Desogestrel and bleeding

[Wilkarotin]

Posting for traffic.
I started taking desogestrel (progesterone only pill) around 7 months ago whilst breastfeeding my son. I stopped BF around 3 months ago and periods seemed to go back to normal (had a little spotting while still BF).
But I've now been on my period for just over 2 weeks! I stopped taking the pill on Sunday hoping that would help but now on day 4 with no pill and still not stopped 😬
Anyone else have lots of bleeding while on it? Side effects include irregular periods, but surely 2 weeks is a bit much!

Hopeful bump

Yes. I think I took it for six-ish weeks, which mostly included bleeding, and stopped. They’d never give a man medication with a side effect of constant bleeding from his genitals and tell him to “wait for it to settle”, why should I suffer? Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with it as well.

Thanks for replying. So I may still have a while left then 😩
It is rubbish that we have to deal with crappy side effects just so we don't get pregnant. Hopefully won't be too much longer for me though as DP is going to have a vasectomy so I can finally get off all these extra hormones!

What brand are you using? I started Cerezette in August and haven't had a period since.

I started a few months ago. First month period pretty much as usual, next month just needed a panty liner, 3rd month nothing, 4th just a panty liner....but it's lasted just over a month now! I've been rubbish at taking it at the same time each day so I've set an alarm to remind me and hopefully that might stop it.

@LouLou198 it just says Desogestrel on the box so not sure on the brand.
@EdHelpPls that's not a bad idea, I'm pretty rubbish at taking it at the same time too (although usually within a 2 hour window) so I might try that too. Just more hassle than it's worth!

Yes. Been on it 4 months and the bleeding/ breakthrough bleeding / heavy periods is beyond rubbish.
For me it was either the pill or the mirena coil - prescribed to treat a separate issue. I opted for the pill and am told to give it time to settle.

On the progesterone implant I bled every day for 9 months but was mostly spotting
On the progesterone only pill I bled bright red blood every day for 5 months
On the mirena I still had a regular cycle and bled two weeks at a time and then stopped for 2 weeks over and over.

It's mad isn't it.

You definitely need more than 4 days for your body to get used to the change of hormones again. But prolonged and irregular bleeding on progesterone contraceptives is definitely common.

Just felt like I needed to add for some people it stops their bleeding completely and is bliss. It can take months and months to settle for some people though, and for others it doesnt seem to settle at all (like me!)

Was on it for maybe 7 yrs love it stopped all bleeding for maybe 6yrs then started spotting all the time, came off it tried other pills same problem, so now have a coil, bleed for maybe 3 weeks then so far nothing 🤞 (only had it six weeks mind)

I’ve been on it for 8 years - had bleeding initially on and off for a few months which was annoying but kept on with it and haven’t had any bleeding at all or periods for about 7 years now. I love it.

Shouldn't matter which brand but I found it did. Was on cerazette for a long time pre DS, little bleeding and not very often. After DS, I was given cerelle. On the box, exactly the same, but bleeding like you describe and despite running 100+km a month at that point, not losing any weight.
Cerelle is now the standard NHS issue as it's cheaper, but I asked to change back and, although I have to remind them every 3 months that yes I really do mean cerazette not cerelle and they agreed I could change, it's definitely better for me.
But tend to get bleeding if I don't take it similar-ish time each day (12 hours window for staying safe contraception wise). Reminder in phone for that and my SSRIs helps.

I am 10 months post partum. Started off fine on this pill. But in the past couple of months I have been having regular heavy bleeding outside of my period! So frustrating.

I would speak to your GP. I bled extremely heavily for 6 weeks on desogestrel and ended up needing tranexamic acid to force the bleeding to stop. Though they subsequently investigated and found it had triggered an underlying problem I didn't know I had

I've been taking desogestrel non stop for 7 years and haven't had any bleeding at all.

Looks like I'm one of the unlucky ones that has to put up with more bleeding on it then. Thanks for all the replies, has at least put my mind at ease that it's a common side effect. Now just to decide whether to let it settle or switch to a different contraception.

I started Cerelle last December, last period was August and absolutely nothing since. It might take a bit longer than you think to stop them, but it might also be worth persevering a little bit longer.

I was on it for 13 months whilst breastfeeding and didn’t bleed at all, but after I stopped, bleeding started again, and it was v irregular - long periods (15-28 days 😞), never super heavy but felt never ending. After 4 months or so, I switched to the combined pill and now I’m fine.

I have been taking it for about and I tend to bleed for about ten days every 6 weeks or so. It's annoying in the extreme because it's quite unpredictable and goes on for a while but I'm a serious migraine sufferer and without the progesterone only pill I would have a migraine with sickness and terrible headache every week. This pill is just great at reducing my migraine which I now only get at the end of each bleeding period, and my migraine triptan tablets take care of it. I haven't had a day off work due to migraine for a year.

I bled for about 7 weeks initially. It then abruptly stopped and nothing since.
I am taking it for nightmare periods and ovulation pain rather than contraception so I said I’d put up with it initially for the long term gain. Now I get nothing, no bleeding, no pain, it’s brilliant

I've had it for both times I've breastfed, I had random periods/spotting at the points that I reduced my breastfeeding significantly then again when I stopped bf completely. So the fluctuation or drop in hormones must have knocked something off balance and caused the bleeding (about 2 weeks varying flow) then I would go back to no periods at all on it. I did eventually switch back to combined pill though out of preference.

I’ve been on Cerelle for 5 months now, primarily for help with pcos side effects (irregular bleeding being one of them!). Had a nightmare period approx 2 weeks after starting it and then continued to bleed most days after! I will say the last month or so it has improved but still hoping for longer periods of no bleeding, hoping for the settling down effect which others have mentioned above!

Ask for Cerazette OP. It's the same drug but for some reason I'm fine on it, but get bleeding and terrible symptons on Cerelle and the generic desogestrel.

I was exactly the same on it. Worked fine while I was breastfeeding but once I had stopped I was bleeding constantly with no routines at all.

I went back on the regular pill instead and have no issues.

Hi All,
I have been taking cerazette for about 5 months now and a pattern is emerging for me that I am hoping I can change. I seem to go 6 weeks no bleeding then have 2 weeks of basically a full on period (this time I even got the 2 days evil PMT beforehand). Has anyone else experienced this? I am considering upping the dose to 2 a day to see if this helps, has anyone tried this? If so does it lessen bleeding/spotting? I can't find any negative effects online of taking 150mg progesterone a day. Unfortunately I cannot tae estrogen and am reluctant to have the implant until I have exhausted my oral contraceptive options. Any advice much appreciated! Thanks