To think the mini pill isnt going to work for me either.

[Londongirl88888]

I was put on the mini pill desogestral a month ago for heavy periods. For 19 days it worked. No side effects. It appeared to have stopped my period. 4 days after my period was due I began spotting. I was still happy and thought this was much better than heavy periods. But after 5 days of spotting the bleeding began. It's still a light-medium flow 11 days later (16 days after spotting began)

I rang my surgery Friday. He was a locum Dr with poor English. He asked me what I wanted to do. I asked him what he thought I should do? . He said he didn't know. He couldn't give me anything to stop the bleeding and I can't take the combination. So he said see how I go and ring back in 2 weeks if I'm no better.

Anyhow I feel sickly and weak. I take iron and vitamin b everyday. I'm eating well. I'm drinking plenty of vitamin c.

Has anyone got any experiences of this pill. It was supposed to improve my health but it's making it worse so far.

I have put it in here to get people to see my post. I really need to know how the pill worked for people to see if it's time to stop taking it. I would rather bleed heavy for 7 days than bleed for over 2 weeks. Thanks all!

Hi OP, I’m a consultant gynaecologist, specialising in contraception.

Any progestogen only pill is only licensed or proven to be effective for contraception. Mostly desogestrel POP is used these days as it is slightly more effective than more traditional versions, as it more reliably blocks ovulation. Very few women have a medical reason they cannot take the POP, and it’s easily started and discontinued, plus cheap.

Downsides are that I would say it tends to be prescribed widely sometimes by clinicians who don’t have a detailed knowledge of contraception, as an “easy/safe” option, regardless of whether it suits a particular woman. Effectiveness is 98% on paper, but in practice around 91% - ie: almost 1 in 10 women using this method experience unplanned pregnancy.

However, one myth is that the POP reliably reduces or stops bleeding, esp if you have heavy periods. This is simply not the case for most women. Approx 1/4 women having regular periods find that the POP stops them. 1/4 find periods are unchanged. 1/2 find the POP causes more irregular bleeding, which can often be heavier, or even continuous.
It makes no difference when in your cycle you started the POP, and the bleeding pattern (even more confusingly) can vary whilst you stay on it. It isn’t true that the longer you stay on it, the more likely it is for your bleeding to stop - I would say a reasonable trial is 2-3 months if manage that long, IF you are also using for contraception and therefore continuing something is needed.

There are national guidelines on management of heavy menstrual bleeding (NICE guidance), which your GP should be adhering to. Access to hospital investigations will naturally be limited at the present, but there are multiple treatments (most of which are non-contraceptive) which are likely to be more effective, that your GP can try in the meantime.

@ChequerBoard your response is ridiculous. Heavy periods have made me very unwell in the past, almost needing transfusion of iron. Keep your beak out.

@quince2figs, this is useful. Cant I just jump in and ask what I could be requesting from my gp? They have only mentioned coil so far, which I don't want. Combined pill works reasonably well, but not perfect at stopping periods. Thank you

@quince2figs

Thank you for your post. My regular gp did not want to put me on this pill as she said it could make me worse. She was on a cruise when the Dr I spoke to the other day prescribed me them a month ago. I got the vibe then he wasn't sure what to do. He kind of asked me what I wanted to do. When I spoke to him Friday he said he would normally give me a tablet to stop the bleeding but it would lower my immune system to covid 19. I've tried transexamic acid and that also didn't seem to do much at all. I had a scan done in January and they said if nothing showed they would refer me to gynocology. Then the dr went away and it seems it hasnt been followed up. I think if I'm no better in a couple of weeks I'll request a specific Dr to contact me. Thanks again for your reply.

@ChequerBoard

If you think other conditions currently should be left without monitoring or further investigation and medicine you are clearly clueless. Do you think other people can't get unwell right now? Do you think anemia is mild? Or do you understand it slowly starts to affect the organs etc if left untreated. Do you understand what it's like to have a racing heart, be freezing cold, scared you will faint with breathlessness and fatigue so bad you have to take deeper breaths to focus on conversations. You are refusing to understand. You thought oh I can pop at that women whinging she is spotting and wasting the drs time. When I told you I have a health issue you continue to try and tell me I'm wrong for bothering a gp. A gp who is sat in the drs surgery for non Corona patients. Because yes people still need inhalers, contraception, blood pressure pills, antidepressants, anxiety meds. Pain relief for on going problems. Migraine advice. Sometimes people will need to see a Dr about an infection. A cut finger that now needs an antibiotic cream. A new lump discovered. A patch of skin that has changed. Feeling unwell after having a baby. Stitches looking at after normal operations. Dressings changed by nurses. Blood tests. Urine samples. Poo samples! Can you imagine people still have ongoing problems like Chrons and Ibs. Children still may get constipation, eye infections, viruses and eczema, tonsilitis, east infections, Blood pressure checks etc. The list is endless. And yes we all matter. Because if we are scared or worried we have the right to get support and advice. You are wrong. I worked in pharmacy for 3 years before having my kids. People are always in need of help, advice and medicine. All ages! Coronavirus does not change that! Nobody should read your post and believe they are not worthy of a drs advice.

Quince, this is a curiosity thing...

You said:

Very few women have a medical reason they cannot take the POP, and it’s easily started and discontinued, plus cheap.

Thousands of women report depression, low libido etc. On these pills. Are those not medical reasons?

They don't seem to be taken into consideration in female medicine at all. They are unfortunate side effects.
It's why I now refuse any hormonal contraception now. It's constantly pushed though.

I was just wondering if it's really not taken into account?
My mental state seriously affected my life on the POP and all my issues vanished within days of stopping it.

I tried the mini pill, I bleed heavily for 10 weeks none stop and I genuinely felt so ill I thought I was going to die.

Never again.

I take cerezette and for me it’s fantasic. After a couple of months my periods stopped altogether.

Recently I was given desogestrel in generic packaging instead of my usual brand. The6 are supposed to be the same. However I started spotting and felt nauseous, weak and had period pain. I contacted my GP who prescribed cerezette without question and after a few days I was feeling great again. Brand can make a difference.

I hope things settle for you OP. The mini pill has been life changing for me.

Desogestrel works well for me- tho it does take a few months to settle. Initially, if I forgot and took a pill a few hours late, it would result in a bleed a few days later. The longer I took it, the less this happened-- and i got into a better habit of taking it at the same time every night.
I'm really pleased with it now- no bleeding whatsoever, no painful periods. Hoping to stay on it as long as possible - until meno.

I bled throughout on my first POP - never did that with Depoprovera or Mirena. The doctor was unsure if it would make any difference, but changed the brand on the next prescription.

The bleeding stopped almost overnight. It's worth switching.

OP, your GP should be adhering to the NICE guidance on heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). It may be that you can opt for a contraceptive method which will also help your bleeding - this is usually an IUS or an injectable. There are many effective options which are not contraceptive but should be discussed.

However, even if this is done, it’s important to investigate as per the guidelines first. An ultrasound scan is not usually of use unless fibroids are suspected or found. Investigation of choice is usually a hysteroscopy (thin telescope into the uterus) to inspect, take a sample of lining and possibility of treating at the same time. Access to this will be limited at present, but your GP should have a plan to refer appropriately when possible.

Mrmees, the strategy with contraception is:

1. is the method safe for you to start/continue eg: not safe to use COC if you are a smoker over 35y
2. does the method suit you once tried? All the common and sometimes distressing side effects you mention are possible. eg: if you bleed irregularly or have lower libido on the POP, it’s not suiting you and may significantly affect your quality of life adversely, but isn’t dangerous as such. The problem (and interesting thing for me) is that every woman is different with each method. POP and the implant are the least predictable methods.
3. using a woman’s experience of contraception thus far to sensibly decide on a future method eg: no logic in using a different brand of COC with the same progestogen if the first hasn’t suited you. This seems to be a declining skill, sadly

Thanks Quince
I totally get what you mean about declining skill.

I was put on things that basically had the same hormones in to "try and see"
It's patronising.

I now have a copper coil. I love it, the couple of heavy painful (excruciating to be fair) days are outweighed by the rest of the month for me.
I literally had a speculum inside me and they were pushing me to have mirena though.
It's things like that making women think there's incentives in place rather than our best interests being priority.

Clearly I was in the lucky quarter - just had cerelle prised from my hands as I am beyond the licensed age. Wonderful invention as far as I'm concerned. No blood, no kids, result!

I've just had three and a half weeks bleeding on the mini-pill. I've been on it for many years and that's never happened before so I was a bit . Only ever had a few days spotting here and there but this has made me wonder whether it's just not suiting my body anymore. Will continue on it and see if this happens again, then I will probably just come off it.

mencken - glad Cerelle (= desogestrel) suited you - if you don’t have bleeding problems or other side effects it’s a great method. However, there is no licensed age limit for it, apart from guidelines advising contraception can be stopped at 55y.
If you’re under 55y, still need contraception and haven’t had a medically-confirmed menopause, it’s extremely likely you can resume it.

thanks - GP refused to continue supply after 55. Blood test showed 'in menopausal range' (I understand the POP doesn't affect this test) and phone chat told me odds on conception were very very low, although as always no guarantees as there can't be.

let's hope I'm not a statistical freak!

That makes sense, then mencken. The guidance Ian that if you are over 55y, even if still menstruating, the risk of pregnancy is so low to not advise routine contraception. If your blood test shows you are postmenopausal, then you don’t need to worry

I've also just been prescribed this pill so interested to hear how others get on.

Yes, I took up a 15 min GP telephone appt to get it, after first checking that they weren't too busy, and they were more than eager to speak to me for 15 mins and prescribe it. In fact, I said I was just inquiring about contraception options for older women, after many years of not needing any, and wasn't really looking for anything yet and the GP had sent the prescription to my local pharmacy within a couple of minutes of taking my history! She said they would much rather do this now than deal with a high risk, unwanted pregnancy down the line.

I also checked with my friend, who is a local GP, and she said that the Covid19 response in our area was running quite smoothly now and that the GP surgery has plenty of time for telephone consultations. She works at a covid10 response center 3 days a week, and she said that she was actually quite bored at the GP surgery the other 2 days as they had very little to do and she was leaving early on those days.

Life does go on, even in lockdown.

Hope you don't mind me joining, I'm on Noriday but I've just been told it's been discontinued. I have endo and ovarian cysts, I'm waiting for surgery and have been prescribed Cerelle in the meantime but I haven't been able to talk to anyone. I was just given a new prescription as Noriday isn't available any more. I'm really nervous about changing pills as I've had two ruptured ovarian cysts this year, I'm constantly bloated and my skin is awful. All our work calls are done via video and seeing my face all day makes me want to cry.