Pointless

Dear pill,

Thanks for giving me a non-stop period for SEVEN MONTHS. After a while, my menstrual cup got too uncomfortable. And then so did tampons. So then I was wearing pads, and I think my skin ended up having an allergic reaction to the pads. Thanks for all the pointless pain and discomfort.

Anonymous, UK

Managing Migraines

Dear migraines,

I was started on the pill at 15, and I had horrific migraines, I’d never had migraine before and I tried 5 different pills but they were all the same, some gave me a migraine the same day I took it, others would give me then after a week of taking it, the doctor said that I couldn’t take the pill anymore as it was increasing my risk of strokes or blood clots! So I got the hormonal coil, as the hormones are localised so don’t have to travel round my body. Interestingly though my migraines never stopped after not taking the pill anymore, they got much less frequent as in maybe 3 times a year, but when I got to university I’m my third year I was diagnosed with silent hemiplegic migraines and I had to stop drinking caffeine and eating chocolate. Luckily I’ve been almost migraine free for 2 years.

Emily, UK

Tried Everything

Dear Contraception,

Why can I never find the right contraception for me? I’ve tried pills and pills and pills. I’ve tried implants and injections and patches. My last option is a coil and this scares me half to death. I’m currently without anything (not sexually active either) and it’s hell. Just need something for these painful and heavy periods and nothing can sort me out without migraines or continuous bleeding or pain.

Anonymous, UK

Protected?

Dear the pill...

Thanks for protecting me for 2 years but a few weeks ago I decided to move on. I didn't realise at first how badly you have affected my mental health. I wasn't asked at any point by a health professional at check ups how my mental health was and your side effects were never discussed. I do miss you in a way, I feel less protected from pregnancy using condoms but the positive change in my mood is more than I could ever have expected.

Anonymous, Scotland

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Dear Pill,

I'm sorry I don't trust you more, but just know it's me not you.
We've been together longer than any man, but I still worry you're not always going to work for me.
Maybe it's my forgetful brain or maybe it's because of the horror stories you hear. Either way, you fixed a lot of my problems and we have a great relationship that's not going anywhere any time soon.

Hannah, England

Thanks For Nothing

Dear My First Combined Pill

I worked out how to take them quite happily and they worked well for me, then going for check ups with my doctor he’d tell me I was too overweight to take them and would bully me about it. I felt awful about myself and ate barely anything till my next check up with a different doctor. She made me feel safe and told me I was fine the way I was. But we actually discussed contraception properly and we worked out that the combine pill wasn’t even the best option for me.

So thank you terrible doctor before. I hope I never see you again :)

Anonymous

Murder on the Bedroom Floor

Dear Contraceptive pill,

When I started taking you 7 years ago, I had no idea that down the line, you would completely kill my sex drive. After changing medication after medication, the doctor finally decided to take me off the pill in hopes that it would save my sex drive - I’m not looking forward to having periods again but I need my sex drive back.

Anonymous, UK

Imperfect Match

Dear Birth Control,

Thank you for fixing my irregular period and stopping me from thinking I'm pregnant every other month. Also, thank you for the lighter periods and less painful cramps.

However, I will not forgive you mini pill for giving me periods every too weeks. And the patch is also on thin ice for worsening my headaches.

I dream of the day I find my perfect birth control match.

If you're out there somewhere I will find you!

Jaz, UK

Exam Buddy

Dear pill,

I got you 9 months before my GCSEs. The only reason I needed you was just to get through them, I didn’t need my period putting me out of commission for exam season. Paired with chronic fatigue syndrome, periods drained me of all energy for 3 weeks every month.

You have been so good to me the last 2 years, my little contraceptive pill. I love you forever and I’m not leaving you anytime soon. Withdrawal bleeds are painless, less draining, so much lighter they basically don’t exist. I don’t get any symptoms from you. I don’t know why I didn’t get you sooner- my life could have been so much easier with you.

Phoenix, England

Possibilities

Dear my pill,

You've made it possible for me to go out and do things on my periods. You've made it possible for me to he able to not leak through a tampon after an hour. You've made it possible for me to have sex. But do you really have to fuck with my brain so much?! You've helped me in so many ways but I am not myself with you. Thank you for helping me for the past 2 years but please stop affecting my mental health so badly.

Ellie, UK

Love and Learn

Dear the Pill,

Thank you for being here for me through my teenage life, you have truly saved me and have allowed me to have control over my body. Thank you for allowing me to open up conversations with my boyfriend, and to educate him on the terrible hormones that make me cry, when he says no to me sometimes. Thank you for keeping me organised and on track with my day due to having to take it at the same time everyday!!! Most importantly thank you pill for allowing me to love and learn about my body and what it’s capable of doing.

Anonymous, England

Suck It Up

Dear Crazy Hormones,

Thank you for causing the week leading up to my period to be a complete roller coaster and the physical symptoms when my period arrives to be debilitating. You’ve also made any form of hormonal birth control impossible. You decided unreasonable irritability and WILD mood swings were a great reaction to the different pills. Your reaction to the patch - nothing shorter than 14 day periods!! And any other form was greeted with worse symptoms (didn’t think that was possible until it happened). I’ve been told nothings wrong, you (the hormones) are a little out of whack and I’ve just got to suck it up.

Anyway, I’ll just be over here enjoying my two weeks of freedom until it all starts over again.

Anonymous, USA

I Hate You

Dear The Pill,

Fuck you for making me depressed. If I wasn’t struggling with myself before you, I certainly was when I was taking you. You made me hate everything so I hate you.

Anonymous, UK

Considering the Pill? Part 2

Dear combined pill

Thank you so so much. I couldn’t deal with periods lasting over a week and occurring every two anymore. Bringing with it cramps which made me feel like I was going to throw up and pass out.

You have made my life bearable and period free

Octavia, England

Considering the Pill? Part 1

Dear Pill,

Three weeks in I knew it was the wrong decision I started taking you. I've never felt worse, mentally, than during my first withdrawal bleeding. My GP told me it would get better and convinced me not to stop. I got severely depressed and still I didn't stop. Six months later I quit and another six months later, I finally feel better. I wish I never even considered taking you.

Cecilia, The Netherlands

Get the Fuck Out of My Life

Dear progestogen-only pill,

Thank you very much for getting the fuck out of my life. I tried you for 6 months despite my constant disagreements with my GP that you weren't the right switch for me. For those 6 months, you made my first year of uni hell. I spent majority of it crying in my dorm and riddled with anxiety instead of going out with my new friends and having fun like students do. I will never get that chance to do over what was suppose to best year of my life.

You have put me off of having hormones going around my body for life but without you I wouldn't be on my new fitness path and losing all of the weight that you made me put on.

You may have been a best friend for other people but you are not to me

Lots of loathing and regret
Your ex best friend, Holly

Holly, England

I Wish We’d Never Met

Dear Pill,

I gave you a chance, 3 months straight I bled whilst I hoped you would sort out my life. Instead you ruined my mental health, I cried almost every night and pushed away my friends and family because of you. I’m grateful that we have access to such an amazing medical creation but my god do I wish I’d never met you.

Hannah, UK

Thank You and Fuck You

Dear Period,

Thank you for being so bad on the first day each month that I HAVE to tell people who want to spend time with me. Now I am so comfortable talking about you with everyone. In fact maybe too comfortable as my bf does not want to know all the details about you (amount, consistency, period poos), but I have to experience them and need to tell someone what a shit show being a person with a period is. So thanks you taught me a lot about myself and society.
But also fuck you, I am so afraid to go off the pill, because you will come back in all your making me faint painful glory (instead of the almost comfy withdrawal bleedings) but I will have to because those hormones probably are not helping my depression.

Please be kind to me when I welcome you back into my life.

Yours B

Anonymous, Austria

Kinda Crappy

Dear the pill,

we have a love and hate relationship. you keep my cycle in check, because without you my pcos can cause me to go 6 months without a period. But, you make my cramps worse and have made my life kinda crappy.
sincerely,

Anonymous, USA

Go With the Flow

Dear hormonal coil,

It's been a bumpy ride so far. I wasn't prepared for how you wouldn't settle for the first 6 weeks or that my body would do new things throughout the month according to my hormones (your friend, the pill, had left me without periods for 3 years). We had big cramps at first and changes in breast tissue which seemed scary, but we seem to be settling and learning how to be with each other now.

I wish that more people talked about you and women's bodies in general, you're such a mystery and taboo.

Despite the uncertainty, you've taught me a lot - how to be patient with my body, go with the flow (literally!) and seek help when I was unsure of what changes meant. I know my physical and mental body more deeply because of you.

Here's to a being more hopeful in our partnership and that it endures.

Ellie

Ellie, UK