mini-pill (cerazette specifically) and depression/anxiety side-effects - a warning! Please read..

[RedFraggle]

After my horrendous experience with a mini-pill I felt I had to post this here as well as on the feeling depressed board.

I had my DS three months ago and after initial baby blues was starting to feel better. Went for my 8 week postnatal check and was prescribed Cerazette (the mini-pill) as I am breastfeeding. After about a week I started to feel really miserable and paranoid, gradually got worse until I could no longer face taking my kids out for the day as I just didn't feel I could cope.
Carried on getting worse to the point I was suicidal and kept thinking about harming myself or my baby. Spent a lot of time sitting with him and my DD throwing tearful wobblers and me sitting on the floor crying too!
Asked my HV for help and she got me a Doctors appointment - my HADS score was extremely high and I was put on anti-depressants, they started to kick in (although the side-effects were horrid) and I felt a bit more normal and so popped on to here for a look about. i hadn't felt up to even doing that for weeks! I saw a post about cerazette and mood swings and alarm bells rang. Googled Cerazette and anxiety/depression and found lots of stuff. I spoke to my doctor and came off all medication and lo and behold - I am totally fine again! Cerazette made me so mentally unstable, it was terrifying. I have had it yellow carded and suggest anyone else with similar issues speaks to their GP and does the same.
The fact that this pill is being heavily marketed to doctors at the moment (according to my HV) means more people are likely to be prescribed it, and at a time when they have just had a baby and therefore their side-effect symptoms could easily be confused with PND.
If you have recently had a baby and were feeling ok but suddenly start to feel bad or not yourself shortly after starting a mini-pill it might be worth considering changing or stopping medication to just rule out a link. Check with your doctor first of course!!!

Thanks sooo much for your post on here Redfraggle! JENNIFERANN i was just the same. Had lost quite a bit of weight since having my lil boy six onths ago and have been on cerazette and can already feel the weight creeping on! Iys the mood swings that u were talking about that led me to google cerazette! Its amazing what one little pill cn do to us women!? I definatly know it is the cerazette as i was on microgynon until a month ago when the doc changed me because of migraines! I wish i hadnt now. One minute im feeling fine, the next im in tears!!! Im stopping cerazette as of tommorow and will update on any changes! What us women have to go through! Not only carrying the baby but have to go through murder preventing getting pregnant again! Maybe they should invent a pill for men to take!!! Lol
Thanks again to you all so glad it was just the pill and not me and that im not on my own! Thank goodness for websites like this!!

I just wanted to say that Cerazette, for me, had the complete opposite effect to most people here.

I had PND for 3.5 yrs after dd and the depression came back every so often until I began on Cerazette. I have never felt better.

I can see from the date of these messages that they were posted a couple of years ago but I have been on cerazette for a 18 months now and have been havin some concerns about things so I started to look for some information. I have to admit to being quite alarmed that there are so many women out there who are having of have had drastic side effects from taking this pill, some of which I can relate to and up until now thought it was "just me". The first thing I noticed was the change in my sex drive it is practically non existent, and while I wouldn't say I suffer from depression on a regular basis , looking back on it I have had over the last 18 months some very severe mood swings, and bouts of feeling very low for no good reason, I have picked fights with my partner for no good reason, and even taken it out on my daughter, I am now wondering if it is responsible for my weight gain and struggle to loose it no matter what I do!! I haven't really had a period over this time, occasional light bleeding which can occur at any time, I sometimes get the symptoms of having a period, stomach cramps sore breasts and back ache etc, but often there will be no period, this in its self concerns me as your monthly is your body's way of having a clear out and this is not really happening. I am now seriously considering coming off cerazette even if it means going back to the coil.

I was on Cerazette for ages, and never had any problems with it at all. I guess things just affect us all differently. I can't use the combined pill due to migraine and family history of dvt

Please do note that when I posted this message initially it was as a warning that this pill might affect people in the same way as it did me. I have stressed throughout this thread the importance of consulting your GP if you think your pill is the problem.

I do realise that many people will take this pill and have no issues, but my concern at the time of posting (and now still to be fair) is that this pill is marketed at women who have just had a baby and that if it does trigger depression/anxiety in the user, it could easily be mistaken for PND.

If you take it and it works for you that is great. I just want a bit more transparency from manufacturers and GPs about the extent of side-effects this type of pill can have. As I've stated before "mood swings" in my head does not really equal "suicidally depressed".

Thank you for your help RedFraggle my poor husband and kids. I have been the most awful monster since taking Cerazette I have been taking it for two months as recommended by my GP because i am breast feeding. that's when it started the moods and such a short temper i would fly off the handle at the smallest thing I'm sure my family have been walking on eggshells for weeks. i am a very calm person normally so me being this way has made me very depressed.
Today i have spoken with my husband and I'm no longer taking "Cerazette" so i will update in a week.
ladies it's not worth the stress!!! there are many more on the market.

Thank you so much. I thought I was going mad. I have been taking Cerazette for nearly 2 years but 3 weeks ago started bleeding all of a sudden on the Saturday and spent most of the day crying. From then I started getting paranoid that my partner was going to leave me, dreaming it every night waking up crying, breaking down crying for no reason and feeling anxious about going out and going to work. I have bleed every Saturday only since and this weekend I had had enough of being an emotional wreck. I went to my docs this morning who just said change the pill but could not explain how I have been feeling so I left in floods of tears thinking this was not going to end. I went to work and after breaking down on my new boss googled it and Mumsnet came up with this and I felt like a brick had been lifted and I was no longer a mad women!! I will be investigating the new pill she has prescribed before I change. Thank you again you have put a smile back on my face xxx

I have found these messages from all of you so helpful. I had my daughter 3.5 yrs ago and have suffered from PMS ever since. In order to try and control these wild emotions i was experiencing, my new GP put me on Cerazette without even discussing it with me or checking my emotional background, etc. It was a completely detached decision and one that I am paying for now in blood, sweat and loads of tears ! I have never felt so utterly down in my life. My reactions to things are totally out of control. I wake up crying every morning, I get viciously angry at the slightest thing, its just ridiculous. This is the first time I've ever felt so completely out of control....nightmare. The only physical side effects I have noticed so far are strange spots on my chest which are taking a long time to clear up and the complete inability to lose any weight despite dieting (which normally would work for me) I have only been on this thing for 2 months and am wondering if I should ride the storm and see what happens or if I should bin it right now.

Good to vent though !

cheers

I read your post with great interest as I had a baby 4 months and the instant I asked about contraception I was prescribed cerazette. I had been feeling ok mood wise previously, but now feel anxious and weepy. I am going to try stopping it to see if things improve. Has anyone had experience of the implant bc I was considering that but am frightened by all the bad press. I know everyone is different but don't want to risk it. I can't take anything with oestrogen in bc of breastfeeding. Does anyone have any suggestions? Many thanks x

I went back on cerazette 6wks ago after a break of about 10mths....I am 42yrs old. I have today come off of it again. I cannot cope with the awful mood swings I'm getting, I feel very depressed and extremely fed up. I came off this pill because I wanted to give myself a break and only went back on it for fear of becoming pregnant and also to help my fairly heavy periods.

I would far rather cope with heavy periods than deal with the awful depression it causes me to suffer with.

The leaflet that comes with the pills should, imo, come with a clear indication/warning that for 'some' people these tablets can cause real problems with anxiety, unhappiness, depression etc.

I am now looking forward to being pill-free again and will rely on EPO/Starflower and up my iron and Vit B tablets instead.

I haven't even lasted a week on cerazette. I told the Doctor when she offered this to me as I cannot have an IUD that the pill doesn't agree with me as it sends me mental. lol

Years ago from taking the combined pill, I know that it affected my mood and emotions, I stopped taking it and the monthly migrains ceased and I became so much more relaxed and less emotional.

But I'm already aware the same things are happening, I'm feeling anxious, emotional by things that would normally easily be put out my mind. I'm also getting headaches.

I guess I'll just have to stay pill free to be 'normal'.

I'm still on my first pack of cerazette and decided to check on here for threads as I'm really not feeling myself - I thought it might be this pill and will now be having a word with my GP.

I'm BF my nine week old, and was fine and bouncy until I started taking it. I want to have a diapraghm fitted but apprarently have to wait until 12 weeks. Cerazette was a stop-gap, with the potential to stay on it. I'll be pushing for the diapraghm now.

Since starting to take cerazette I'm (more) short-tempered with DD1, lethargic, stuffing my face and putting on weight and am angry one moment, fine the next. It's so not like me that I've been starting to get really worried. It could be PND, but I do think this pill has something to do with it. Thank you to everyone who has posted here.

Thank you to everyone who has posted. When my DD was young I took cerazette for 3 months, and bled constantly. I was still bleeding 3 months after I stopped taking it, and it was so heavy that I was diagnosed as anemic!I went back to my GP (male) who told me it was because I had stopped taking the pills and prescribed a new batch! Not happy with this I went back a week later knowing he was on hols and saw his female locum. She told me she would never prescribe cerazette and gave me HRT pills to counteract its affects. So you can imagine my horror when my now teenage daughter was given these same pills to combat heavy periods. In 1 week she has become moodier, snappier, she has bloated to the point where my size 14s fit her better than her size 10's and her normally clear skin has broken out in acne for the first time ever!! I know if we saw the GP he'd say she's being a typical teenager, but I KNOW MY DAUGHTER and this isn't like her. I told her what it did to me, and have showed her these posts... She has just binned the pills! She has asked that I pass her thanks on with my own.

Hi there, i have been taking cerazette for 3 years this december and its only after someone mentioned the side affects of this pill that i thought i would look it up. I was put on this as i cannot go on the combined pill due to me being a migraine sufferer.

I didn't think that any of what i was experiencing had anything to do with the pill, i just put it down to the stresses of being a 25 year old mum of 3 very active children.

basically I am a horrible person to be around. I shout, lose my temper over the slightest thing, cry over stupid things (sometimes nothing),feel depressed but just thought that was down to family issues, my sex drive is pretty much none existent which can be difficult for both my husband and I.
My temper can be really nasty sometimes, my husband says he doesnt know me anymore. :(

Recently i have begun to experience horrible dizzy spells and fainting episodes along with headaches which feel like someone crushing my head.
I have been to the docs and have had many blood tests, ecg's, different tablets, support stockings, etc etc. and yet everything comes back clear.
I'm not sure if it is worth mentioning cerazette to my doctor or not?

I was starting to think I was mad until I found this thread! I've been taking cerz for 9 months now and it's just not worth it I've had so many side effects, acne(which i never had before), depression, uncontrollable crying, random mood swings. One min I'm fine the next im on the floor crying so sensitive bf says one thing and i cry its so ridiculous sometimes. To be honest i'm surprised my bf has put up with me for this long I think he thinks im just a mad cow really lol turns out im not!!!
I was put on the mini pill bc i suffer from migraines so not allowed the normal pill, now im starting to wonder what is best hormonal or non-hormonal???
Cant risk not taking anything as im in uni and def dont want a baby now!
I was considering the IUS or maybe the IUD does anyone have any experience with these? suppose nothing can be worse than that pill!

Firstly thank you redfraggle for originally posting this. Ive been getting lower and lower over the last 2 months the exact time i have been on the pill and on saturday the worst time came. Since then i have had dark manic thoughts reflecting on my life like i have never before. I have a wonderful hubby and 2 gorgeous boys why am i feeling like this? The boys have heard me shout and shout over the least few weeks and my 3 yr old has never experienced this. I even nutted the wall (luckily only a stud wall so no damage to me or the wall) and locked myself in the utility the other day! My husband was really worried. I came out after crying and crying pulled myself round for the boys then had a glass of wine! I had been using wine everynight, only a glass but this is not me!I spoke with my mum on Sat and she agreed that i hadnt been myself. Id been saying to my friend that the pill was making me nutty. Ive lost all confidence in myself. I googled about the mini pill cerazette and came across this thread. I made an appointment with my GP and Ive decided to come off the pill and not go on the anti d's shes prescribed until we see if the pill works its way out of my system. I'm on day 4 but still dont feel 100%. After reading other threads stating that people felt better within 3 days im really worried. Did it take longer for anyone else? Im feeling fine at mo but I was dreadful this morning. Ive been sitting in sainsburies carpark crying!!

Hi all,

I've nearly finished my first week on Cerazette and it's too soon to say. I actually asked to try it as a remedy for severe PMT/mood swings. I have heard anecdotal evidence about its success in treating this. I Googled beforehand and have found loads of threads just like this, but also many stories of success.

So I'm watching myself like a hawk at the moment and I guess I won't really know until a full month, when I get my period again. I don't feel terrible at all, but not sure I feel any better either. Little bit snappy sometimes but generally seem more calm.

Will come back soon.

x

Well today seems to be the turning point. After posting yesterday in fear i wasn?t getting any better i experienced a sore throat, nausea, palpitations and hot flashes. I called my Dr who said I should go straight on the anti D's. I spoke with my rational husband who said that he would be there to help support me over the next few days to see if the pill comes out of my system and helps me. Lo and behold today, day 5 after stop taking it, I feel much much better. A little scared that I am just imagining how I?m feeling but I felt as though I could feel the dark manic mood lift. It is one of the scariest feelings I?ve ever had. I called Schering-Plough Drug Safety Department to inform them how I reacted and I'm back to my GP on Monday to tell them. (the drugs company will also be contacting them) I know for every person this drug will differ and some people may be fine but for those who are not I do believe a stronger warning should be given to GP's. My GP yesterday said how I was feeling was not the pill!! (hmm) I am seeing a different GP on Monday. The scary thing is a lot of woman who are breastfeeding are prescribed the mini pill and PND could be diagnosed when in fact its this pill. Its scary when a few days off it could alleviate the problem and prevent the anti d route!

I have taken cerazette postnatally before and been fine with it. Like others have said it suits some fine and others have horrible problems with it. Problem is (as with most contraception) you can read all you like before hand about possible side effects etc but you never can find out how it will affect you as an individual until you try it. It's all a lot of trial and error.

Agree that cerazette is marketed towards post natal women. Think the thing is that women who breastfeed and want a pill will not be given a combined pill and cerazette is considered a bit more reliable than the older mini pills. When I say a bit more reliable I mean that cerazette has a longer 'window' in which you can remember to take it each day compared to the older pills needing to be taken close to the same time each day. I opted for the cerazette for this reason because with all the chaos of a new baby I didn't trust my memory to stick to good timing.

I think the OP has raised a good point. It is always worth considering stopping/changing the pill if symptoms develop to find out if it is the cause. Also right about it being all too easy for women/doctors/HVs/everyone to put problems down to PND and forget about other possible causes.

I am so so glad i found this thread I honestly thought it was just me!!!

I have been on combined pill over the yrs taken off it coz of migranes & high blood pressure. Suffered horrendously with endometrosis finally had my son then had the mirena coil to control heavy bleeding didn't agree with that, that was 4yrs ago. Then tried Zoladex injections coz of the pain, endometrosis and severe bleeding but then decided to try & have more babies with my now ex husband.

Then thankfully I found a new partner and decided to give the mini pill another go. I had tried one type 8yrs ago but that didn't work out. I was advised to try Cerazette.

I started it on 19th August 1st day of my period had normal period no probs. Then two wks later I was back on 4 2wks. Then it stopped again for about 5wks. Then I came bac on & this time it lasted 4wks. I have now had 5days off and started again.

It is driving me completley nuts!!!! I have noticed a lack in my sex drive (which is not gd 4 a new relationship), altho must admit my boyfriend is being v.supportive.

I have also started to notice my mood swings. I keep snapping at my son or other people around me or other times I go the complete opposite way.

My GP has suggested two other mini pills i can try but he is not so sure they are going to work either. I really don't have any idea what to do. And wondered if there any suggestions.

And to add insult to injury I have just managed to find the instructions that come with the pack and it does say Common side effects affecting at least 1 in 10 women mood changes, decresed sex drive, headacke, sickness, acne, weight gain, breast pain.
Uncommon side effects are painful periods, cysts affecting at least 1 in 100 women. Rare side effects affecting at least 1 in 1000 women skin conditions such as rash, hives, painful blue-red skin lumps.

Well the other week had one of those lumps thought it was a bit strange. And my eczema is three tyms as bad as it has been in a v.long time & the things I normally use which was prescribed by my GP arent work'n so can only put it down to this Cerazette.

Really not happy.

i have been on ceracette for 6 months now and have been feelin really bad (headaches dizzyness feeling that sumthing bad is gunna happen to me) i went to my doctors and was told i was having pannic attacts and gave me sum medication i have not taken any and i am so glad i didnt take them now because all the things i have read on here is the same as i have been getting so im off to see my doctor at tea time and will see what they say am so glad i came on thise site now an seen that iam not the only one that has had the the same side affects as me

Blah, I'm scared to take Cerazette now, was prescribed it yesterday and picked up the pills today. I have bipolar type 1 and was told "it'll be fine" - the stories of extreme mood swings are really worrying to me as I'm already prone to mixed state manic episodes and suicide attempts. I did try looking for the best contraceptive options for bipolar patients but there seems to be not much info out there and of course everyone is different, bipolar or not.

On the upside, (correct me if I am wrong!) a lot of people seem to be saying the side effects go away quite quickly, so I will stop immediately if I notice any change on the mood front. It's good to know what to watch for. :)

Thanks so much for this thread, I just wish I'd known all this before they put me on it.

I went on Cerazette after my 6 week check-up after my baby. A week later started my period and havent stopped since!! She is now 17 weeks so I have had a period for 10 weeks and its not just spotting, it heavy! There is no sign of it easing off...period pains, moods, bloating feeling..everything for the past 10 weeks. My poor hubby cant take anymore of it and niether can I. My libido is nil! Wow they have finaly come out with the perfect contraception! - Abstinance! Same as others on here aswell, panicky, anxious. I dont want my older girls to go out of the house in case they 'slip on ice..... fall over near a passing car...etc etc! its ridiculous. I am so happy I found this link because now I know its not just me..its the pill. Tomorrow I am throwing those things in the bin and my darling hb will have to sort out the contraception!

I have tried to get the Mirena fitted but since I have no children it was impossible (as it happens sometimes) I considered every possibility but the pill as I'm not systematic so I would have forgotten to take it.
Since the Mirena coil fitting didn't work out I ended up with the Cerezette pill!!! Well one thing I can say I can be systematic but my sex life died 11 days from I started to take the pill. It lasted for 9 days and returned after 5 more. I guess I don't have to worry about getting pregnant as my boyfriend can't look at me because of my mood swings and I can't look at myself because of that constant bleeding.
One thing has changed though my periods although almost constant are painless which was the main reason I wanted a coil or whatever else in first place.
Don't know what I prefer having a painless period most of the month or die for 6 days once a month. My sex life was definitely better off when of that 'bloody' pill.
Has anyone got any good news??????????

Hi all, ive been on Cerazette for just over 9mnths now, went on it to try to get con trol of my Anemia. (very heavy frequent periods & fibroids). Tried the mirana coil, lasted 2wks, that was a horrendous experience. Doctor advised this one. I settled down quite quickly & have no periods at all, but also have no sex drive,and have lost over a stone in weight in the 9mnths ive been on it. Anyone else exp this, because everyone else seems to say weight gain. Also my Anxiety levels are very high but i dont know if its a side effect or just me being my usual self