ORTHO-CEPT Reviews (DESOGESTREL; ETHINYL ESTRADIOL)Average Rating: 2.9 (108 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ORTHO-CEPT with similar:
Type: Brand name discontinued; available as generic
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Results are sorted by Date from oldest to newest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on ORTHO-CEPT: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ORTHO-CEPT | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 2 | Contraception; acne control | Breast soreness, bad mood swings & almost total loss of libido | I went on Ortho Cept because I mistakenly thought that it was the pill I was taking happily last year. It definitely wasn't! Almost instantly, my breasts began to grow (great!) and become unbelievably sore and tender (not so great!). Then, I started noticing some pretty intense crankiness. I took a trip to see my long-distance boyfriend and realized that I had absolutely no sex drive. I didn't get pregnant while on this pill but if I would have stayed on it my mood swings and lack of sex drive would have ensured I would have no opportunity to. This was all after a month of taking Ortho-Cept--when I got back home I immediately went to my doc and got Ortho TriCyclen Lo. I started having breast soreness after the second week; unfortunately, but I researched pills on the internet and found the one I used to take that I was quite happy with (Desogen) and am going to switch back to that. | F | 28 | 21 days | 5/28/2005 | 5 | birth control/managing periods | no side effects | I have been taking this drug for several years now and I have had no problems with it. The rater before me only took it for a month and gave up. Side effects sometimes won't go away until after the 3rd month. So, she gave up way too soon on Ortho-Cept. And Desogen is the exact same drug, so she may encounter the same problems if she doesn't give it time. Anyway, I've been on several brands and never had too many problems, but I will definitely stay on Ortho-Cept. | F | 26 | 2 years | 6/8/2005 | 4 | PREGNANCY | REDUCED SEX DRIVE - AND AFTER BEING ON ORTHOCEPT FOR APROX 10 YEARS I STARTED GETTING BAD HEAD ACHES | NO OTHER SIDE EFFECTS - I CHANGED TO SEASONALE TO GET RID OF HEADACHS AND LESS PERIODS BUT IN 9 MONTHS I HAVE GAINED 10 LBS AND I EXERCISE OVER 1 HOUR A DAY EVERY DAY (RUNNING AND SPINNING AND WEIGHT TRAINING) AND COULD NOT GET RID OF THE WEIGHT -- AND I TRIED DIETING TO UNDER 1300 CAL. PER DAY AND ONLY LOST 4 LBS ?? AND ON SEASONALE AM HAVING NIGHT SWEATS! DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO! | F | 33 | 9 months | 3/9/2006 | 5 | Birth control | Slight headaches at first. | I've been taking ortho cept for about 7 years now, and have nothing bad to say about it. Symtoms, if any (I had headaches, and slight abdominal pain), are worse in the first months.....If you don't have any major symtoms, then,give it TIME. It works great, and as the only control method I've used, I've not become pregnant yet, and have had no more symptoms. I will definantly stay on ortho cept. | F | 22 | 7 years | 11/11/2006 | 2 | birth control | none | i have been taking ortho cept for about a month and in sunday i started my green pills. usually i get my period on tuesday with my old pill (orton tri cyclyn 135) and here it is wednsday and no period. my feoncie and i dont want any more kids and i am freaking out. has this happen to anyone else? | F | 28 | 24 days | 11/15/2006 | 2 | prevent pregnancy/regulate | NO sex drive at all, mood swings, nausia | I switched from ortho trycyclin to orthocept 3 months ago to have fewer periods. However, I almost fill it is pointless to take this birth control because I have absolutely no sex drive. My husband and I have only had sex once this month and I'm just glad he is so understanding. I will be going to the doctor soon to switch back before this birth control ruins my marriage. Of course noone gets pregnant while they're on it-you hardly have sex! | F | 26 | 3 months | 12/2/2006 | 5 | Prevent Pregnancy | No Side Effects | I have been taking ortho-cept for 5 years now. I have not gotten pregnant once. It really is a good birth control pill you just need to give it some time. | F | 21 | 5 days | 1/23/2007 | 2 | Birth Control | No sex drive, Bad mood swings, Irritablity | I have been on Ortho Cept for approx. 3 yrs now, and hated everv minute of it. I was ok the 1st 3 mos. but then I slowly started losing my sex drive and started to become very irritable. My sudden & terrable mood swings have been threating my marrage for at least a year and a half now. I thought it was just me. Then this last month I ran out of pill packs and this freak ice storm had my Dr's office shut down for 5 days. We typically have sex only once a month. But, for those 5 days I was back to my old self. My hsbands dirty dishes & laundry didn't bother me, we cooked togethr, I felt sexy again, and we made love like when we were 1st dating.(safely) On that 6th day I rushed to get my pills and get back on trac. Now once again I am screaming at him for no reason and do not want to be bothered with sex. Needless to say I realize now that I need to be switched back to my old pills Ortho Tri Cyclyn Lo. | F | 24 | 3 days | 1/25/2007 | 5 | birth control | no side effects except slight breast tenderness, but that is fine since i think they are growing... Yippie! | I had to switch because of breakthrough bleeding from LoEstrin fe to Ortho-Cept. I'll get back to you if this works better. So far no nausea or anything like i had with LoEstrin (i was on that for 3 months) Was suffereing from yeast infection right before i went on Ortho-cept since then I have been very dry. I want to have sex with my husband, but i'm so dry it is uncomfortable and painful. So we tried vagisil lubricant. That has been helping. Hopefully the dryness goes away and I get back to my old self. I'm only 26 I shouldn't suffer from dryness. | F | 26 | 11 days | 2/1/2007 | 5 | contraception | I did great on this medication until about a year and a half ago. I began experiencing very bad headaches and numbness in my toes. As time went on I began to get swollen feet,ankles and my legs began to get sharp pains.After all my blood work came back normal, I was advised to quit taking the pill for 6 months and see if my symptoms disappeared. I sure hope they do. This will be the last month I will be taking the pill. I hope my symptoms disappear. | I didn't know why I was having these problems. If you have any of these symptoms , call your Dr. right away. I waited too long. | F | 43 | 16 years | 3/9/2007 | 3 | Birth control. | I have been on the pill (Desogen) for years and years (at least 10), and was switched to Ortho-cept which is evidently supposed to be the same thing. It might be just me (I just turned 30), but I have been having irregular periods for the past year. I thought it was because I was traveling a lot at the time, but my life for the past 8 months has been stable and normal. I'm not on any other medications, I don't diet, I excercise, etc. I was having a lot of breakthrough bleeding, and my doctors kept telling me that nothing was abnormal, and now this month I got my period over a week early and it is very heavy. I also have worse cramps than ever this whole past year. Perhaps my hormones have changed and it's not strong enough for me? I hate to put my body through switching brands because I have never had any other side effects! | F | 30 | 1 years | 4/9/2007 | 3 | To treat heavy bleeding / fibroids | No bloat or weight gain, but extreme mood swings. Around the first day of the second week of each 1 month packet I become depressed, tearful, having feelings of hopelessness and have even felt suicidal. I always tell myself that it will pass and it does, but when you are going through it, it is very tough. I eat well, exercise, and do not do any drugs. Hopefully this symptom will resolver itself at some point. Also, I sometimes have breakthrough spotting but nothing much. | F | 37 | 2 months | 4/10/2007 | 5 | Birth Control | A bit of cramping the first 5 days that I started the pills, breasts were incredibly sore for about the first three weeks, but I grew a whole cup size! I'm small so this was great for me! Has helped me to put on weight which is good for me since I have a high metabolism, but maybe not great for everyone. | My body adjusted quite well to the pill. My sex drive plummeted at first, but not it has gradually started to come back. It also came highly recommended from my Gyn. | F | 20 | 2 months | 5/23/2007 | 3 | Pregnancy Prevention | Negative mood, increased appetite, fatigue | Within 2-3 days, I lost all of my positive energy. I have become indifferent and even downright bitchy since starting. This is HIGHLY unusual for me, I am always happy and smiling and now I'm like "what's the point". That's a big down side for me, I almost stopped taking it, but I figured I'll wait and see if it goes away after some time. One night I even sat and cried for 10 minutes like a baby but for no reason! My appetite has surged and I want to eat again right after I finish a meal. And it's like I have NO willpower... I am usually very careful and consistent in my eating habits... also, I am quite fatigued and it takes a lot of pushing myself to get my butt to the gym. All of this is extremely out of character and out of my comfort zone. I'm worried that my sex drive has also dissipated... but I have been without sex for the last 4 months (deployed) and won't be with my man for another week... so maybe it's not related to the pill... but I think it is, as I usu | F | 22 | 1 weeks | 7/21/2007 | 1 | contraceptive/regulation/cramps | Extreme bloating right before and during period; flow is disgustingly heavy, chunky, and stringy; after 4 months on this pill, I now have HUGE brown blotches/discolorations on my face that are hard to cover up--I've been taking various OC's for 14 years, and this is the FIRST pill I've been on that has done this. | After getting a good look in the mirror, I am calling my MD on Monday. | F | 41 | 4 months | 8/18/2007 | 5 | birth control | occasional light spotting | If I take a pill more than an hour late in the last week, I'll spot starting 3 days later. If I'm very timely with my pills, this one is a dream. No mood swings or anything! | F | 29 | 4 months | 9/19/2007 | 4 | Preg. prevention/ cramps | Nothing major. A little nausea/ irritability in the begining. | I encountered no major issues with ORTHO-CEPT. I was 17 and later again at 23 when I was on ORTHO-CEPT. My periods were very light to non-existent, which caused panic and lots of unnessary pregnancy tests, my doctor assured me it was fine. I eventually stopped taking the pill for personal reasons. FYI: ORTHO-CEPT and DESOGEN (APRI is the generic name) are the SAME = SAME ACTIVE INGREDIENTS/SAME LEVEL of HORMONES | F | 29 | 2 years | 10/9/2007 | 5 | pregnancy prevention/cramps | Very few side effects. | Worked great for 5 years until this past summer. I tried Seasonale about a year ago and gained 20lbs so my dr put me back on Orthocept. I lost the weight that I has gained and then I began to have complications with the Ortho-cept, my period would NOT go away. I had it for almost 4 months. But my doctor claimed that it just my change in lifestyle, and I am currently on Yaz. I wish that Ortho-cept would still work for me b/c i really liked it. | F | 20 | 5 years | 12/5/2007 | 1 | Birth Control | my skin started to break out with these cyst-like things under my skin, that would last for weeks. I also started growing extra hair (peach fuzz) all over my face, which lasted even after i stopped taking the pill. My periods weren't the slightest bit lighter, and still lasted just as long. I've been on many other types of oral contraceptives, and have never been so unhappy as I was with OrthoCept! | F | 25 | 6 months | 1/15/2008 | 5 | birth control | none | Worked great. Want to go back on it and stop taking Lo/Ovral. Would have never gone off it but my clinic stopped carrying it. | F | 34 | 10 years | 1/30/2008 |