Gedarel Pill

I’ve been on the combined pill, Gedarel for about 7 months now but still experiencing bad mood swings when I start taking the pill again after my 7 day break as well as before my period starts. Should this still be happening after 7 months? Not sure whether to change pill or not.

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Dear Joey,

Mood swings are a recognised side-effect of some oral contraceptives; it's probably more common in women who have pre-existing cyclical mood changes or PMT.

If you're otherwise happy with Gedarel, have you considered skipping the pill-free break; i.e. use the pill packs back-to-back? This will avoid the change in sex hormone blood levels that are responsible for your symptoms. There's some evidence that it can help some women who are experiencing mood swings and there is a press release from UK FSRH supporting this (Jan 2019): fsrh.org/news/fsrh-release-...

The alternative is switching to another oral contraceptive, with all the attendant uncertainties of a new hormonal combination.

If you are still unsure, ring your local sexual health/Family planning clinic and ask to speak to the FP doctor/nurse for further advice.

Rgds,

Adhari

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Hi Adhari,

Thank you so much for your advice! I tried not to take a break because I was in a good routine so didn’t want to upset that but I may give it a go! If I was to take the pill pack back to back, when should I then take breaks to have my period? My friend took her pills back to back and then had a very heavy period when she stopped after a couple months.

Kind regards,

Joey

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Hi Joey,

Each packet has 3 strips of tablets. So you could take a break every 3 months, when you are about to start a new packet. It's down to you. Start with this and lengthen or shorten interval accordingly.

Adhari

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Hi Adhari,

Thank you for this!

Best wishes,

Joey