Quote:
Originally posted by glowingpurpleaura
as far as cysters having to approcach the pill in a diff way to non pcos the only real diff is docs will tend to put you on a progestone based pill as opposed to estogen bcause pcos'ers need mroe pergestrone. Hope im right... thast the explaintion of got from my doc anyways lets see what other cysters say |
Actually, unless things are very different in Oz... basuically all pills contain both estrogen and progesterone/progestin. There is one form of the pill known as the mini pill which is progestin only but it has no effect on PCOS symptoms of cycle control. All it does it thicken cervical mucus and make the uterine environment inhospitable to implantation. It is not as effective at preventing pregnancy as the combination pill and is often used in women who are breastfeeding because they usually aren't ovulating anyway. (in a nutshell...)
That said there are different progestins used in different pills and some are more androgenic than others... with PCOS you want to find a pill that contains a low androgenic progestin.
I think all pills use the same estrogen, ethinyl estradiol (sp) - but it is present in varying amounts. The low dose pills have ~20, then some have ~30 (yasmin)... many/most have 35... some have 50.
Your needs and how you react to the pill (ie whether or not you have breakthrough bleeding with the pill, whether or not you have endometriosis...) dicate what level of estrogen is right for you.
All that said... to a degree, yes, with PCOS, you should approach the pill differently than a woman who doesn't have it. You need to look at how the pill controls you PCOS symptoms. You need to pick a pill that shouldn't aggrivate these symptoms. You should try to find a low in estrogen pill because I *think* this has a smaller impacton weight gain and insulin resistance worsening...
There is a link in one of the stickies on picking the rigt pill for you... you may find it helpful. But bear in mind that just because a pill works well for some women with PCOS doesn't mean it will work well for you. I am now on my TENTH birth control pill... many that work well for others were awful for me, such as Yasmin. Supposed to be so great for PCOS. I will never go on it again!
Now I am on Ovcon 35. Have only been on it a week but so far, so good. My main problem is usually moodiness but so far it has had no impact on my moods. After a week, I am sure I'd be able to tell if it was going to so... woo hoo!
Good luck! Hope you find one that works for you.
Not Diannette - So What instead? 
