As you may know, 3rd generation contraceptive pills are about to be banned in France. I'm taking myself Harmonet, which is a 3rd generation pill and I'm going to my gynecologist on monday to change it to a 2nd generation pill. I tried to find of list (or some names) of 2nd generation pills sold in Germany or in Switzerland on the internet but I didn't find it. Can a german speaker help me find it? Thanks a lot!

What's the 3rd generation contraceptive pills? why would they stop selling it? ism't it supposedly better than the 2nd?

following the link for 2. generation Pille in German here

http://www.netdoktor.de/Gesund-Leben...Pille-556.html

gives you a list of brand name of pills on another page here

http://www.netdoktor.de/Medikamente/...200002863.html

2nd Generation: synthetic progesterone less likely than 3rd generation to cause blood clots but often cause androgenizing symptoms like acne, extra-hair, male pattern baldness, etc...

3rd Generation: synthetic progesterones that with increased risk of blood clots, but reduce androgen-linked symptoms like acne, extra-hair, etc...

They want to stop selling it because it increases the risk of blood clots, especially in smokers.

I'm taking Qlaira, a 4th generation pill.

There's a very slightly raised risk of getting a stroke in the first 6 months after starting a 3rd generation pill, compared to a 2nd generation one.

After 6 months, there's strictly no difference. There's no point changing for another pill if the one you're taking suits you.

A contraceptive pill is a drug, and it goes with secondary effects, potentially deadly for a very small minority of women. If you don't want to take the risk, get an IUD or use condoms.

Thank you sooo much!!That's exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks for your answer! I can't use condoms or an IUD as I have a condition and need to take the pill non-stop. I'm taking harmonet for 5 years now and it suits me but they are taking so much about that in France that I'm scared now. They want to ban it starting from march 2013. I'll talk about that with the gynecologist, even though I don't want to pay for the visit

I watched a doc just now on French news (m6).

With a 2nd generation, you have 0.02% chance of getting a potentially Lethal blood clot. With a 3rd generation, the risk is doubled to a staggering 0.04%. This is negligible. And the difference is noticeable only in the first 6 months.


In the doc a gyn explained that the new pills had other benefits: less secondary effects, for instance, and a lower hormonal dosage.

Negligible? I am not sure about that, because one would need to have a look at the mathematics behind it to see how that number was reached.

Personally, we decided to go down the condoms route. I didn't feel it was fair that my wife should bear risks when a simple solution existed that didn't have any side effects ( except the odd pregnancy here and there ).

Does the 0.04% refer to the chance of side-effects with each individual pill or does it refer to the percentage that will suffer side-effects from the women who take this pill?

Smoking is also a concern. Maybe there are many more smokers in France?

Well, I think this must be a personal and well thought about choice, and I think the current hysteria isn't leading to anything productive.

In my case, I'm allergic to latex, so condoms aren't really an option (latex free ones are plain weird). I tried an IUD, but didn't tolerate it very well.

And I appreciate the beneficial effects the pill brings me: shorter to non-existant periods - while without it I suffer from such heavy periods that they leave me anemic - the end of my terrible pre-menstrual migraines, etc.

Incidently, some doctors think the blood clotting incidence is slightly higher because the 3rd generation pills are typically prescribed to women with higher risks, such as smokers.

This is something I wondered about actually. I was under the impression that 3rd gen pills weren't prescribed to smokers due to the much higher increased risk, but it seems this questions isn't normally considered.

You might want to read this:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_ne...l?cid=34680100

HI, what about spotting? Mine is horrible. Please let me know, I think I want to change from Claira to something else. But only two days of period is awesome....

No spotting and no periods either. It's a relief. But I seemed to be plagued by yeast infections since I started it, and I've got an app with my gyn to see if the pill might be the cause.