Progestogen-only / Mini pill vs Combined pill

Was told I could no longer continue my low dose combined pill (Gedarel) at age 43 because I was deemed overweight by a GP (a nurse looked at me in disbelief at this and actually initially extended my prescription to allow me to enjoy my honeymoon. GP now still stubbornly going on my BMI) Blood pressure fluctuates at times too so didn’t want to go through the stress of not knowing at a 3 month check if I’d suddenly be forced to come off it depending who I saw. Started Cerelle in January. First 6 weeks weren’t pleasant. Really sore breasts, spotting mixed in with random heavier bleeds, dryness when not bleeding and bladder irritation. All calmed down (apart from Dryness)- by third strip stopped spotting etc. Then on fourth strip started to bleed for two weeks (light enough to be ok) but by week 3 was bleeding so heavy was leaking through a heavy tampon/pad/period pants and passing clots with no sign of easing up after a full stressful week of this. Stopped taking the pill and bleeding calmed down. It took another 6 days to stop but feel so relieved. A nurse wanted me to switch straight away onto a new mini pill or coil but honestly I feel my body needs a break. Not sure where to go now as already my body feels so much better/libido back/moods balanced. Fed up of hormones!!

Loss of sex drive and mood swings were especially bad for the first 4 months or so. It since has gotten better, but I don't think it's back to normal. I have gained about 10-15 lbs since I've started the pill and I have also bled (more spotting than normal period flow) around 5 days during the second week of the pack and never (or so I recall) during the last four days of the pack. While I'm spotting I have pretty constant cramps, which I didn't have before.

Leaving a review for the PMDD, Peri, and hormone sensitive girlies: Pro: only BC that didn't cause breast pain and swelling Only BC that didn't cause water retention Cons: mild fatigue throughout the day that then turned into extreme fatigue and low mood. Basically it mimicked PMDD symptoms and that's why I stopped taking it. I wasn't able to make it through the supposed '3 months to settle down phase' that is recommended for BC. The other POP pill I've tried is cerazette and Slynd was a better experience. I've also tried other drospirenone containing pills with no success but I thought Slynd could be different. I felt better a few days after stopping.

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.