When I was 16, like every other woman I know, my GP handed me a packet of the contraceptive pill Microgynon. Away I merrily skipped — a right of passage ticked off my list. Pregnancy? Not today, Satan. Little did I know that I was looking down the barrel at a decade of relationship-ruining mood swings (I’d like to apologise to the boyfriends of my twenties), debilitating headaches and depression.
I got off lightly; other common side effects include nausea, weight gain, low sex drive, a risk of blood clots, breast cancer and cervical cancer. There is also evidence that — and I kid you not — it can change the shape of your body.
