Implant vs Combined pill

Before I got the implant, I was nervous about all the side effects after reading horror stories about it, but I was pleasantly surprised after I got it done. I had it fitted on the second day of my period, the next day I noticed that my flow went from medium/heavy to very light, definitely not complaining. My next period came 9 days early (according to my period tracker app), it was very light, however I did notice some cramping, nothing I can’t handle, but the headaches and the overwhelming amount of emotions was the worse, I was emotional, and had no energy. But after my period, I went back to feeling normal. I have also noticed that my hair started to become greasier faster than usual, but that isn’t a big issue for me. My skin hasn’t changed, no weigh gain or loss. One main thing that I have truly noticed throughout my experience is mood swings, they come and go, one moment I can be happy, the next I want to cry when nothing even happened, but I guess this is normal because of the hormones and my body still adjusting to the implant. Overall, my experience wasn’t what I expected and it’s actually pretty good, and it’s comforting to know that I can get it taken out whenever I want. If anyone is scared to get the implant because of all the stories, it is very good to do research, but I recommend to just do it, see how you feel, wait out all the side effects and then make your decision if you still want to keep it in or not. I haven’t had it in for long, but at the moment, I am happy and not planning to take it out :)

Was convinced to try this by my doctor and definitely regret it. Acne made worse and didn’t feel like myself, small issues would seem like the biggest issues ever. Came off due to increased anxiety, overthinking… and wish I had done so sooner.

I was keen to try the implant as it seemed perfect for me on paper, but I ended up getting it removed due to very low mood and mood swings. Within a few days of insertion, I felt emotional all the time, getting easily upset and crying most days, and I didn't feel like myself at all. I regularly felt depressed, hopeless and overwhelmed. I also had irrational worries and anxious thoughts. I persevered with the implant for two years because I was convinced that these side effects would lessen over time, but I didn't notice any improvement. Throughout the time I had the implant, I experienced nearly constant light bleeding and spotting as well as breast tenderness. I found these side effects irritating as they interfered with my daily life, although I would have been willing to put up with them if I hadn't had the mood issues as well. Once I finally made my mind up and had my implant removed, my moods were back to normal within a week, and my periods returned to their regular pattern right away. In hindsight, I wish I had listened to my body and had it removed much sooner. For me the only positives were that the implant was convenient and effective, and the insertion/removal processes were fairly painless. I would say it is worth a try if these things are important to you, but my personal experience was so poor that it has put me off hormonal contraceptives entirely.

I generally felt great with this pill. No mood changes and lost weight but unfortunately I had vaginal dryness which lead to regular thrush infections. I took a break from Yaz and the thrush infections stopped. I've just swapped to Zoely to see if this suits me better.

I tried Drovelis to attempt to manage PMDD (severe mood drop on top of existing depression) and PCOS. After 5+ months, my sense is that it was absolutely helping with PMDD. I aimed to take it continuously to minimise any mood drop' and did so for 3 months at first. Unfortunately, I just would not stop bleeding - it was more than 'spotting', enough to get through 3-4 tampons a day, every day. Then I tried 2 months of allowing a break between active pills to see if encouraging a 'period' would reduce the breakthrough bleeding, but to no avail. I didn't even used to suffer heavy periods, so I'm genuinely gutted I couldn't seem to settle and stop bleeding on this, as it was great for my PMDD and had no other negative side effects (beyond breast tenderness and temporary breast enlargement in month 1-2). Doctor's advice was if it hadn't settled by almost 6 months, best to try something else (so now I'm starting Yasmin).

Been taking yacella for 6 months after not being on any contraception in years due to fears of side effects. Previously been on Loestrin 20 and Rigevidon both of which gave me horrible cystic acne and low mood. Dr recommended yacella as it has anti-androgenic progesterone and I have mild PCOS. So far it has been pretty good! I think my mood is unaffected, skin is great, sex drive unaffected. I have had some slight weight gain in more 'womanly' areas but nothing crazy. My breasts definitely have grown a lot and for the first few months they were quite sore but this has reduced to mild tenderness now. I do experience pain, especially lower back/pelvic, and am emotional during my 7 day break, however I suffered a lot with cramps prior to taking the pill so this is still an improvement for me. Would recommend, especially for anyone with hormonal imbalances like me.

Having been on this pill for a year, I noticed that I hadn't felt like myself for a while. I found myself with persistently lower moods. Even during times of joy, the feeling felt dampened. This is the primary reason I decided to stop taking this pill; no contraception is worth losing yourself to! I am still in the early stages of being off this pill, but I feel relieved to have made the choice. It did make my withdrawal bleeds ("periods") very light. However, I do also think it completely suppressed my libido. I (being naive) thought that being on a low dosage pill, I might have fewer symptoms, but it just hasn't worked for me. I just wish there were more non-hormonal options out there.

I was prescribed this pill as I struggled to gain weight therefore, I didn’t have a regular period. I never had any awful experiences with this pill other than after 3 years I started to experience reoccurring thrush. Once it was treated it usually went away until recently, I have been experiencing thrush almost every month always during the week before my break. It has become unbearable leading me to change to a different lower dose birth control instead.

This pill had a severe negative effect on my mental health. Physically I felt better as it alleviated PCOS symptoms but worsened my depression.

I don't like being menopause at 20's

Yasmin was the best pill for me. I have PCOS and it completely took care of my symptoms like acne. I also had very stable mood and positive mental state with this pill. My periods were light and I used to skip them 3 packets in a row and have only maybe 4 withdrawal bleeds per year. When I tried to extend it to 4 packs, I would often start to get light spotting so I think 3 packs non-stop was optimal for me.

I'm 43 and was suggested Qlaira because it has a supposedly more safe estrogen component. I've always had slightly elevated sensitive CRP and during the use of Qlaira it did drop to nothing so that was a positive finding. I had no bloating or weight gain. I would get breakthru bleeding on the active pills usually a week before my actual withdrawal bleed, which would last approx. 5 days. So all in all I was bleeding approx 12 days per month. And because you can*t skip the placebo pills on Qlaira, I found it was too much bleeding days compared to non-bleeding days. Another major side effect and the reason I wanted to stop using Qlaira was complete loss of libido. I felt almost repulsed by the idea of sex and I had trouble getting aroused. Altho my natural libido is quite low to begin with, Qlaira took it to completely new levels of zero. Hence why I stopped it after 6 months.

I have been taking the Eloine pill for 10 months now and it has been pretty good. Not much has really changed for me which is great. My periods are the same (if not lighter) , my skin has stayed clear and I haven’t lost or gained any weight. The only thing I have noticed a change in since taking Eloine is a slight increase in anxiety and being more emotional than I used to be. However, these aren’t too extreme and are manageable. Overall i’m very happy with the Eloine pill 😊