Does the combined pill cause spotting?

This definitely helped me with my PMS symptoms. No significant changes to my weight. I had more sensitive skin / allergic reactions during my time on it but not necessarily due to the pill. My mood was pretty similar to when I was off the pill.

I switched to this brand of pill after getting quite bad mood side effects on the previous pills I had tried (microgynon, yasmin) as I'd heard it was better for that sort of thing. It definitely was a lot better than the previous pills I had tried (they made me extremely depressed, constantly crying and not being able to deal with stress) but since making the decision to stop the pill a month and a half ago I have realised it was definitely still affecting my mood a bit. I feel a lot more bubbly, confident and more in tune with my emotions off the pill. I found it dulled my emotions a bit - I rarely cried even when I needed to - whereas now I feel like my emotions are normal. The main reason for coming off the pill though (as my mood was something I was okay with) was my sex drive. The pill almost completely killed it. Since coming off the pill this has changed dramatically and is what I'm most happy about. I would say Eloine is still a good pill to try and it has done me well for the past 2 and a half years. If you've struggled with low mood or other mood symptoms on previous pills and are very keen to be on contraception I would definitely recommend it.

I changed which pill I was using due to problems with mood, and honestly, I don't think much has changed. I take the pill for 3 months at a time and have a break—the periods are a lot more variable in terms of side effects (some are awful but some are more bearable), but are definitely heavier.