mini-pill?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2004
mini-pill?
2
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 9:14am

My endocrinologist has informed me that I will probably have to discontinue


CL for Acne

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-11-2004
In reply to: ariane05
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 9:24am
I used the mini pill for about a year. Although some women eventually don't have periods at all, that was not my experience. The first few months I was having really heavy periods every other week. It was enough that I ended up being a little bit anemic. It finally straightened out after several months, and then I was usually going about every 35 days in between periods. Your experience could vary of course, but if you do bleed a lot at first, it could get better once you adjust, although if you're only using the mini pill for 2 months, you may not adjust before it's time to be back on Desogen.

If you had acne before you took Desogen, then you'll probably have it again. I noticed a little breaking out around the time right before my periods would start, and that wasn't something I had using combination pills.

If they won't let you use pills with estrogen after the testing is complete, then you might want to consider a Mirena IUD. It's estrogen-free and does dramatically reduce bleeding.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: ariane05
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 9:56pm
The biggest difference between the minipill and a regular combination pill, besides the lack of estrogen, is that the minipill is less reliable at preventing ovulation than the combination pill due to the lower progestin content. It also has a much shorter on-time window because of the very low progestin dose. How this affects bleeding will directly depend on whether or not you're ovulating. You may have regular periods that might be lighter than normal, or you might have no periods with irregular bleeding, or it might be somewhere in between. It's harder to tell!

And if Micronor, Ovrette, or any of their generics doesn't stop ovulation, it's likely that your acne will be what it was pre-pill, but may still be somewhat affected by the progestin, particularly if you're on Ovrette (levonorgestrel). Micronor is norethindrone, the same progestin as is in Ovcon 35 and Ortho Novum.

Good luck, I hope it works out!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control