Copper coil (IUD) vs Combined pill

I loved having the copper coil, however after about 7 months I got light bleeding which wouldn't stop for around 8 weeks. I had the coil removed and it stopped straight away. I was really disappointed as I much preferred it to the pill.

I’ve been using the Flexi T 300 for over a year and 1 month now, and I still have heavy bleedings. Sometimes 2-3 weeks long, with some very painful cramps here and there. I would say I have a very high pain tolerance but it’s just too much for me to handle. I do love the idea of a IUD, not having to think about anything. I just wish I could stop the bleeding. Now plan to take it out and switch to a hormonal one. I first thought having something non-hormonal aligns more with my beliefs. But how is a foreign metal piece in my body less invasive than anything else out there? Birth control for women just sucks in general. But I will keep trying because a surgery to cut this out is too expensive for me right now.

Really happy with my copper IUD so far. My insertion experience was ok, not as bad as I thought from stories I read online. No worse than getting a needle and it was over very quickly. I got it inserted on my period which I think helped for pain, and the doctor injected local anaesthetic into my cervix too. I had bad cramps for the next 2 days, and random cramps for the following 2 weeks, but that’s settled down now and I don’t really have cramps at all. My periods are heavier, but it’s manageable. Most of the time I forget it’s there, it’s great! I am loving being hormone free - I came off the pill after 15 years about 9 months ago and I feel so much better. I’ve got so much more energy, my sex drive is back, I’ve lost lots of stubborn fat. My skin is playing up and I’ve had some acne which is annoying, but I’m hoping it will settle down soon. I had 6 months of no contraception (just condoms) before getting the IUD, so I know all of these changes are from stopping the pill, not from the IUD. The only side effect is heavier periods. For me it’s worth it for being protected against pregnancy and still having my natural cycles! I would definitely recommend it.

Having used cilique for 6 years I have found it very reliable and never had any issues. However all of a sudden it’s not an available and don’t know what’s the next best thing. Doctors have prescribed Gedarel but I’m not enjoying the reviews.

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I have been on so many contraceptive pills and am usually unfussy but cilique’s side effects were crazy - weight gain (5kg in 3 months), really noticeable facial hair growth and the WORST chin/hormonal acne. A real nightmare

I went on this one after a bad experience with a similar pill it’s okay. I kind of feel stuck on it because it’s a big improvement from the sickness I felt from the last pill but it’s still not great however I fear that if I change my pills again all those side effects will come back. I experienced HRT like symptoms from what i’ve seen they get better then they get horrendously worse it’s like a constant cycle.

Took a while to realise that these were side effects of the pill. Already have a history of depression and anxiety but around 3.5 months into taking this my mood plummeted, I started to have increasingly awful problems with vaginal dryness, thrush and vaginitis. In hindsight I was also having an awful lot of headaches and some migraines, which I haven’t had an issue with for years. 10 days after stopping, every single symptom has gone!

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.