Started the pill (microgynon) a week ago and feel like I could commit murder - normal?

[peggotty]

Bizarrely enough I am taking the pill to try and stop the horrendous PMT I get every month. I took my first pill last tuesday on the first day of my period, the first week was ok but the last couple od days have been awful, I feel lethargic, weepy, depressed and irritable. Will this settle down, is it just my body acclimatising to the hormones? I want to give it a chance but don't want to feel like this for much longer.... Any advice - please!?

Well obviously it's not normal to want to commit murder . Just read back the title! But ykwim.

Oh yes microgynon or "Bitch from hell" pills as they are called in this house. Horrible things.

So I will just feel like this the whole time I am on them?! Should I give them a month or so and see what happens. Am miserable 2 weeks out of the month with PMT. I've been on them pre-children but don't remember having any issues with them...?

I have just come off it, after 6 months. I went on it for much the same reasons as you - PMT - and I think it did help. However, I had horrendous headaches, migraines really, in the week off so I decided to call it a day. It also wiped out my libido completely but am pleased to report that, after just a fortnight, it is back!

You might just be suffering because you've only just started it, though. Why not try it for 3 months and see what happens. Then again, it sounds as though it is doing quite the opposite to sorting out your PMT! Poor you.

Microgynon nearly cost me my marriage. 7 years of hell on earth. Would never ever touch them again so yes, feeling like you could commit murder is normal.

I can no longer take the combined pill for health reasons, but it never agreed with me. I always felt like I had permanent PMT.

I am on the progesterone only pill now (this is second month of taking it) and I hate it. Have put on weight, have headaches and feel like stabbing the majority of people in the eye the majority of the time. Not good . Will give it another monht and if no better, will have to sack it off.

Hormone contraception just does not agree with some of us.

I wonder if that was what happened to me?

I had microgynon, too, and always felt like a bitchy bitch from bitch planet.

but then, i just figured i was like that anyway....

no seriously, i don't think it helped me.
(but it was a combination of matters with me - having a twat of a DP didn't help)

Microgynon can be completely hideous. If you already feel like this, I think you should insist that you come off it. Some people don't react badly to this pill at all, but it made me have v. erratic moods and I know others who have suffered mood changes (sometimes extreme) on this pill.

I'm told that Microgynon is the cheapest pill for the NHS which is why it is offered first. But lots of women react badly to it and you are within your rights to request a change. The GP will probably ask you to give it a go for a few months. If it were me, I'd try to insist on a change and certainly wouldn't take it - I'd just go back in a few months and say it's not working out if you can't convince the GP to change it now.

Thanks all - it's not sounding good on the 'it will CURE my PMT' front then is it!? I really don't remember it being like this the last time I was on them though... Do your hormones never quite recover after you have dc? Could the pill affect me differently now? I have a 3 month supply so might as well take that and see if it all evens out a bit. Bollocks! I really don't want pmt anymore and was so hoping this would be the end of it

Ghosteditor, I think the gp would be fine about me coming off it - I have a hearing condition called otosclerosis which the pill can worsen, so was only trying it out as I was so desperate to stop my PMT. I will have a hearing test at the end of the 3 month trial period (if I last that long) and see if my hearing has been affected. TBH I don't think I will last that long on it anyway.

Hey peggotty, oh, I see, hopefully the GP should be quite responsive then. It doesn't sound very promising but if there are no medical complications it might be worth you trying one of the other pills? I've just come off Yasmin and before that was on..hmm... cerazette maybe? I guess they all have a slightly different chemical balance.

I have to say, though, that I've always had a boost to my libido when coming off the pill - (even when not coming off the pill to TTC) and I'm not sure I'll go back to chemical contraception in future. (DH might not let me after the massive favourable change in libido this time around )