Marvelon contraceptive pill - anyone taken it?

[mindalina]

Dr just prescribed me a three month supply of Marvelon - he thinks it will help with my monster pmt.

Just wondered if anyone had taken it for this reason, or just as a contraceptive, and what your opinions on it were?

This was the first pill I was ever on. I was on it for about 7 years without any problems (initially went on it for period pains and it was great for that)
I only came off it as they had that scare over the old style pills and my GP told me I couldn't stay on it...

What was the scare about? Sorry, I've never really taken the pill so never paid a great deal of attention to news about it

I'd be glad not to have period pains though!

I came off Marvelon following the pill scare years ago. As long as you're not in one of the high risk categories (smoker, overweight etc) Marvelon should be fine for you. I've been on a lot of different pills but found Marvelon suited me the best. Regular light periods, no mood swings, cleared up my dodgy skin. Can't take the combined pill these days due to migraines but I wish I could still take Marvelon as it suited me so well.

I was Marvelon before i had children. When i went back on it after I had dd1 it made my monster PMT 10 times worse.

I came off it after waking up one night and if DH had woken and spoken to me i would have killed him as i was so angry.

I took Marvelon about 15 years ago for 6 months. I loved it - it did wonders for my skin - and them I landed up in hospital with hundreds of blood clots in my leg - which apparently were caused by this pill! (I hadn't been considered to be high-risk, but it later turned out that I have a clotting disorder that Marvelon triggered...)

The choices for this sort of thing really are a minefield...

I took it.. as a contraceptive.. LOL.. say hello to DS1

never did anything for my pmt tho... so IME a waste of space on both counts

i take it, took it for 10 years before dd and went straight back on it afterwards. i love it

have tried others over the years, mostly around the "scare" time, but revertd to marvelon again as it suited me so well.

The scare was about the pill in general, leading to dvt in some people; marvelon and mercelon (which has lesser oestrogen iirc) are pills which had twice the risk of causing dvt, but considering the risk was only 1in 1000000 or something then it was still pretty minimal.

Obviously this risk heightens if you are overweight/a smoker/circulatory problems etc.

HTH

Hmm interesting range of views there - thank you

Hmm BCNS, you're scaring me, I don't want no more babies - there's a reason I offered you my toddler on your thread

I am a smoker but a light-ish one and the doctor knows that ("you know it's bad for you right?" he said yesterday ). Thank you for clarifying re: the scare.

I am primarily taking it for the pmt-curing aspect so it's a shame to hear so many have been disappointed in that respect. My Dr said I don't have 'classic' PMT as that should stop abruptly with the onset of the period, whereas I am still fairly furious with the world until my period actually stops, and then I get a week of calm, so maybe that will have an impact, I don't know. Maybe I'm just odd

This was the first pill I was prescribed as well, all those years ago. I took it for a month and had a period that lasted for a month, after which it went in the bin and I got something better suited to me Hope you have better luck.

nooooooooooooooooooo

i hate periods

I went from really heavy painful periods which lasted about 10 days to lovely light practically pain free ones which lasted about 5 days. Sometimes your bleeding can be erratic with a new pill but it tends to settle down after the first 3 months which is why your initial prescription is usually for 3 months. If you really want to avoid periods there are other methods of contraception which are more likely to stop your periods altogether. The Mirena coil usually stops periods although I can't say I've tried it personally.

Thanks Claire

I don't really hate periods that much but I think a month long one would seriously wind me up!

Am steering clear of mirena as I understand it's not great for people who suffer badly with pmt and/or are prone to depression - I could be wrong but that's the impression I've got. Also I've heard it hurts to have put in and I'm a big wimP!

Oh yes it hurts like hell for about 4 hours after, worse than labour pains and i gave birth without pain relief (no time).

I gained loads of weight and then it came loose causing me agonising pain and gave me a pelvic infection. Nice eh.

ouch!

SHould have explained about the pill scare a bit - sorry! BUt I see it has been done, at the time, they were taking everyone off those particular pills whether they were in a high risk group or not. I didn't have any reason to need to come off but was swapped to a different pill anyhow.

Have to say I found this a great pill when I was on it. I can't go back on though as I get migraines nowadays otherwise this would be my pill of choice!

I have taken it on and off for years. I'm really happy with it, and havent had the problematic side effects I had with the other pills I tried. I was taking it around the time of the scare, but decided to just keep taking it rather than be switched to anything else.

I was on it for contraception for about 15 years and it really suited me. When the scare happened I told the doc I still wanted it as was so happy with it. I was a smoker at the time but they said as long as I understood the risks then UK,

IIRC the risk was doubled with marvelon and the other, it was something like 2 in 10,000 instead of 1 in 10,000 so IMO was no real difference.