Vasectomy vs Progestogen-only / Mini pill

vasectomy is a good form of contraception. There is a lot of good information here: https://vasectomy.co.uk/vasectomy

As a woman the vasectomy is the best contraception I feel we have ever had. I have no pain, weight gain, mood swings, plastic packaging or costs. I highly recommend.

Sept 1998. Had a vasectomy. Easy and quick. Done in the hospital operating room on a Friday morning. Went home And took it easy. Took it easy at work Monday no problems. By Wednesday started feeling pain in testicles. Called doctors office. Doctors gone on holiday. Anyway from this point the pain only gets worse and all the doctors have to say is that they have never seen anyone in such pain. Within the first six months I had met with a variety of doctors and tried a wide variety of drugs, therapies and nerve blocks. Nothing worked for more than a few hours (nerve blocks did!). I had the vasectomy reversed June 1999 at my own cost of $2000. It was about three months before i felt better from that. Sadly only my left testicle had resolved. The right side still had the same pain. I had a semen test done. First ever in my life. I had sperm count of 125 million / ml. Surgeon thought that was great but still pain persisted in my right testicle. Followup turned into another vas reversal but just for the right side. This one I didn’t have to pay for because it was for chronic pain. Sadly it didn’t help. Now it’s 2020! I have endured this for 22 years. I wish I had never done it. That’s my absolute last word.

Started this purely to help my skin after experiencing constant hormonal breakouts, which it did clear up and meant I could eat however I wanted basically with no consequences on my skin (sugar and fatty foods). However I feel as thought the pill has really dampened my mood making me low level depressed all the time. Also experienced a decreased sex drive and lots of hair loss - but still unsure whether these are directly related.

After coming off a combined pill (Yasmin) that I was on for 14 years - I am now on Desogestrel, within a week I suffered a mild acne rash/breakout on chin and neck but some gel from my GP quickly sorted that. I am now 2 days late to what would have been a bleed/period and my lower back and period cramps are quite severe and prolonged - my breasts are bigger and tender to touch - hoping these symptoms begin to decrease if I get my bleed or not! Saw GP today to discuss and they’re just general side effects whilst my hormones adjust (I’m told to allow >3 months to review) - general mood has decreased a bit and I feel a bit numb emotionally but started feeling better today so fingers crossed I’m on the up!

Switched eventually to an implant because of having to remember to bring them everywhere each day. Overall a positive experience though - a reduction in headaches, and usually say it 'flattened' my mood. Whereas before there would be some very low mood points in my cycle, this greatly reduced those. Sometimes it felt a little dull as it seemed to also reduce some of the good spikes, but this was worth it to me to not have to deal with such mood swings.

Got pregnant on it because I wasn’t taking it properly, since having my son and ensuring to take it regularly I have had no issues

I really wanted to write about my positive experience as most people write reviews when they have a negative experience, for me the Cerazette has been really good, it improved my feeling of being in balance and lessened mood swings, it did not effect my libido, in fact in the beginning I noticed a higher libido, but most importantly I suffer from migraines with aura and since I started taking this a month ago I didn’t have an intense migraine, just one or two mild days and I normally have 2/3 days per week so in a month 8 at least. The only negative things are not too bad: I have very tender breasts which became a bit bigger but I heard this might go away after 3 months or so and I got a little bit of acne but nothing too crazy and this also usually settles after taking it consistently for a few month. All in all for me it’s truly been life changing.

The first 3-5 months were a bit rough, having sex would cause me to get a period and sometimes was painful. I also was definitely more emotional than before. It all calms down over time, I’ve been on it for almost 3 years now and it was the best decision i get very occasionally spotting and cramps if i miss a pill or two but overall I like it

Went on the mini pill at 16 for 3 years. The first 9 months I bled pretty constantly (no cramps at least) then bled randomly most months. Bleeding was usually light and unpainful. My mood swings were awful and my skin broke out and got so much worse (quite discouraging after being on accutane). Didn’t notice any weight gain or other side effects. I later changed to the combined pill to try and help my skin but this caused other issues (high blood pressure, recurrent yeast infections) so last week I got the copper IUD! Would not recommend. As a 16 year old the doctor did not give me much information about my choice and the impact it would have on me. She just said “if you trust your boyfriend you don’t need to use condoms now” …

I was on Microgynon 30 for almost 8 years and I never had any issues! I changed 3 months ago to the progesterone only pill (Desogesterel) due to my friend getting a blood clot from microgynon, and within a month I began getting spots all over my jawline! I have now had constant spots for 2 months. I also have breakthrough bleeding which I never had on Microgynon. I will be heading back to the pharmacy to discuss my options

I started using slynd around 6 months ago for period control due to heavy flow and pain Initially I felt optimistic I never took the placebo green pills as I was on tricycling method I still had a period every month with ovarian pain I had a 4 week spotting episode I’ve had 3 utis which I never had in my life every month for the last 3 My sex drive dropped off the earth and there was none My mood went from frantic cycling cleaning the house and obsessing over things to emotionally crying before feeling stupid and back to normal The biggest thing for me was hair loss at least half my hair fell Out in week one I stayed commuted thinking it would get better until bald patches started to appear in month 5 that’s when I jd enough I also had graphic nightmares waking up with sweating so bad my sheets were soaked Since finished this pill I feel like I’m getting back to me with no mood swings or low mood I am 38 and maybe I needed some Oestrogen to balance it out this pill was not for me

I swapped from the combined pill to Cerazette because I was having anxiety, dizziness and low libido. These have both improved since changing. The most annoying thing has been inconsistent bleeding and spotting. I won’t bleed for 3 months then will have spotting out of nowhere for 3 weeks. I have also got acne on my chin which I didn’t have before. Overall though these extra inconveniences have far outweighed the reduced anxiety, dizziness and libido issues.