My Experience on the Pill (POP)

Today's post is going to be a little different as I'm going to talk about something personal and out of my comfort zone but if it means that I get to help some girls along the way then I'm happy.

Contraception. We all need it; whether that be because we're sexually active, have acne problems, irregular periods, and more. But sometimes it can be difficult to determine which method is best for you and that's because it's different for everyone so be sure to take my experience with a grain of salt as your experience is likely to be a lot different from mine. 

So let's rewind to the beginning of 2016, I was looking into going on contraception and I didn't know where to start and I didn't know anyone at sixth form who was on it so I was pretty lost. 

I remembered that a sexual health service used to visit my school, so I made my way down to them to get some advice on what road I should head down. They asked me if I minded relying on taking something often and I said I didn't so they said the combined pill or the patch would be the best for me. The combined pill and the patch contain the same hormones (progestogen and oestrogen) except the pill you take every day and the patch you change once a week. 

I chose the patch as the lazy way out. I couldn't be bothered to remember to take a pill every day. 

The patch was perfect at first, I didn't have to worry about it every day and as a bonus, it sorted out my naturally irregular periods. I love baths so initially, my only problem with the patch was that in the bath I was always paranoid that it was going to come off, but it never did. However, at the end of the week it did accumulate a little bit of dirt around the edges which was annoying, but manageable. 

After a few months, I found myself falling into bad mood swings. I would be having arguments with my Mum every day and arguments with my boyfriend every week, it wasn't nice. Behind closed doors, I was suffering from depression, which is actually common in women who take contraception, I just never thought it would happen to me. By December, I finally realised that something was wrong and I came off the patch. 

I stayed off contraception until the end of July 2017, I wanted to give my body a break. 

I finally took a trip back to the sexual health clinic to get some advice. I told the nurse that the patch caused me to suffer from depression and bad mood swings and she recommended the mini pill (progestogen-only). 

With the POP pill you don't have a break week, which means you're unlikely to get a period (scientifically speaking: breakthrough bleeding) or you could bleed for months constantly. 

For me, the POP has been very hit and miss. At first, I was getting normal periods every month but then all of a sudden it stopped and I had on and off spotting (light bleeding) for around 3 weeks. The spotting has stopped but now I don't bleed at all, which can be a bad or good thing depending on how paranoid you are. 

Personally, it's a little annoying but I can live with it. If you take your pills correctly every day then it shouldn't be a problem.

Another problem I had with the pill was breast ache, that lasted around a month but has stopped now thankfully as it was getting to the point where it was sometimes a challenge to sleep on my front.

I haven't had any mood swings on the POP but I have noticed that I can get irritable easily but that's bound to happen, it's one of the most common side effects. The side effects I'm dealing with are nowhere near as bad as the ones for the patch were so I think for now I'm going to stay on it and see how it goes as it's only been 3 months so far.

For anyone wondering, the brand of pill I'm on is Feanolla.

I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns about the pill you may have, you can comment on this blog post, DM me on Twitter, or ask me anonymously.

Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future blog posts. I am also happy to answer any questions about veganism you may have.
đź’“ Phoebe xoxo

Comments

  1. It’s hard to find what suits you but for nearly 20 years apart from a 6 month break Depo, contraceptive injection suits me before that I was on the pill but it just didn’t suit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was going to go for the injection but I didn't have it in me lol! So stuck to oral contraception.

      If you have any suggestions for future posts, please let me know.

      Phoebe x

      Delete

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