When I first went on the pill, it was truly, truly dreadful. Insane mood swings, bursting into tears for no reason, getting crazy angry. It didn't help that I was at boarding school (I was 16) and surrounded by hormonal girls. The school doctor didn't raise an eyebrow when I told him I wanted the pill, he just wrote the prescription and let me get on with it. No "there might be side-effects" advice. He didn't even ask me about family blood-pressure history, FFS (it turned out there's a major history of HBP in my family). What's worse is that lots of other girls were also asking to go on the pill, to sort out their acne: none of them were warned about side-effects either. Very irresponsible of him.

I'm now on the Mirena IUD, which I find fantastic.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 17 Nov 2009, 12:11, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Mirena FTW
No periods for the last two years. Fanfuckingtastic.

I didn't have mood swings (I think...) but I did pretty much haemorrhage every month - I only realised that my periods were far, far too heavy when I began using a Mooncup (fab as well) and had to empty it every hour - in theory it should hold the entire blood loss of five days - not that you would though, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the mirena has done the trick. Fabulous thing.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 17 Nov 2009, 12:46, Reply)

that's what I just came off in May
I loved it. I was the first person in Yorkshire to get it, and had it in 13 years.
Think I'll go back to it.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Tue 17 Nov 2009, 12:56, Reply)

I've got to have mine replaced next year.
There's a 5-year limit on it. I am NOT looking forward to this - although I agree that Mirena is FTW, the pain of having it put in was immense. But the benefits outweigh the 20 mins of excruciating pain, tbh.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 17 Nov 2009, 14:07, Reply)