Has desogestrel helped your heavy periods? Any side effects?

[CreatingHavoc]

I've been prescribed desogestrel as I went to the gp about my ridiculously heavy periods. I thought hormonal contraception could be a good idea as I don't want any more children so it will hopefully make things easier all round. If I take the pill and it's fine, I'll probably get the implant eventually.

Some things I'm concerned about are my age (38, am I too old to take the pill?) and the gp said that it may or may not help with the heaviness. Also have had a lot of problems with acne in the past and really don't want that again. The combined pill made my breasts ridiculously huge and painful last time I tried it (years ago) so I'm not going down that route and the coil is terrifying to me so that's out of the question too.

I know it's a trial and error thing with contraception but I'd really like to hear from others what their experience of desogestrel has been. Particularly if you're around my age or older. Thanks.

Hi I'm 42 and went on desogestrel for contraceptive purposes. For me my first period was extremely light and intermittent but lasted about 3 months. However, since then my periods have stopped which is lovely. I was prescribed it as I could no longer take the combined pill because of my age and previous complications with my blood pressure during pregnancy.

I have been on the mini pill for 9 years now. I’m 41 and apart from some initial spotting I haven’t had a period or any bleeding at all for years and years now. I never want to come off it - I had horrendous clotting due to lupus. The combined pill is often stopped as people get older but you can stay on the mini pill indefinitely. I actually take it as part of my HRT now as I went into early menopause due to autoimmune issues (I take the mini pill, utrogestan and oestrogel).

I have been on desogestrel since the birth of my daughter 12 years ago. I started age 40 and am now 53. For the majority of that time I had zero periods. I have only recently started having intermittent bleeding.

Personally I bled constantly for months so I packed it in. It was to help with PCOS but for me made things worse not better.

I've been having heavy periods every 2-3 weeks for about a year and a half. I went to the GP recently and she said I had a cervical ectropian which might be the cause. (Googling suggests it causes light bleeding - this definitely isn't light!!)
So going to follow that up with gynae but I might investigate hormonal contraception as well. I'm scared of a pill making me put on weight or increase breast size though.

32, Been on desogestrel at least 7 years, had a baby in the middle. No periods whatsoever, helps manage my pcos symptoms I also had debilitating periods. It works for me apart from I have a slightly lower sex drive on the pill but much better than the awful periods

The mini pill shouldn’t have these effects. It’s generally oestrogen that does this - ie the combined pill- and the mini pill has no oestrogen in it.

I'm not on the pill but just wanted to say as an implant user and someone who's periods were so heavy I'd avoid going into work and sat on a dark towel as I'd sometimes leak (even though I'd change pad (can't get on with tampons) every 2hrs - absolute game changer! This is my second implant and it's been in about 18 months and in that time I've had 1 period that lasted 3 days and only needed a liner for.
I'd highly recommend it x

Thanks all, this is reassuring. Hopefully it will stop the bleeding and will start to feel better as my iron is quite low.

I had wondered about the lower sex drive thing. My moods are heavily influenced by whatever time of the month it is (I notice very distinct patterns) so I wonder if it will balance me out a bit!

Absolutely life-changing! I started it for contraceptive reasons at 41. Didn't need it for that for very long, but I wish I'd tried it for heavy bleeding years before. And no doctor suggested it - can't imagine why!

Mine were always heavy but then I went on aspirin and there was flooding & total bloodbaths. Was prescribed mefanamic acid and naproxen (sequentially) which both stemmed the flow a bit.

Since I started on desogestrel I haven't had a period. Essentially no PMT, the occasional pink when wiping: basically all gone away. I would recommend it all day long. I know not everyone has this experience but if you do it's wonderful. Now 46 and planning to stay on it til menopause (though not sure how I will tell!).

I have been on it for nearly 3 years and I am 47. I was having very heavy bleeding and sometimes for weeks on end. It took a couple of months to settle but after that my periods stopped and I haven't had one since (until today, hence how I have happened upon this thread) as I was searching for some info myself. I have experienced weight gain about 2 stone but honestly cannot 100% say that some of that is due to lockdown (eeek) I have been offered HRT Elleste but so far I have bottled out of taking them as my mood are under control at the moment, there is only one negative (or positive haha) and I have zero sex drive, it is nonexistent.