rest is light. I had spotting between the first three periods but that's stopped now. Other than the annoying cycle changes, I had a constant lingering headache for the first two weeks, I'm getting more acne than usual, and some vaginal dryness before my period. I don't know if this is worth staying on as I'm only on the pill to manage my painful and heavy periods. Current plan is to finish my three months' supply and take it from there.

Hugely helped with period pains (no periods!). Has evened out any emotional changes - I feel very stable. No nausea like with the combined pill. Lost weight (as well as boob!) but unsure if that's compared to when I was on combined pill or baseline.

I am really happy with this pill. I have tried every type of mini pill available and can no longer take the combined pill for multiple reasons. I now have 2 days of spotting when I take the placebo pills. Less acne, although it wasn't severe it was noticeable. Now I just get a few spots every now and again. Other mini pills have had a negative effect on my mood, this one seems ok so far. I was hoping it would help with my excessive facial hair growth, doesn't seem to have made it any better but it's certainly not worse either (other mini pills I've tried have made it worse in the past). I have noticed my sex drive has reduced a fair amount but this doesn't really bother me and I can still get in the mood with a bit of effort. I may have had quite a high sex drive in the first place so believe it or not I see this as a bit of an advantage as my partner does not! I was on noriday before this and was still having unpredictable and heavy cycles, along with several ovulation and period pain and what seemed to be migraines related to particular points in my cycle. Also mood issues up to 10 days before my periods. I am absolutely thrilled that all of that has improved a huge amount. Not had a migraine since I've been on Slynd either. My pelvic pain is about 75% better and is now manageable and intermittent rather than constant. I'm hopeful that things continue to improve for me taking this pill. I really felt that I'd run out of options with hormonal contraception before I tried this having tried the mirena iud and depo provera in the past and not getting on with them at all. I like that this pill has a 24 hour window to take. You are supposed to take it at the same time every day but reading from the literature they have found that you can be upto 24 hours late taking it upto 4 times in 28 day pill pack and it will still be effective.

I was put on Slynd to control heavy bleeding caused by perimenopause and blood thinners , I am so happy that my periods are much lighter. I am able to leave the house without concern of bleeding through my clothes. I do get frequent headaches and feel bloated, but I was told that the bloating should subside after a few months. overall, very happy with this birth control pill!

I got pregnant whilst using Noriday i was on Yasmin but because of migrains with aura i decided to change the docs put me on Noriday and i never had any problems what so ever appart from the fact i got pregnant lucky i still had regular periods so i knew straight away i was deverstated i felt let down by the pill and i couldnt trust it anymore sex hasnt been the same scince im now on the implant and ask men to use condoms cause im paranoid contrception will let me down again.

I have only been on this pill for around 2 months however my side effects have been so drastic in this time period. My mood is unstable and I have become more irritable and quick to be upset, as for periods they have been irregular and my cramps have been the same if not worse than before i started contraception.

it’s really good, like that there’s no estrogen and doesn’t make me feel like i’m going crazy. only annoying thing is the loss of sex drive but that’s something i work through with my partner