STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Kelly · Hermes

Monophasic vs Triphasic

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

I'm on seasonale and I love it. I love only having 4 periods a year and not having to worry about planning things and such because it only happens 4 times a year!!! Also some mail order pharmacies carry it for $60 which is awesome because that's cheaper than me going to walmart trying to fill just one month of other bc pills that I've taken (try $40 a mo for Yasmin ) Anyways. I have been on it for a year and I've been really happy on it. I haven't noticed huge mood swings or weight gain other than the weight I've gained by eating poorly. Sex drive is so-so but it just depends on how tired I am and who I was with as to whether I noticed any increase or decrease.

Edited to mention I was on OTC also and switched to monophasic pills about 3 years ago to manipulate my periods also. I never had a problem switching over.

-- Edited by Aurora at 17:36, 2006-06-27

Kelly · Hermes

is that $60 for a quarter, or $60 for a month?

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

$60 per quarter. I know express-scripts (Aetna mail order) and medco (BCBS mail order) offer the $60 deal.

halleybird · Hermes

Not sure if this applies to you, but it's important info that no one told me until recently: if you have any history or predisposition to seratonin-deficit disorders (depression, anxiety, OCD, etc) you should absolutely be on a monophasic pill.

jettie · Kate Spade

I was on ortho-cyclen, a monophasic BCP, for about 5 years. I was happy with it.

Elle · Hermes

My body actually doesn't tolerate triphasic pills at all, so I've been on alot of monophasic ones. Be warned that some may not work to supress your period. I tried to supress on Alesse and it totally didn't work (weeks and weeks of continuous spotting instead), but Seasonale worked well for me (just a couple spotting episodes during my second and third packs, totally normal). You'll just have to try a few out.

gingembre1 · Kate Spade

I've done both mono and tri-phasic. I had about the same side-effects on both - depression, weight gain, extreme breast tenderness, no sex drive. I am happy to say that the IUD Mirena has not given me any of those side effects. I just have to deal with constant spotting, but that's supposed to go away in a few months.

atlgirl · Gucci

Not sure if this applies to you, but it's important info that no one told me until recently: if you have any history or predisposition to seratonin-deficit disorders (depression, anxiety, OCD, etc) you should absolutely be on a monophasic pill.

Oh, seriously?? I've been on ortho-tri for several years now. And have struggled w/depression on and off since I was 12!!

I guess it might be time for another dr. appt...thanks for the heads up, halleybird.

Kelly · Hermes

gingembre1 wrote:

I've done both mono and tri-phasic. I had about the same side-effects on both - depression, weight gain, extreme breast tenderness, no sex drive. I am happy to say that the IUD Mirena has not given me any of those side effects. I just have to deal with constant spotting, but that's supposed to go away in a few months.

I seriously thought about a DUI, and one doctor recommended it, but a) I've never had a baby before and apparently it's not as good for people who haven't had them, and b) I also use my BCP to control something medical (of course I'll ask my doctor if the monophasics would work just as well to do that)

thanks for your input everybody! It's good to hear from different people about it, all my friends and I take triphasic so I couldn't ask anyone for comparisons

-- Edited by ttara123 at 20:11, 2006-06-28

halleybird · Hermes

atlgirl wrote:

Not sure if this applies to you, but it's important info that no one told me until recently: if you have any history or predisposition to seratonin-deficit disorders (depression, anxiety, OCD, etc) you should absolutely be on a monophasic pill. Oh, seriously?? I've been on ortho-tri for several years now. And have struggled w/depression on and off since I was 12!! I guess it might be time for another dr. appt...thanks for the heads up, halleybird.

the first time I saw a (regular) doctor for my anxiety, one of the first things she asked was whether I was on a triphasic pill. She said the changes in hormones can be really difficult for people struggling with anxiety, depression, etc. (I wasn't on one, but I couldn't believe I didn't know that. When my gyn. found out I was on Zoloft, she immediately said "no ortho-tricyclen then."