Menopause Discussion > Personal Experiences

Drovelis (estetrol/drospirenone) experience/diary

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Konijntje:
Just got my first 4 weeks (or rather 24 days, because of the 4 placebo pills, I’ll probably skip those) from the pharmacy and since I find the other diaries very helpful, I’ll start my own.

For people that don’t know it, because it is still quite new, Drovelis (Nextstellis in US) is a birth control pill with drospirenone as progestogen and estetrol (E4) as the estrogen. Estetrol is bio identical, but it’s only produced during pregnancy (by the liver of the foetus). It acts like a SERM and gives less breast cancer risk. It also doesn’t have a first pass effect on the liver and has potentially less clotting risk than estradiol. Next year, estetrol will become available as hrt under the brand name Donesta.

My reason for starting this birth controll pill at the age of 50 is twofold. 1 I’m progesterone intolerant and I’ve read good things about drospirenone. 2 My own cycle is giving me a lot of trouble, I’m feeling bad for most of my cycle now and only feel “good” (ok-ish) for about 10 days a month.

That sums up my diary introduction, I will start my first pill tonight.

Konijntje:
I took my first pill last night after dinner (around 18.30, about 5 hours before bedtime). No noticeable weird first effects. I slept ok, so that gives me hope the estrogen amount is adequate (estrogen makes me sleep through, otherwise I keep waking up). My neck hurts a bit, which I got from dydrogesterone and levenorgestrel (mirena), but I don’t feel as wired (yet). I have stomach cramps this morning, I have ibs and dyspepsia, so that is a side effect I usually get. Hopefully it goes away soon. Also minor headache.

Too soon to say anything about mood and I’m feeling pms-y anyway, so I can probably only say anything about that in a few weeks.

bombsh3ll:
Please keep posting about your experience, this is so interesting.

I really hope Donesta reaches the UK market and doesn't end up like duavee, duphaston or the testosterone patch - canned due to low use because nobody knew they existed!

Konijntje:
Day 2: slept ok again and didn’t have any hot flushes yesterday, so I think the estrogen is sufficient right now.

Still have a headache and intestinal issues, but hopefully that goes away after a few weeks (they are often initial side effects, so fingers crossed).

Mood is still uncertain, I’m not sure how that is going. I feel a bit weird, not really depressed or low mood, but not really great either. Better than progesterone, dydrogesterone or levonorgestrel, because with those I feel off within 2 days, so hopefully drospirenone will agree with me.

I haven’t noticed sore breasts yet, I know it’s only been 2 days, so might be too soon anyway, but my breasts have grown 3 sizes over the last 2 years (2 of those before I started hormones, so just from peri) and I really don’t need them to grow bigger (32GG), so this is an important side effect for me not to have. I understand that as long as I’m still in peri, they might grow more,but the fast growth I had 1.5 years ago seems to have stopped for now luckily.

Konijntje:
Day 3:
I was so very very tired yesterday and today again. I’ve read that can be an initial side effect from drospirenone along with the headache I have, so I’m hoping that will improve.

This morning I woke up with an incredible dry mouth, which can be a side effect too, that goes away for some, but not all. I do hope it doesn’t get worse at least.

I have aching legs and lower back pain, I’m hoping it’s from cramping and it will get better once my cycle is suppressed. Progesterone gave me lower back pain that just kept getting worse and worse, the longer I took it, so I’m really hoping this isn’t similar. The pain does feel more like cramps now, so fingers crossed I’ll just start bleeding soon and I’ll feel better after that.

I did a one month trial of tibolone before this and that seemed to have messed with my cycle, so I’ve been feeling PMS like mood and cramps for 3 weeks now. Tibolone also did nothing for my hot flushes after 4 weeks, but I’ve read i5 can take pretty long for it to start working, I’m not writing it off completely yet, but if I were to trial again, it would be post menopause.

I’ll probably not update daily, but will check in in a few days or earlier if anything changes.

If anyone has something to say about drospirenone (Slynd) and the initial and longterm side effects for you, I’d appreciate if you could share.

I do think the estetrol agrees with me very well, no hotflashes at all and also no nausea (I do get a bit of nausea (and a lot when I first started) from estradiol). It’s difficult to say if it does something for mood and other symptoms, because of the interference of drospirenone.

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