User Reviews for Ortho Tri-Cyclen

I had incredibly painful cramps and was told by both my ob/gyn and general doctor birth control could really help me, so I tried Ortho. My skin stayed just about the same (got some tiny under the skin bumps that didn't bother me) and I was a little tired. My first period on it was extremely heavy and painful, but the next one was lighter and easier to deal with. But I noticed about a month in, I sprouted hair all over my cheeks (which I've NEVER had before). My hormones were basically normal before, but this pill made them go completely haywire (hence the hair growth). But apparently this is a rare side effect. This pill seems to be one of the better ones for other people, but was not right for me. I will keep looking for my perfect birth control.

I took Ortho Tri- Cyclen for symptoms of ovarian cysts. These symptoms included spotting and/or bleeding when it wasn't time for my period and periods every 3 weeks (21 days), instead of every 28 or so. So basically, some sort of bleeding was going on almost constantly! After a period of about 4-5 months, my symptoms became less severe, the spotting stopped and my periods became less frequent. However, I experienced severe cramping and longer and heavier periods while I was taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen. So in some ways it helped the symptoms I had experienced before taking it, but it also created some new symptoms in the year that I took it.