Implant vs Progestogen-only / Mini pill

I had 3 implants over 9 years. On the surface I thought I had minimal side effects, with the exception on loss of periods (approx. 2 per year). However I decided to take a break having spent a decade on continuous hormonal birth control. I now realise that there where several effects on my mood. Mostly flat lining of my emotions, I never felt things intensely and left me a bit closed off. My libido was very suppressed and took 3/4 months to come back, in line with my periods returning semi- regularly. I also no longer feel constantly bloated or have regular stomach aches. However I didn't get pregnant or experience bad side effects, so I can't say it was a wholly 'negative' experience. I won't however go back to hormonal birth control anytime soon!

I had the implant fitted as I wanted reliable contraception that I didn't need to think about constantly. I had some slight spotting for a couple of months after getting it fitted, but apart from that, the first three years were all fine. When I came to have it changed, the nurse could not locate the implant, so it couldn't be removed during my appointment. I then had to wait six moths to see a specialist at the 'deep implant clinic' who was able to find it and remove it, few, however this whole experience was pretty worrying during those few months. I was not going to have a new one put into my arm but during this appointment I suddenly changed my mind and decided to have another one put in. This second implant I had for two years, then after my 6 year relationship broke down, I recently had it removed a couple of months ago to see how I felt not being on hormonal contraception. Amazing is the answer.

For two years I had good and bad experiences with the Implant. I would definitely say the negative side effects definitely fall under mental health (depression and mood swings), sometimes I would get nausea to the point of wanting to vomit everywhere, migraines, lower back pain. My libido is below low levels. I think I lost myself over this 2 years, I don't feel like the same person mentally. However, this is the best contraception in terms of insertion and daily practicality. I wanted to start having contraception but I didn't want the pill (because I am very forgetful), I didn't want the diaphragm (too complicated) but this one was just perfect and painless procedure. Also, my body changed a little bit over the years but it was because I started being careless with my eating habits, so it is easy for your weight to change with the implant. And in terms of hair and skin, for me it didn't change much, I would get a pimple every now and then but it would go away by itself. If it wasn't for the mental health for sure I wouldn't take it out.

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

I had breakthrough bleeding every day for almost 6 months starting from the day after my first pill. Sometimes heavy like a period but mainly spotting but it never stopped. Eventually the nurse advised it’s probably not for me and told me to stop taking it. It gave me no other negative effects but I thought that was negative enough!

I would bleed for 4-6 days every 14 days with cramps the whole “period”. I seemed to feel every emotion much more intensely and felt rather negative a lot more than usual. I was also very bloated a lot.

Since beginning this pill I have been strictly observing my weight and other side effects. Other birth control methods were unsuitable for me as I experience migraines. So far, I have had minimal side effects and have not noticed any impact on my mood or weight. I have had some small spots appear on my chin, I feel my breasts have gotten a little bit bigger (but I have actually lost weight since starting cerazette). I have had irregular bleeding/periods as the hormones are settling into my system, which has been annoying for myself and for my partner but better than the alternative, which is the point in taking the pill anyway. So far I'm happy to have chosen Cerazette and hope this will continue.

This was my first time using a hormonal contraception method and was given this by my doctor to start with. I persevered for 3-4 months but experienced continuous medium break through bleeding that didn’t show any sign of stopping. At this point my sex drive had disappeared and I switched over to a combined pill which I now have a much better time with.

This is the first time I’ve tried the mini pill after using the combined pill since I was 15 (until 18), the hormonal coil (18-22) and then experiencing my adult body for around 3 months with no hormones. After this contraceptive break, I fell pregnant and had a really rough abortion. After this experience I was terrified of this happening again and noticed my weight had increased due to pregnancy and my moods were really up and down in the last 6-8 weeks. After speaking to a doctor I got given this pill due to optical migraines and high risk of stroke. It was fine for the first few weeks and got used to it very quick, however, I noticed an insane decrease in sex drive. I never think about sex now and it’s really hard to get in the mood, this had led to me getting too in my head during sex and ruining it for me, a constant cycle!! Recently I’ve also became really irritable and short tempered which is very out of character for me. *Really important note* that I’ve not seen in many reviews!! After a quarterly checkup with the nurse she told me this pill is one of the worst for weight gain!! Saying that basically no matter how much of a calorie deficit you’re in/how active you are, you’re going to gain some weigh. Wasn’t informed about this prior to prescription. For context I was 69kg prior to taking this pill and in 6 months I’ve gained 11kg without changing my diet and increasing my cardio and general exercise. Apart from this the pros are no periods, very minimal cramps. I’m leaving this (very long) review to help anyone else who’s using this or considering it, like other reviews say, it really depends on you and unfortunately you’ll never know how these things affect you until you try. To help some sisters out, I’m now considering the copper coil as I’m missing having periods (sounds crazy I know) and really want a non-hormonal option

Overall it’s excellent and all positive, no periods at all and steady mood