Desogen and yasmin

I have been on Desogen now for about 8 months. At first I started noticing that I would get terrible PMS which I had never experienced before with any other pill and I have used Yasmin, Alesse, and Orthotrycyclene. My side effects seem to change each month. At first it was extreme PMS before each cycle and now I get no PMS before my cycle, but during my 7 days off I get very little bleeding and then when I start back on the pill I get cramping with spotting and the PMS symptoms start and have been getting longer and longer each month. I hate this feeling of being out of control of my emotions. This month I had weepiness that is very rare for me. Each month is a new symptom. I just want to know what to expect every month.

Reading through these postings, I am surprised that so many women out there have had negative experiences with Desogen. I have had an extremely positive experience with Solia (the generic). It got rid of my preexisting, extremely painful premenstrual cramps, lightened my flow, didn't cause weight gain or bloating, cleared up my skin tone, and the melasma that is known to occur with high dosage pills didn't even happen to me. Conversely, I tried Yasmin about a year ago for about 5 months and it drove me bloody mad - intense food cravings, cramps came back, increased irritability - you name it, I had it. My advice to all the women out there is you really just have to try various pills until you find one that works for you. It's unfortunate and inconvenient, but if the side effects are significant enough to motivate you to research them online, then you owe it to yourself to switch pills.

I was on Apri for 3 months. I suffered horrible mood swings, weight gain, and a total lack of sex drive. I thought I was going crazy until I stopped taking that pill and saw this website. I am now taking Jasmine. It is French, but there is an equivalent in the U.S., Yasmin. I highly recommend it. No mood swings or weight gain and the sex drive is definitely back.

I've been taking Apri for about 3 weeks now. I previously took Yasmin, which was great. Unfortunatly I've had terrible side effects with Apri. I've gained about 5 lbs, even my feet and hands are swollen, I'm irritable, I've had anxiety, depression and my mood swings are out of control. I'm finishing this pack then I'm done. It's so not worth it!

I have tried five different birth control pills including Desogen, Ortho tri-cyclen, Mircette, Alesse, and Yasmin. Desogen was by far the absolute scariest. After being on Desogen for just a week I found myself severly depressed and even contemplated suicide, which I had NEVER in my entire life even though about. I had horrible mood swings and a feeling of impending doom for no reason at all. As for the other pills, Ortho tri-cyclen and Yasmin has similar side effects like moodiness, weight-gain, breast tenderness, breakthrough bleeding, and fatigue. Alesse and Mircette had less of the mood side effects for me but they did both cause breakthrough bleeding and vaginal dryness. I had breakthrough bleeding on Alesse for the entire year and a half I was taking it. That will make you not want to have sex.

I've never been on desogen but I was on several other birth control pills, Yasmin, Ortho Tri Cyclen, depo-provera and ortho Evra. All four created serious emotional and health problems ranging from pimples to severe nausea, to muscle aches and pain to EXTREME mood swings especially crying, anger and feelings of "neediness". Worst of all was the 20 lb weight gain and constant food cravings. In 1998 I got 2 shots of Depo Provera and immediately gained nearly 10 lbs per shot regardless of the fact that I was very active travelling all over at the time. After the second shot wore off and my body's metabolism returned to normal, the weight melted off just fine. I began taking ortho evra in 2001 because I established a monogamous relationship with a boyfriend. The effects were horrible, I began having terrible tantrums for no reason with him and that is NOT my style. I couldn't concentrate on anything without feeling emotional and irrational. Also within the next 3 months I gained 15 lbs and another 5 over the next month, and it would NOT come off no matter what kind of dieting or exercise I did. A year later, I quit the pill and suddenly my diet began to "work" and I lost 15 lbs immediately. I met my current boyfriend a few months later and decided that pregnancy was just not an option and tried ortho tri cyclen. Same results, horrible mood swings and creeping weight gain that happened WAY too quickly for the way I eat which is very sensible and low-calorie. I switched to Yasmin and immediately my sex drive was GONE. My boyfriend couldnt get ANYTHING to work down there, if you get my drift. In 2003, I finally made the decision to just give up on birth control and try pull-out, condoms, and ovulation monitoring methods. I lost 20 lbs within the first 4 months and another 5 later on and my emotions returned to normal.

I am just writing this to let you gals know that theres other methods besides stuffing synthetic hormones into our bodies that create BIG problems for our mental and physical health. Educate yourselves on other methods of birth control. Birth control pills aren't supposed to prevent pregnancy by making you a sexless, fat, emotionally labile and crazy woman that no man wants to have sex with much less spend time with. Hah.