Cerelle pill vs Norgeston pill

Started taking in April 2024 finished the last pack September 2024. Had spotting for the first couple months in the place of period which was frustrating (spotting for 14days instead of normal 5-7day period flow). Once settled, periods just completely stopped which made me feel slightly uneasy as there’s no indicator of “missed period” for pregnancy sirens to ring. Mood was a strange one, felt slightly mentally exhausted but difficult to tell whether that was life or the pill, but I do remember having PMS type symptoms (emotional, cramps) once a month, almost mimicking a period without the bleeds.

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.

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

The minipill gave me pretty bad acne, which took years to resolve after I gave up the pill. It also completely killed my sex drive.

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.

Generally a good pill but I am bleeding every week on it which is it’s main downside for me

I was on Cerelle for 6 mths which was not working out for me as I had prolonged, frequent irregular periods on it. The doctor suggested changing to Norgeston and it has been great. I have been on it now for 5 months and my periods, although not regular (actually there has been a slightly longer gap between periods, which is nice) have been back to normal length of around 6 days long. In fact better than normal as I’d been getting very heavy periods possibly due to me being perimenopausal. I’ve got lighter periods now that don’t come as often with no bad side effects. Also, a good side effect is that I don’t get feelings of depresssion any more before my period like I used to when not on the pill. I did have a blip recently with bleeding - but it’s because I missed a pill and I bled for 20 days, so I asked my doctor and they told me to take 2 pills a day until the bleeding had stopped for 7 days and this has worked. I recommend this pill!

This hormone made me suicidal. I was trialling it for 3 months as I intended to get the mirena coil but wanted to see how I reacted to the specific hormone before I had it more permanently in my system. All day every day all I could think about was killing myself. I felt miserable and severely depressed. I started getting spots on my face and chest, one of my breasts is still slightly larger than the other since taking and stopping this medication (past them being sisters not twins level of different). The low mood wasn't noticeable to me until I'd run out of the 3 months script and couldn't get any more for a while. Within days I felt miles better. My period had been stopped already by my cerazette usage, and it didn't return while I was taking Norgeston. Absolutely I would recommend trying Norgeston before committing to the Mirena coil, if I hadn't I'm not entirely sure I'd still be here!

I can’t describe how happy I am to have found this pill after being put on about 5 different combined pills, both types of coil and the implant and having horrendous side effects. The only side effects I’ve had with this was a little spotting when first starting, and now I have normal regular periods. My skin, mood, tiredness etc has not changed at all. This has the same hormones as the kyleena implant so maybe avoid if you’ve tried that and didn’t get on with it. Couldn’t recommend this pill enough if you’ve tried multiple methods and none of them seem to be working for you!

I completely lose my sex drive when taking the pill. The vaginal dryness isn't as bad with the mini-pill as it is with the combined for me. I started experiencing muscle twitches on this pill which I personally feel are linked so have stopped taking it.

After being off this pill for 6 months I have seen an enormous improvement in my mood, weight and overall well-being. I gained 9kg on this pill! I’ve been the same weight for a very long time, so to gain 9kg in a few months seemed odd but it was shrugged off as an ‘age thing’ as I’m approaching 30. Yet as soon as I came off this pill I lost the weight. I in part put this down to the extreme bloating I experienced on this pill. Insane levels of water retention stopped me from being able to wear any of my clothes. Not to mention the constipation! This had a serious impact on my well-being, self image and consequently my sex drive. Retrospect is a wonderful thing. Just wish I’d tried coming off it sooner!

I started taking this pill around 9 months ago after switching from another progesterone only pill (cerelle). The reason I switched was because the pat pill gave me a period every two weeks. When I first started taking Norgeston this issue completely cleared up, however, has now come back in the last two months. Aside from this I have also been noticing in the last few months I have been getting extremely low moods as well as very painful headaches so I’m thinking of switching to the combined pill

After randomly having issues with the copper coil (after 5 successful years) and reluctantly having to go back on hormonal contraception I was dreading it but this pill is far better than any other mini-pills I've tried. I was able to compare the effects to my hormone-free self thanks to my time with the coil and in comparison to earlier pills/minipills in my late teens, I honestly feel like the side effects are far less. The main side effects that make me consider coming off it are increased in thrush outbreaks, cold sore outbreaks (both were very rare for me before I went on this pill) and low mood/angry moods. The main side effect I don't mind but encounter a lot is nausea. It's in comparison to other pills I've tried (A LOT) that I'm willing to accept the above side effects. I'll take a bit of low mood over whole-body acne, sky high blood pressure and heart conditions any day! (For context I'm not allowed on the combined pill again after I had blackouts and ended up with a heart condition after being on Cilest so my options are very limited. The copper IUD gave me a great 5 years but refuses to stay in place now (3 failed attempts with a new coil and not sure I can handle another) so it seems the mini pill is my only option!)