PROGESTOGEN ONLY PILL - MICROVAL

[MrsBigD]

I went to see my GP today to get the pill and as I'm an 'oldie' (37) he discouraged the combination pill and suggest I take Microval.

anybody on here on that and what was your experience with it?

thanks

bump

Arrggghhh! I think pretty much sums up my experience. I had periods for about 3/4 of the time, and put on oodles of weight. I cried non-stop too.

BUT - I should add that my hormones are pretty messed up anyway....

strange that... my GP told me that my periods will either stop or at least be much lighter, which in my case would be a blessing...

How long did it take till you noticed that you were piling on the pounds? Just wondering as I'm trying to loose weight not put it on...

i think I took Micronor rather than Micronor when I took the mini-pill, but at its worst, my experience was similar to flamesparrow.

My experience was mixed - ok at first, regularish lighter periods but then about 18 months in irregular periods (about every ten days at one point) preceded by terrible PMT bordering on clinical depression (tearfulness for no reason, feelings of despair and hopelessness). At that point I jacked it in, played around as it were with the rhythm method and voila Steven

mini-pill isn't as effective as combined pill, and you need to be good at remember to take it - only 3 hours grace, not 12.

basically the combined pill stops you ovulating and throws your normal cycle out of the window completely, whilst the mini pill typically just tinkers around with it to prevent implantation/PG, and may prevent ovulation some of the time (for a few people it stops ovulation completely). I think it is quite common for the mini pill to cause irregular but lighter periods, but not that common for your periods to stop completely

i think that the progestogen in the mini-pill can also exacerbate any tendencies to depression.

oh boy that's not sounding promising! Well I've got 3 weeks to make up my mind

Anybody on here had neutral or positive experience with Microval?

i took micronor too, for years & years, & had no problems with it at all. you do have to be super-vigilant about taking it on time as mts already said. having said that, i don't think i'm going to go back on it after this pregnancy as i've had enough of hormones for a while so am considering a coil. would that be an option for you?

hadn't even thought about that. But had a coil yonks ago (15 years or so) and kept having even more severe & painful periods and more infections... then again I believe they're a bit more sophisticated nowadays

Oh god - the depression makes sooo much sense too! It was about the same time I came off that, that I went on ADs!!!!

I was only on it for about 2 months, and noticed the weight gain pretty much instantly.

found the BBC fpa fact sheet and am flattered... my GP must obviously think I'm under 70kg
fpa fact sheet

I do wonder about the 'There are no serious side effects' though... IMHO severe depression is serious...

And this is the proper fpa site...

FPA site

you could ask for the newer progesterone pill called cerazette - it's more effective and you have a 12 hour window to remember to take it. The bleeding pattern may be the same as microval though.

thanks nik72 I'll make a note of that. Am a bit torn now whether to start on Microval or not. I jumped at it because the GP said it'll lessen my periods and the pain... I'm a 'montly mega sufferer' iykwim

it does go out of your system really quickly tho if you do have problems with it - so problems with it are very easily reversible.

thanks for that mummytosteven... btw dd and ds are also both due to rythem method