progestogens

[Bash86]

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed when I was 18 and put on the combined pill, now that i have hit 35, they have told me I can no longer use this and need to use the Progestogens pill. From brief reading of this there seems to be a lot of side effects. Has anyone else had this? I havent started it yet but nervous that it will change my mood, i will get acne etc. And has anyone just stopped taking the pill all together?

[Hidden]

Hi Bash,For the mini pill, the side effects vary for different people.

I used to take the mini pill a few years ago. At the time, I was very sedintery, and wondered if I gained some weight, felt a bit blue, and had some acne from it. In hindsight, I think the weight was because I was spending all of my time keeping a couch potato company and not allowing myself to go out & exercise on my own.

Fast forward to now. Endometriosis is a thing confirmed for me, and I sincerely want to stay out of A&E for endo pain. So, I got a Minera coil (a progestogin) because of localised hormone delivery and lower side effects than the pill. But, then I read only 20 percent of women on Minera stop their periods after the first year. So, the GP has given me a "top up" mini pill, Cerazette (also a progestogin).

My review of the combo Minera & mini pill:

- Reduced period flow to spotting only for first cycle (only had them 1 month so far)

- Period pain dramatically reduced 🙂

- Minera coil comfortable - no issues with placement

- First days with Minera & Cerazette, was also recovering from laparoscopy - felt somewhat down, but likely because of healing & new level of progestogins. Mood starting to perk back up now that I've healed more : am getting used to the hormones

- mild acne at start, became a bit worse... Then I reduced my vitamin E supplement by half to reduce skin oils. Acne is healing now

- Overall, pretty good! I'll take these few side effects for the much reduced period pain.

[Bash86 in reply to Hidden]

Hey thank you for sharing your story with me! I have booked an appointment with my doctor to discuss the option of the coil. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know your story, it's nice to hear other people understand

[Boxclever1]

Do you have any risk factors for the combined pill - high BMI, migraines, high blood pressure, clotting disorders, cancer history? I'm 45 and have recently started it (under consultant's guidance for endometriosis) but when I mentioned my concerns about my age to my GP, she said that even in women without endometriosis, if there are no risk factors, they are now happy to keep prescribing it until the menopause. Policies will vary between GP practices, but with an endo diagnosis, there should be no problem you continuing (assuming no risk factors).

Do they know you take it for endo, or has the computer just flagged you up due to your age?

[Bash86 in reply to Boxclever1]

Hey thank you for taking the time to message me. I have now booked an appointment to talk to my doctor as I only spoke to a nurse before, so interested to see what they say about it. I think the only high risk factor is that I am a smoker. Well I say smoker, I have one every now and then when I meet up with friends, so maybe that's the reason.

[Pacman12]

Hi there 👋, just to share my story I had to come off the combined pill when I was about 37 as I had a migraine and the GP advised that made the stroke risk too high for me to continue on the combined pill.

I’d previously been diagnosed with endo and had it excised and was on the combined pill to try and keep it at bay. I was offered the coil instead but had a septate uterus so could not have this and also was offered the mini pill but reluctant to take it due to potential side effects so went with nothing.

About 18months later my pain started to return and a lap when I was 40 identified a little bit of endo (much less than I had excised 10 years ago from what I understand) and possible adenomyosis - my consultant felt the pain was more due to my uterus as opposed to the endo. It was at this point I tried to mini pill but did not last long on it - it did calm the pain/inflammation but I felt it impacted my mood considerably and so i felt I’d just replaced one set of rubbish symptoms for another that were less predictable and less manageable.

However - everyone is different and it does work really well for some as noted above. I would say that once I stopped taking the mini pill I felt an improvement in my mood quite quickly (within days) so it was quick to reverse - this was part of my rationale to try it in the first place.

Hope that helps with your decision, best wishes 😊 x

[Bash86 in reply to Pacman12]

Hey thank you for sharing your story with me, I really appreciate it, it makes me feel less alone in this. I have now booked an appointment with my GP as I only spoke to a nurse before and I would rather go through all my options rather than just being told I have to go on the mini pill. After you stopped the mini pill did you go into something else? I agree with you it's just changing the symptoms to something less manageable