To be pissed off that GP changed my oral contraceptive pill without telling me?

[KingaRoo]

I have been taking Cilest for years and years. It suits me as I PCOS and have reacted badly to other pills over the years (one notably gave me terrible acne and made my hair fall out). Cilest was taken off the market recently so they put me on another brand, Lizinna, which has the exact same types of oestrogen/progesterone which is really important.

Just received my new prescription and they have given me Microgynon which is the one my hair fell out with. I am so annoyed they just did this without even discussing it with me. I suspect it's cheaper.

My GP is calling me this afternoon to discuss but I am so angry!! What if i hadn't checked?

Also, does anyone know if Lizinna is no longer available and, if so, what types of pill are particularly good for PCOS? I've tried googling but not got anywhere.

I know some types of pill raise androgen levels and I need the ones that lower it.

I will buy Lizinna privately if the GP fobs me off, thanks for the link.

Unfortunately I've found that a lot of GPs have very little understanding of PCOS. I even had one (female) GP tell me that all brands of pill are exactly the same!

I'm just glad I checked the ingredients as I'm used to taking all sorts of different brands/generics for other medical conditions so might not have thought twice about it being in a different packet with a different name. And then my hair would have fallen out!!

Oh and yes I have been pressured to have the coil in the past too. With my previous gynaecological issues this is an absolute no for me but I still got asked multiple times to try it. Again, I assume it's cheaper.

No wonder you're livid.

I took Microgynon once and it made me feel like a space cadet. I described it to the doctor that it felt as if I was seeing the world through someone else's eyeballs. It was horrific.

Has anybody had issues with Lizinna? I loved cilest, it worked really well, but my gp prescribed lizinna without telling me, presumably because cilest was discontinued. I had awful nausea when I first started taking it and am now getting lots more breakthrough bleeding and a non-stop headache during the week I don’t take it. It has also given me acne on my face, chest and back, or just not controlled my natural acne the way cilest did. Not sure which!

I was also really annoyed at the GP just changing it like that without warning. I asked the pharmacy about it and they told me it would be exactly the same but I definitely experienced side effects when I started taking it and have reacted differently.

Lizinna and Cilest have exactly the same levels and types of hormones so it is an exact match. Strange that you've had those side effects on it.

Although some people say that branded and generic drugs have different effects on them even though the ingredients are the same so I don't know...

Yes, I found it strange but it is exactly the same side effects I had when I had to switch to a safer pill for breastfeeding. The GP did once switch me to a generic version of the pill (can’t remember which one) and I was young so didn’t really know what it meant or realise what had been done. I had different side effects and mentioned it to the another GP who said that people can have side effects on generic versus branded and swapped it back which stopped the problems. I don’t understand how I can react differently to exactly the same thing but I did.

Anyway, I don’t want to derail your thread, so yes, I would be pissed off in your situation too. As adults, we should be allowed to have discussions and make decisions about what we’re putting into our bodies, not just have the GP change things without your knowledge when your previous pill was working well for you.

I spoke to the GP who said it was an admin error and has prescribed me my usual one, thankfully. No apology though!

I keep being given the cerelle instead of cerazette. Cerelle caused me to have a 13 week period and I was so moody it was awful. The nurse was wonderful and put a note on my file but when it renews the note never gets transferred across and I have to get a new prescription everytime as I'm given the wrong one at the pharmacy and they refuse to give me cerezette unless the note is added to the prescription.

Microgynon is the cheapest pill by far and everyone I know, myself included, have had horror stories about taking it. It's the one they start women on just in case they don't react badly. I went through 5 brands of pill in 4 years and then had 10 blissful period free years on the Mirena Coil. I'm really glad you got it sorted OP!

Not BU at all.
My gp tried to get me in microgynon as a teen. My mum said that's rubbish and it's for older ladies who have finished having kids.

In response to the poster who said they couldn't think of any other meds that get changed without consultation...

I moved house so had to change gp.

They (new gp staff) lied to my face about meds I have been using for several years. With empty boxes on the counter with my name stickers on.
And they changed another med that I use the "basic, cheap, generic" form of. Happy with this. No added crap! Works well.
They swapped it for an expensive brand, containing shellfish. Which I am allergic to. Without asking/telling/consulting me at all
Thankfully I threw the only one I took straight back up and didn't digest it enough for anaphylaxis.