IUB Ballerine

Cap or diaphragm

Combined pill

Expert advice about your contraception 

Our doctors are here to help

Copper coil (IUD)

Female condom

Fertility awareness methods (FAM)

Gynefix

Expert advice about your contraception

Hormonal coil (IUS)

Implant

Injection

Male condom

Vasectomy

Morning after pill

Patch

Progestogen-only / Mini pill

Sterilisation (Female / tubal occlusion)

Vaginal ring

Withdrawal or pull out method

I got the Jaydess IUD two and a half months ago. It was inserted without painkillers/anesthesia so I found insertion painful (but the procedure is short). Cramping lasted a few days and then intermittently for the first few weeks. Constant spot bleeding lasted little over two months but since then this has faded. I have noticed my periods getting lighter since insertion, and I'm holding out hope they'll stop altogether. I chose Jaydess over Mirena as I was worried about the hormonal imbalance the Mirena may cause, however now I feel more confident and will likely select the Mirena the next time I update my IUD in order to stop periods altogether. 

Jaydess coil-review-id-cb90c73c-e950-4e5f-981c-6a81dbe18328

My second coil. Insertion was easy and quick. Fewer stomach cramps after than when my first coil was inserted. Happy with this version, plus its 5 years so less to think about. Had little/no periods, partner is happy and comfortable with this method. 

I was nervous when I went to get it replaced, but it was easy, and only a slight pinch when it was placed. Since I have had it, I often forget I have it which I think is a good sign. Overall positive experience and I would recommend to a friend.

Kyleena coil-review-id-8d5a0b12-cc32-4135-bb0e-e228a2b5fd6e

I was nervous to start the coil. I wanted to go on a much lower hormonal contraceptive and the coil sounded ideal for me and my partner. Having the coil placed felt tense at first but I calmed myself down (lots of deep breaths) and was pleasantly surprised by how easy and quick this was. For me, it was a quick pinch and it was done. I did have quite uncomfortable stomach cramps after it was inserted but that was gone by the next day.

I felt fine to go to the gym that evening but do not recommend it as I felt unwell after doing this. Since then I do exercise before the appointment and then have a very chill rest of my day. When friends ask, I suggest to not plan anything for the rest of the day and just focus on resting up.

I have been very happy that I started the coil and have since moved on to another longer-term version. I have only had a few issues with the coil. The first is that the strings could be felt by my partner - he told me they poked him and obviously that isn't very nice when having sex. I had it cut down twice as it still continued to poke him. But this was fairly easy to sort.

Jaydess coil-review-id-9267a65b-edb9-4f42-a5e4-bfabb08cf5d1

Really satisfied. Love that it’s a lower dose of hormones so fewer side effects. My mood is the same, if not better than before. My sex drive has increased too. 

Only downside was I was ill for a few weeks after having it put in but could just be a coincidence. Also light spotting for 2 months but really no issue and could still have sex (there was no blood). Having it put in was so much better than I expected, the nurse offered me an injection for the pain and only had one cramp during the whole procedure. Cramping for about 2 days after but paracetamol did the job! Would highly recommend as my experience so far is great. Would get it again for sure. 

Jaydess coil-review-id-d3e0ef0c-8ac4-475d-9157-0a754081ce69

Highly effective contraception with no side effects

Mirena coil-review-id-51582b0d-52ec-44dc-9af5-ef4487935fe4

I wish I could say that this contraception has been perfect for me like others who have tried it but afraid I had quite a few issues in the 7 months I had it in.

Positives - Definitely noticed that my hormones were barely affected, I felt content and happy a lot of the time. I have been far less teary than when I was on a combined pill to regulate my periods and barely any mood swings!

Negatives:
Unfortunately 3 weeks after the coil being inserted, I got a raging kidney infection. Over the next few months, I got random persistent aches, near my hip that would be stronger around ovulation, which I'm getting checked out if it is cyst related.
Far more breast tenderness too.
And then the joy of joys of repetitivr thrush and cystitis!

Kyleena coil-review-id-13c8ae7f-48fb-488d-9d26-3daa3664c8fd

I haven't had any negative affects on my mood, which was one of the things I was worried about having been on the pill for 5 years. My periods have got much lighter, and cramps have got much better. The only annoying thing is that my period are really irregular and I will often spot randomly during the month, but it's not much.

Kyleena coil-review-id-4fe3af42-6d8e-48cc-b085-082f6b504842

Uncomfortable to get this fitted but not unbearable. 
No two periods are the same but they're all a lot lighter than the were beforehand. The gap between periods has definitely got longer. Can be anything between 40 and 70 days. 

Mirena coil-review-id-e243afde-ae09-4c88-9507-40174d93f1f0

I. LOVE. IT!!!!!

Before Kyleena, I was sure that if I couldn't get a hysterectomy, my life would be a nightmare. I'm very severely tokophobic (obsessive-compulsive disorder with tokophobia theme), and the thought of ever getting pregnant scared me to death. I really wanted to get rid of my periods too, because even though they were super short and easy (no cramps and no PMS), they were a constant reminder that I could get pregnant which was my worst nightmare. I thought a hysterectomy would be my only option. I even found a surgeon who was willing to do it, but my insurance backed out of covering it after inital approval, so I had to postpone it while saving money for the procedure. I decided to get an IUD in the meanwhile to take my mind off my phobia.

Let me tell you, if I knew it was gonna be this amazing, I would have gotten it years ago! I found this website before I got it, and I had planned to write a review from the start, so I actually kept a detailed list of all my symptoms so that I could accurately relay my experience. As of writing this review, I've had the Kyleena for 6 months.

INSERTION: I was super scared of it because I read all the stuff online about how brutally painful it is. To my surprise, I didn't feel a thing. I took 2 naproxen and 2 ibuprofen before the procedure and had it done on the last day of my period. I had no local anaesthesia. The most unpleasant part was measuring the uterus but it barely felt like a cramp. 10/10 experience, I felt great.

RECOVERY AFTER INSERTION: I was recovering for 3 days. On days 1-2 I had quite heavy cramps and a bit of bleeding. On day 3 i had on and off cramps and also felt a little light headed. After that I kept bleeding for over week and it was extremely heavy, but I think the fact that I caught COVID and had super high fever contributed to it. I suspect if I had not had a fever I would've stopped bleeding much faster.

FIRST 3 MONTHS: The first 3 months after I recovered from insertion were amazing. Despite what everyone said about it online, my mood actually improved and my sex drive went way up. I had no cramps and no other problems.

3-6 MONTHS: After the first 3 months, my sex drive and mood went back to normal. I gained a bit of weight but it's not a noticeable amount (I went from 49-51 kg to 52-53kg) and I'm not sure if it's because of Kyleena or just because I've been too busy with school to work out. I've noticed some isolated breakouts of single acne cysts but it's way less than what I used to get on the combined pill. My mood is also way better compared to what it was on the combined pill, I'd say it's about the same as it was when I was completely off hormones. The only side effect I noticed is that I need to pee way more often now but it's not a big deal to me. 

I can easily say that in terms of contraception this is the best thing I've ever done and I'm considering not even getting sterilized whatsover because I love it so much.

Kyleena coil-review-id-b8006309-ed29-4c9e-8d28-15b43b3f0b63

I love the Mirena. Insertion was unpleasant and uncomfortable, but in my opinion it was worth it. My periods got much lighter at the beginning and only last a day or two, after about 4 months they stopped altogether which is great as my periods used to be horrendous. I'm not feeling any severe side effects, the occasional headache or migraine, cramping and sore boobs, but nothing compared with previously! Highly recommend. 

Mirena coil-review-id-92da7765-23af-4682-ae8e-eeb270c14cc1

I’m having a really good experience with Yaz. I started using it because of PCOS and it helped a LOT! I had lots of hair loss, bloating, acne, dark hair, mood swings… and all problems were gone in months. First 2 weeks I was a bit moody from the hormonal change but then it settled. In just 9 months I went from having 25 cysts on my ovaries to 0. I have clear skin, I’m in much better mood, I have more energy, I have beautiful shiny thick hair and no body hair, I lost weight (almost 10kg), and my boobs grew a size up. Only negative thing I experienced were headaches when I took the 4 placebo pills but after consulting my gynecologist we solved the problem by not taking the white pills and starting the pink ones right away in 3 month intervals. Another change I noticed was a slight loss of appetite or more like loss of cravings. It didn’t effect my sex drive at all and in general definitely improved my quality of life. Thanks to Yaz I can “save” my ovaries from the harm my condition was causing and have much better chances of conceiving naturally one day. 9.5/10

Yaz pill 🇺🇸-review-id-342d84eb-71f8-4ca6-8a59-774472c5eeb9

Sex drive came back, so now I'm getting horny for no reason again. 

Took Blisovi 1/20 (not listed here) for ~13 months with a 2 month break. Since starting it again, I have had no period for 5 months nor withdrawal bleeding whatsoever, and have completely lost my period (secondary ammenorhea) without any real concerns from the doctor. Completely protected me from pregnancy while I took it. I am now off of the pill waiting for my period to return.

Combined pill-review-id-df131ddb-42bd-469c-b938-596427839e0f

I have been searching for this pill for my whole life! I’ve tried rigevedon, microgynon, marvelon which all gave me a decreased sex drive, contestant thrush, painful periods ect. 

This pill within a week my skin was crystal clear. I recommend this pill for anyone with acne, pair it with cera ve cleanser! Game changer. 

I noticed with this pill I had no dryness down there, it was the complete opposite. My sex drive was incredible. 

No mood swings no pains, no weight changes. 

I like this pill, it gives you different mg doses of estrogen where it slowly feeds back into your body at a regulated level. 

With other pills you go straight back onto the same high dose of estrogen which is the reason why these side effects are worse. This eases you back into the pill which in turn reduces your side effects. I have had no negative side effects whatsoever. 

It can be difficult to have the prescription for this on the NHS, I have had 4/5 years being prescribed the cheap medication pills. 

I was very emotional when I went to my appointment because of the way the implant I had made me feel, I think the nurse was genuinely concerned for me and wanted to help. 

By no means am I saying this is what you should do! Qlaria is a modern type of pill which costs around £40/£60 per 3 months (pack). 

The only bad thing I would say about this pill is you can’t take it back to back because of the placebo pills in it. But I do prefer this you can track your cycle to the very end without thinking back on when you finished the last pack. 

Qlaira pill-review-id-5f7be7cd-5977-4a43-b6d6-cf1acc02c796

It took about two months for my period to return, and my moods were quite up and down during that time. It also took that long for my discharge to return to its normal cycle, and for my natural lubrication during sex to return. After my first period, it all seemed to resettle 

This pill leveled out my mood so I didn't get as much pms. I took back to back for 3-6 months at a time, after about 6 months I would start to feel stressed/anxious and would need a break. On my break I would bleed heavily for several days on day 4, even though I started the pill again

I still had the desire to have sex, though it wasn't as intense and it did not vary across the month. My main issue was vaginal dryness which was so bad that lube didn't help and sex became painful particularly when I was stressed. The effect increased over the course of being on the pill and was not consistent, but went away once I stopped it

Millinette 30/75 pill-review-id-cdaa8d49-b1bc-48ee-bc4a-99b7b8bc933e

I was using Rigevidon in the last 6-7 years, and I had no problem with that, except that I had random headaches sometimes and I lost all my sex drive - so badly, that my husband started to complain, so I reached out for my GP to look for an other one.
This is when I went onto Lizinna pill.
Well, where to start.. Not only my sex drive didn't improve, but I started to gain weight very quick, even though I am doing strict diet and I cut down on alcohol a lot.
I have only used 1,5 leaf of the pill, I am now going back to Rigevidon straight away! 

Lizinna pill-review-id-f45bb2a0-b704-487a-b827-ba71d6718e96

I came off the coil as I didn’t like not having periods and was put on this pill. 
I had the worst 3 weeks I have had in years on this pill, I cried every day and my usual happy personality was destroyed. My doctor thankfully swapped me over very quickly to a new pill (marvelon) and my mood is back to normal. 
Im sure it works for some, just 100% did not for me!

Rigevidon pill-review-id-71667fa7-a7c7-440a-a35a-4f5221ba5ad6

I first started using Yasmin when i was almost 17, and mainly did it to improve my skin a bit. Initially my skin got so so much worse and it took about 3-4 months to fully clear up. On it my skin was the main improvement ; it really worked wonders for my skin. My body hair decreased and maybe got a bit lighter, my skin wasn’t as oily and my boobs grew a tiny bit. However after about 4 months of using it i started getting horrible anxiety. I was constantly stressing and crying to the point where people around me thought I was delusional. I also started getting horrible panic attacks, that sometimes would happen every day. I really felt like i was at my lowest point on this pill. Normal things like getting on a train would stress me out to the point where i fully avoided taking trains. I really felt like i was going psycho and all my friends and family couldn’t recognise me anymore!! I really felt like id lost my personality. I know it works for others but the psychological side effects i got from this pill whilst on it were not worth the skin benefits that came with it. 

Yasmin pill-review-id-28efb46e-0421-4471-ab53-b22d20c459b6

I went on Yasmin to try and control my prolonged periods. I committed to giving it 3 months but could not tolerate it any longer. Although the prolonged periods stopped, I got breakthrough bleeding / spotting every month. I also had extremely bad head aches for weeks at a time and felt really low. I had a few major dizzy spells where I’d completely lose my balance too which I can’t say for sure was the pill, but the other side effects definitely were. I even at times had intense increased urination where I would need to go for a wee every ten minutes (no exaggeration). I really wanted this pill to work after hearing good things about it and if I could’ve given it longer to settle I would’ve but I couldn’t tolerate the side effects any more. 

Yasmin pill-review-id-bf163de5-bc26-4cf7-87d7-14232b2241cf

Personally I love Zoely. I changed from Rigevidon/Levest, which made my already severe PMS much worse, like scarily so. I was recommended Zoely by one of the doctors at the Lowdown.
Zoely has kind of changed my life. I no longer have any notable PMS. I also had very heavy, debilitating, painful periods that exhausted me and lasted 10 days. Now I hardly bleed at all.
My periods were literally controlling my life - I would spend a week so depressed in bed with PMS, then a week in bed or stuck on the toilet in agony, dealing with constant flooding and massive clots. Now I don’t even think about my period anymore. I have a few days of super light bleeding, nothing else. 
I get some very light cramping throughout the month. Nothing notable tbh, I hardly feel it. I do also get headaches on and off (I used to get these just before my period), but they aren’t too debilitating. I can still do whatever I need to. I use a yoga with Adrienne video to help with those.  
I have had quite severe dizziness whilst I have been on it, but I don’t think it’s related to the pill but to an issue I have with low blood pressure (this is what my GP has said). As far as I know it’s unlikely the pill could be causing low blood pressure, and I have also had this issue in the past when not on any contraception.
It took me a long time to agree to use the pill again, as I so desperately wanted to be “natural” and had bad experiences with the implant in the past. But I had to accept my periods were kind of ruining my life. I think being natural is great but if your periods were like mine, I’d highly recommend this pill, as it’s given me back control of my life that I hadn’t had for several years. I had to try a few pills before I found this one and it wasn’t pleasant when I was on a pill my body disagreed with, but it’s been worth it overall. Highly recommend.

Zoely pill-review-id-69a01983-51ef-4a74-af7e-0d49addfffd5

It didn't make me suicidal like Rigevidon did, but it did give me smelly pink discharge! and i mean SMELLY. Only lasted 6 days and stopping today because i simply canot stand the fishy/copper smell. 

Hormonal coil (IUS) vs Combined pill

Need help choosing? Speak to a doctor

Overview

Hormonal coil (IUS) ingredients

Combined pill ingredients

What Lowdown reviewers say

Benefits: What this contraceptive can help with

Checkout our latest reviews

Contraceptive alternatives and comparisons

Order online now

Not sure yet? Speak to a doctor