Signes que vous prenez la mauvaise pilule contraceptive

How to tell if your contraceptive pill isn't right for you

You're still experiencing side effects after three months

Différents types de pilule contraceptive contiennent différentes quantités et combinaisons des hormones œstrogène et progestatif, qui affectent à leur tour les femmes différemment. Donc, si vous avez des difficultés avec les effets secondaires, il vaut la peine de considérer si la pilule contraceptive qui vous est prescrite est vraiment la bonne pour vous.

Dr Caroline Cooper, a spokesperson for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) explains: "I see so many women who say: 'Oh I don't get on with the pill', after only trying one - and then they just come off it and think their experience applies to all pills."

"The first thing I would say to women is that, if they have any sort of side effects when they start taking a pill, they should carry on for at least three months because it's really common when you first start it," she adds. "Often women will get things such as nausea, and they might get headaches or leg cramps, and that's usually just your body getting used to the hormones."

Si toutefois, vous ressentez encore des effets secondaires après trois mois - et certainement après six - il vaut vraiment la peine d'envisager un type différent, ou même de modifier la façon dont vous le prenez.

You're experiencing mood swings

One of the biggest side effects talked about with the contraceptive pill is the potential impact on mental health.

27-year-old Catherine was prescribed combined pill Microgynon four years ago, and says: "I had the worst reaction to it in terms of mood swings. I could literally feel my mood swinging, so I would be super high and then super low. It was terrible, and made me feel awful. I had three months worth and then begged them to change it."

Maintenant sous pilule progestative Cerelle, Catherine dit : "C'est mille fois mieux et j'ai beaucoup moins d'effets secondaires indésirables. Cela semble vraiment être une question d'essais et d'erreurs - quand je suis retournée à la clinique de santé sexuelle à propos de mes sautes d'humeur avec Microgynon, ils ont dit 'vous devez avoir besoin de niveaux de progestérone différents' et m'ont fait essayer la mini-pilule. Heureusement, c'est parfait !"

Her experience tallies with research carried out in the 1990s by Dr Cynthia Graham, Editor of Le Journal de la Recherche sur le Sexe and Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Southampton.

"There's very little research on this, but what we found in our placebo controlled study was that women in the progestogen-only group did better than women on the combined pill, in terms of both mood and sexual side effects. We still don't really understand why this is," Graham explains.

Like Catherine, 29-year-old Rachel experienced mood swings on Microgynon, but it was switching to Yasmin - a different combined pill, which uses a newer form of progestogen - that worked for her.

"I was on Microgynon for a year and came off after a break-up. It was only then that I realised the huge effect it had had on me, and I started to feel like myself again," she says. "When I went back on the pill six months later, I told them Microgynon had made me feel awful, and they said they'd switch me to Yasmin instead. I've been on it for nine or ten years now, and my moods feel settled for the most part."

What to know about changing pills

When it comes to changing pills, you can either opt for a pill with a different dose of oestrogen, or a different type of progesterone, or switch from a combined pill to a pilule progestative (the mini pill), or vice versa.

"Doctors would look at the symptoms you're experiencing, and say 'that's likely to be due to oestrogen', or 'that's likely to be due to progestogen'," Cooper explains. "The side effects associated with oestrogen are nausea, headaches, breast tenderness or pain, and the progesterone ones tend to be things such as acne, mood changes, and bloating."

Different women respond very differently to different hormones, so what works brilliantly for someone else might be wrong for you. Sadly this can mean some trial and error to find the pill that suits you best.

Changing the way you take the pill

Another possible option for tackling side effects, besides changing the type of pill, is simply to change the way you take it. "A lot of women find that side effects related to the pill - particularly things such as headaches or heavy bleeding - can be lessened either by prendre la pilule en continu, sans pause entre les paquets, ou simplement en ayant des pauses plus courtes de quatre jours," dit Cooper.

"Certains de ces effets secondaires sont en fait causés par le sevrage que vous ressentez lorsque vous arrêtez de prendre les hormones pendant sept jours. Nous n'avons pas réellement besoin de cette pause de sept jours, et prendre la pilule en continu - ce qui est la manière plus moderne de la prendre - peut vraiment aider certaines femmes avec leurs effets secondaires," ajoute-t-elle.

Comprendre les marques les plus courantes

When it comes to the combined pill, Cooper says, there are three basic types, or 'generations', of pill you could try. "The one that is generally used as the starter pill in the UK is Rigevidon, Microgynon, or Ovranette. A lot of people will get on with that, but it's more of a progestogen pill so sometimes people will get mood changes or acne," she explains.

"If you have those sorts of symptoms with the Rigevidon, you would want to change to ones such as Millinette, Gedarel, and Femodene, which have slightly newer progestogens and either a 30 or 20 microgram dose of oestrogen," she adds. "Then there's the newest generation, for example, Yasmin and Eloine, which use the newest progestogens with either 30 or 20 microgram doses of oestrogen."

Alternatively, you could try progestogen-only pills such as Cerazette (or Cerelle), Noriday, and Norgeston, which don't contain any oestrogen and can be particularly beneficial if you get migraines or can't take the combined contraceptive pill for other medical reasons.

Coming off the pill

Bien sûr, comme le souligne Cooper : "Après avoir essayé l'un pendant six mois, un autre pendant trois mois, vous pourriez à juste titre en avoir assez et être prêt à changer." Cependant, le plus important, ne cessez pas la pilule sans avoir un méthode alternative de contraception aligné.

"Il existe des preuves que, face aux craintes liées à la pilule, certaines femmes arrêtent la pilule et passent à une méthode beaucoup moins efficace, voire aucune méthode, donc je pense qu'il vaut vraiment la peine d'essayer de changer," souligne le Dr Graham. "La pilule est toujours très efficace, mais il n'y a pas assez de preuves et nous savons très peu de choses sur celles vers lesquelles il serait préférable de se tourner."

Other forms of contraception

If you're fed up with the trial and error game of searching for a pill that suits you, Cooper recommends looking at hormonal options in non-tablet form, for example, the anneau vaginal et le patch contraceptif. "A lot of women aren't aware of things such as the ring and the patch, but they're the same hormones as you're getting in an oral pill," she explains.

"L'anneau est absorbé par le vagin, ce qui vous donne des niveaux très bas et continus d'hormones, ce qui peut être très utile pour les femmes qui ont des symptômes liés à des niveaux élevés d'œstrogènes. De même, le patch est absorbé par votre peau et vous donne une dose continue. Avec cela, vous avez une dose légèrement plus élevée d'œstrogènes, ce qui peut être bénéfique pour les femmes qui ont des effets secondaires indésirables tels que l'acné ou les sautes d'humeur."