User Reviews for VyLibra to treat Birth Control
VyLibra has an average rating of 3.3 out of 10 from a total of 36 reviews for the treatment of Birth Control. 17% of reviewers reported a positive experience, while 72% reported a negative experience.
Reviews for VyLibra
"Please make Vylibra contraceptive pill your last resort if you’re looking for a birth control method. I was wrongfully prescribed this medication when I should’ve been prescribed Ortho Tri Cyclen to start out and on top of that this gave me the worst anxiety/anxiety attacks I have ever had in my entire life to the point that I had to go in and get medication for the time being and I literally had to stop working until this got under control. This made me feel like I had the stomach flu for a week. Never again. I would rather have heavy painful periods than feel like this ever again"
"I agree with the comment that said take this pill with caution. While it did its job and I did not get pregnant, VyLibra led to a slew of dangerous health concerns for me. I experienced just about every side effect listed including migraine with an aura (I’ve never had migraines in my life), swelling in my feet, nausea, vaginal dryness/itching, chest pains, memory loss, blurred vision, mood swings, and more. In the time I started taking this pill, my blood pressure raised to above average. My husband and I recently moved to a new state and because I didn’t have insurance, I went to Planned Parenthood. The doctor there was very kind and she was highly troubled that a doctor would prescribe this pill knowing heart disease/heart attacks run in my family. Just to give some insight, I’m a little overweight (about 30 pounds) but I walk 2-3 miles every day. I’m 34 and up until this point, I’ve had very few health problems, never been hospitalized or seriously ill."
"Overall this birth control works. However the side effects are not worth the protection. I am an emotional person already but on this BC I was crying constantly. Nausea was common, especially before eating. Those two I could handle but the side effect that made this unbearable was vaginal dryness. I’m 19 and should not be suffering from that condition. It made sex painful and uncomfortable. I could usually use lube and it’d be okay but it made me even more emotional and embarrassed. I don’t recommend vylibra for that reason, but everyone reacts different."
"I’ve been on this birth control for not even a full packet and I’m already bleeding more than a normal breakthrough bleeding. I haven’t used the placebo pills yet either. This has to be one of the worst pills I’ve ever tried. I’m about 10x more moody and I want to scream constantly."
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"I've always struggled with acne which is why I tried birth control for the first time. This is my third week on these pills and I've been breaking out with painful cysts. I've been crying for little things and have been having constant mood swings..I just hope my acne doesn't get worse and the pills will do what they were suppose to do!"
"This pill gave me anxiety and made my acne worse. I tried taking it consistently for three months and had migraines with auras and lots of cystic acne. I also had vaginal odor. I stopped taking it for two months and it all went away. Then I started it again and only a week in, all of the symptoms are back. Never taking it again."
"I take this in the afternoon before I go to bed and have never gotten pregnant. It can take 3 months to have your hormones stabilize around them so don't give up too soon. Of course my emotions go crazy sometimes and I get some acne (as to be expected of a 18 year old) my hormones would be so much worse if I got pregnant. Period has shortened to 5 days instead of 7, still get bad cramps, but again have gone a few years without getting pregnant. Btw, it was called something else before it's name changed a few months ago, so VyLibra is the generic of Ortho-Cyclen. I've gotten it for FREE through Planned Parenthood even though I don't have insurance, if you don't make enough money they can cover the cost. Oh and they don't tell your parents if you are getting it for periods."
"First time taking VyLibra birth control and I'm never going to use these pills ever again. This past week has been a NIGHTMARE. At first when I read reviews I was like, how bad can it be? But man, first 2 days were going fine, got about 1-2 pimples but thats expected. Third day I got weird leg cramping, and swollen ankles- which I iced and they went down, so whatever I just brushed it off. But the fourth day, I had arm pain, chest pain, abdominal pain, my anxiety started to go crazy. I had panic attacks at least 3 times a day and I was scared I had a blood clot somewhere in my body. 5th-6th day, I felt lightheaded and my breath was shaky, played it off as just anxiety though. Today would've been my full week, but I went to urgent care because I was so scared and my chest was in pain. Nothing wrong thankfully but they advised me to stay off the pills. I'm now feeling a lot better, but these pills are honestly the worst."
"I started it about a month ago I got it for my acne and because I was hoping it would make my boobs bigger LOL I don’t really suffer from severe acne but sometimes I have a break out so I figured it would be OK. Of course adjusting to the high hormones has made me break out nothing too bad. I do get nauseous here in there with diarrhea and definite mood swings more irritable. My feet do swell. But I just started taking cinnamon pills for blood circulation so hopefully that helps. Overall my body is still adjusting so I don’t have a full review but as time is going by I’m getting used to it and it’s not so bad and yes it did plump up my boobs."
"Please take with caution. I started this brand due to Ortho being discontinued and it’s given me full on panic attacks and anxiety. It’s gotten to a point that I’m picking unnecessary fights and getting super emotional over NOTHING. I have bad chest pains and I’m only on my 3rd pack. I don’t know if I can wait any longer for my body to adjust because it’s really starting to affect my relationships with my husband and family. I hope another brand can change this."
"This was prescribed as a substitute of Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo (which has been discontinued) and I’m not as happy with it as I was with Ortho. My breakouts have actually increased compared to not being on birth control at all. My biggest complaint is that my normal scent “down there” has changed drastically to the point of extreme embarrassment during intimacy. I even stopped the Tri Vylibra for a month, and the embarrassing odor disappeared, only to reappear when I started back on Tri Vylibra the following month. This embarrassing odor never went away, even after taking the Tri Vylibra multiple months in a row and ONLY disappeared when I discontinued it for a month!"
"before I started taking Tri-vylibra, I was on the mini-pill which made me super depressed and gave me bad anxiety. It also broke me out and gave me my period twice a month. I switched to Tri-Vylibra a little over a month ago. So far, I have had absolutely no weight gain, my skin is starting to clear up, and I am back to being happy. Also, I got my period two days after I started the reminder pills and it was very light. I usually have bad cramps, and this time I only had cramps on the first day of my period, but they were very minimal. I highly recommend this birth control."
"This is the worst birth control I have ever been on; tomorrow I am getting something else from my doctor. Aside from already suffering from pretty bad general anxiety, this has made things out of this world terrible. I have been really stressed with life but I have never really dealt with full on panic attacks before this pill. I had 4-5 within the matter of a week and I know it’s the birth control. I have been so nauseous even water makes me wanna gag. I feel like a nut case because I can only go a couple hours without crying a day. Definitely would rather just wear a condom and deal with cramps over this rubbish. The only reason I went on this was due to the fact that Ortho Tri Cyclen was discontinued. I might just go back to the depo shot since Ortho was the only thing that worked for me. I have only been on this pill for one month and it has been completely awful I had to quit my new job bc I would just start breaking down and freaking out every hour."
"I took Ortho-Tri Cyclen for years and loved it... until it stopped working. From then on I have jumped from birth control to birth control trying to find one that actually works for me. I have too much estrogen and struggle with acne, unnecessary moodiness, and depression. Tri-VyLibra seemed to be working just fine until I started having terrible chest pain. I have never had chest pain in my life until I took this birth control. I would not recommend taking it!"
"WHY IS THIS EVEN ON THE MARKET?! I unknowingly switched to this after taking Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo for most of my adult life (I'm 28), but apparently they stopped making that and I didn't even realize my pharmacist was giving me something different. I wish that I had noticed the switch and had read the reviews before taking these because I have had HORRIBLE issues ever since I started these pills almost a year ago. I had no idea what was going on with me, but last week I put two and two together and realized it was from these pills! I stopped taking these pills about a week ago and I already feel better than I've felt in almost a year. My side effects were EXTREME anxiety with chest pain, CONSTANT CHRONIC YEAST INFECTIONS, low sex drive, vaginal dryness, hair loss, and extreme fatigue. DO NOT TAKE THESE HORRIBLE PILLS!"
"This birth control is HORRIBLE!!! I have been on it for about a month and a few days and my blood pressure has SKY ROCKETED. It has gotten as high as 158/115. I am only 26 and I weigh about 135 lbs so this blood pressure is extremely abnormal for me. Would never ever recommend this to anyone."
"I wish I would’ve read reviews before taking this. I never had any issues with depression before, I woke up sad everyday. I felt so anxious and paranoid. I’ve lost at least 20 pounds because of the depression. I’ll probably never use birth control again. I’ve been off of it for about three weeks now and I finally feel back to normal."
"I used this birth control pill VyLibra for 2 months. I spotted for a couple weeks during the first pack but that went away and I was having cramps every day. Then when I started the second pack I had constant pelvic pain, it was so bad that it hurt to the touch and would hurt when I’d do anything like laugh or cough. I also had really bad breast tenderness and nipple pain. I stopped it a couple weeks ago and my pelvic pain and cramps are gone, however I’m still having some breast tenderness. I didn’t get pregnant though."
"This birth control Tri Vylibra pill gave me MORE acne. I had an allergic reaction to the IUD so I switched to this. It was a huge plus that this was supposed to help make my acne go away, but it did the exact opposite. At the exact same time every month I would get extremely painful cysts on my face, even though I had never had cystic acne before. On top of that, I got smaller, equally painful pimples on my jaw and forehead. I did some googling and a few articles I read said it might get worse before it gets better, but it should improve after 3 months. At the end of month 4, I gave up and switched to Junel. Within a week my acne disappeared. Tri Vylibra works well for a lot of women, but it just didn’t work out for me. I didn’t get pregnant though!"
"Constant breakthrough bleeding!!! I’ve been on VyLibra since December and it’s currently April. I haven’t stopped spotting yet. I’m already an emotional/moody person and this exacerbated the issue. It’s made me very tearful and embarrassed due to continuous spotting. Breast soreness was incredibly painful as well."
"This is the worst birth control I have ever taken in my life. I've been having severe anxiety, cramps in heart area, bleeding, severe nausea and my face had finally cleared after years of work and now I'm experiencing breakouts and headaches."
"I'm 44 and this is my second time taking Tri VyLibra Lo. The first time I stopped taking it back in April due to not knowing if I had food poisoning or if it was indeed these pills because I read about the side effects, but in hindsight (due to a recent similar experience). I now realize that it's these pills. The first experience I had severe nausea and vomiting along with abdominal pain which went away after I stopped taking them. This time it's diarrhea and nausea with severe abdominal pain. Like many other women have stated. I wish I had read the reviews before trying it a second time. I notice I don't have issues during the first month but by the time I get to the second pack is when the symptoms start. It works as far as not getting pregnant and having a lighter cycle but the side effects are HORRIBLE!!!! I also started this birth control through Planned Parenthood due to not having insurance at the time. But I have insurance now so I'm going to try something else."
"Been taking VyLibra for a year now and I've had good and bad days with this. Currently my third birth control I've been on and it actually brighten my mood from the other birth controls I've been prescribed. But I will not continue on it after my supply runs out. It has caused me to start spotting two weeks before my period and that's super annoying. It has kind of controlled my acne only seen a few blemishes and a bit of weight gain but nothing too bad. 5/10 Not horrible but not great either"
"I’ve been on this birth control for 3+ years. In that time I’ve gained 30 lbs, had the worst panic attacks and depression. After being on this pill long term I am going back to loestrin. Past two cycles, about a week AFTER my period, I became horribly ill. Extreme nausea, vomiting, lightheadedness, lasting about 1-2 weeks on and off. I have been too sick to work and have missed weeks of work combined just in these past two menstrual cycles. I have been to the ER twice, urgent care, GI, primary care, and OBGYN. I truly didn’t think birth control could cause these symptoms just now after I’ve been on it for years. My OBGYN (and GI to be honest) said the only thing that could be causing these regimented bouts of illness could be my hormonal birth control and that it is in fact possible for the body to just change. I’m so excited to stop this birth control. One star because I never got pregnant on it."
Reviews may be edited to correct grammar/spelling or to remove inappropriate language and content. Reviews that appear to be created by parties with a vested interest are not published. This information is not intended to endorse any particular medication. While these reviews may be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, knowledge, and judgement of healthcare professionals.
Learn more about Birth Control
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- Birth Control Guide
- Birth Control Pills - Breakthrough Bleeding
- Birth Control Pills - Periods
- Emergency Contraception: What You Need to Know
- Grapefruit and Birth Control Pills: Your Questions Answered
- Hormonal Birth Control Methods (Non-Pill Options)
- Missed your birth control pill? Here's what to do
- Non-hormonal Birth Control Methods
- Permanent Birth Control Methods
Medicine.com guides (external)
More about VyLibra (ethinyl estradiol / norgestimate)
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"I am just finishing my first pack of VyLibra and I don’t really have too many complaints. My acne has cleared, I actually lost weight instead of gain and my period is very light now. At first I was experiencing weird abdominal cramps but they eventually went away. The emotional sensitivity has been a little extra recently but I’m already a sensitive person so it hasn’t been bad for me. I can't really complain about it it’s been pretty good so far"