Hormonal coil (IUS) vs Combined pill

I had the IUS Mirena fitted just over a week ago and it is the worst decision. I am now deeply regretting it. After being put on a waitlist for it due to painful periods, an appointment became available. I did some initial research through the NHS website and in the appointment, the Dr ran through a few things. The insertion was honestly awful. It took ages and hurt a lot. I came home in agony and felt the worst cramps of my life for the rest of the day. Since then I've had my period and it's again been the worst. Cramping, lower back pain, feeling like I need to urinate a lot, heavy pressure on my tummy and bladder. My period was also more painful than ever and I'm still bleeding. Fed up and now willing to wait months and months like so many women for it to possibly settle (but judging by most reviews and conversations with women who have it, it rarely works as the doctors say it will). They also put me on a 3-day course of antibiotics when I called to say what was happening. They think I have an infection but no one has cared to see me in person. Once the course is over, I am booking the first appointment to have it removed.

I had this fitted this morning to help with endometriosis and wow I didn’t expect how much the insertion would hurt. They tried to fit the Mirena but my body just wouldn’t let me as it was too big so inserted this instead. Whoever wrote the protocols for this insertion was definitely a man.. keeping everything crossed this works.

Having the more a coil inserted is still to this day the most painful experience I have ever endured. I nearly passed out and I'm horrified I wasn't told local anaesthetic was an option until afterwards because the doctor felt sorry for me. I got some cramping after that but ainknew that was normal, but it never fully went away. Then I noticed I got cramping pain during sex that prevented me from climax. It was awful. I even had a vaginal ultrasound to check it was in the right position and apparently there was nothing out of place. After 9 months of putting up with random stabbing pelvic pain and it killing my sex drive, I got it removed. The doctor said it seemed like my cervix was really clamping down on it when she removed it. I am never letting anyone put anything through my cervix ever again. Horrific experience start to finish.

I didn’t experience any major side effects on this pill. My mood was better when compared to other pills

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.

I have endometriosis and adenomyosis and was put on microgynon by my gynaecologist. I was happy at first because my severe and constant pain disappeared (and only reappeared during my period, and even then it was only 10% of the pain I used to experience. However, the negative side effects unfortunately didn’t make the lack of pain worth it. My mental health (which was already quite terrible as I suffer from OCD and anxiety) crumbled. I was depressed and had CONSTANT mood swings. I was irritable, always in a bad mood and snapping at my husband. I also felt like a zombie, unable to focus on anything and feeling so disconnected and dissociated. I also put on water weight. I’m a small woman who runs a lot, so it was definitely linked to the pill. After doing some research, I asked my doctor to switch me to Eloine, and so far it’s been AMAZING. My mood has stabilised and I honestly feel the happiest and most connected to the world I have in a long time. I think Eloine has balanced out my endometriosis-induced hormonal imbalances and I feel amazing. For context, I’ve tried 4 types of combined pill: microgynon (androgenic), cimiszt (less androgenic), millinette and femodene (also less androgenic). I’ve also tried the mini pill cerazette and I was on the implant for 1 year. All of these made my mental health crumble and I spent 8 years of my life (18-25) battling with deciding between having bad mental health or having endo pain. Don’t try microgynon!!!!! And do research into the different types of combined pill. I never researched and just took what the dr gave me. The Lowdown really helped me research!

Overall had a very negative experience, especially with my mental health. I had severe anxiety. It works for lots of women, but not for everyone.

So far I don't have a bad word to say about this pill! This is the second combined pill I've tried after being on Microgynon 30 for about 6 months a couple of years ago. The experience I had on Microgynon was very negative and scared me out of trying any other combined pills until I read up about Drovelis. I'm in a long term relationship and only on the pill for contraception reasons, so slightly improved skin is just considered a bonus for me! It's nice to have found a pill that actually positively affects my mood rather than negatively impacts it like Microgynon did for me. I also lost my sex drive completely on Microgynon, but have been pleasantly surprised that I haven't had the same experience with Drovelis. I would even say it's improved my orgasm experience and feel like I get more aroused than I used to before being on pill - which I didn't expect at all! The only negative I've found with Drovelis is the occasional spotting when taking the active pills. This happened around month 3-4 of taking it but it seems to be happening less now. The spotting isn't heavy enough to use a pad or a liner but isn't ideal (hence the 4 stars). I feel like this is a great pill to try if the older generations don't work for you :)

I’ve got prescribed drovelis because I have irregular periods and my acne got extremely worse during the last 3 months. I’m now at the end of my second dose of drovelis and unfortunately my skin hasn’t recovered or got better yet. Actually I think it is quite worse and painful. Although the pill didn’t change my lifestyle and my period are regular now. I hope someone who had really bad acne to come forward with their experience because I’m starting to lose hope.

I've been taking Lucette for 14 months after being contraceptive free for 3 years. I haven't noticed major differences at all, however I do feel a slight mental dullness/brain fog as you usually do with the pill which is annoying but that's just part of the side effects. Overall I'm happy with it and wouldn't change to another pill! It's also helped my acne prone skin a lot

I have endometriosis and I'm mid-gynae referral so we're in the position of trying the pill to reduce my endo symptoms. I tried Millinette and it was awful (really anxious and bad headaches) so we switched to Zoely. It's not prescribed much near me so we had a real struggle getting hold of it. After I started taking it the first thing I noticed was there were no headaches and my mood/anxiety felt fine so that was really good. The downside was being unable to get through 2 packs without spotting, the intention was to take 2 or 3 packs back-to-back to keep my periods at bay, but my body just decided it was going to bleed when it wanted, so I ended up having to break halfway through every second pack. My periods on this were actually MORE painful, and I found that I had sharp cramps most days but just for a minute or so. I've persevered but had to stop because it's completely out of stock on the NHS. So now I'm switching to Lucette and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Very minimal side effects so far (3 months)

Very helpful for my acne and confidence, but my mood noticeably changed to feeling numb quite often. I’ve felt very physically and mentally tired over the last 13 months, but can’t remember a time before then. Great at stopping my periods for 4 months, before I breakthrough bleed and take a break. When I do bleed, it is extremely heavy, but it is less painful.