Madeleine after the side effects of Cerazette had disappeared. Source: Catinka Sjoberg
Madeleine, 25, had been taking Cerazette, a contraceptive pill, for over two years.
But this year she stopped taking the pills because she realised she was experiencing side effects.
Because of what happened to her she has decided to not take the pills anymore – being “pill free” for over a year has changed a lot for her.
1. What was the first sign of side effect?
Well the first sign of side effect was that my skin started to dry out. I mean, I always had dry skin, but I had never seen my skin like this before. In the beginning I thought maybe it had to do with the type of face wash I used so I switched the brand, but the problem was that nothing really changed. After a couple of weeks I went to see a dermatologist. They told me that it might had something to do with my birth controls.
2. What was the next sign?
Instead of just stop taking the pills I kept taking them for another two months. I started getting a rash on my face. At that point I knew I needed to stop. Because this type of rash was not the normal rash that people get. This was more like an allergic reaction.
3. After getting the rash what did you do?
At the beginning I didn’t really want to go outside, because my face looked absolutely awful. My problem was that I didn’t really think the birth controls were the problem. Instead I started thinking it could maybe have something to do with my make-up. Maybe I was allergic to make-up that had perfume in it. But after doing some research on side effects from make-up I couldn’t find anything that described my symptoms.
4. When you couldn’t find your symptoms from make-up, did you start thinking it could have something to do with your birth controls like your dermatologist said?
Yes, actually I started asking friends around me to see if they had any problems in the past with birth controls from the brand Cerazette or any other brands.
One of my friends said that she actually had almost the same symptom I had, but from another brand. When I heard that someone else actually had experienced almost the same side effects I had I started to realise that it must have something to do with my pills.
5. What happened to your skin when you stopped taking birth controls?
I didn’t stop right away, which was the problem. After I knew it had nothing to do with my make-up or my face-wash I kept taking the pills for another week.
If I am honest it probably would not have made a different if I quit a week earlier. Basically what happened to my skin was I had to start taking antibiotics. The reason why I had to take antibiotics was because I got an infection.
6. What were your worst symptoms from the rash, and also what was the process of getting rid of the rash like?
After finishing ten days of antibiotics I had to clean my face with a special face-wash. To get my face back to normal again took almost six months.
The worst problem with the rash was that it itched very badly.Even though it was just in my face, it was itchy all the way down on my neck. This gave me sleep problems because I was itching at night.
8. Did your doctor recommend you to stay away from birth controls or did they advise you to try another brand?
My doctor told me to stay away from any type of birth controls for three months. The reason they told me to stay away was because they wanted my body to be completely “clean” from hormones. After three months I went to see my dermatologist/doctor to ask if everything looked okay.
My skin had got back to normal but it was long process to get ride of everything. I was recommended to not take Cerazette again, instead I was recommended the brand Yasmin. I have been taking this type of birth control for a while now, and I have not developed any side effects.
9. What is your advice to other women who take birth controls?
My advise to other women is to remember, just because I got major side effects from cerazette doesn’t mean that everyone will get it.
The most important thing is to find a brand that suits you. If you see signs of any side effects I recommend to see a doctor right away to avoid experiencing what I went through.
BY CATINKA SJOBERG AND RACHEL HALL
The Side Effects Spy 