I use LoEstrin (Lo LoEstrin's big sister) and it has worked pretty well for me. I am stage 4 and started taking it right before my lap, which was in November 2015-- so I've been on it for almost two years now. My first few periods after the lap/on bc were still pretty bad, almost worse in some ways. I called my doctor's office, and the nurse said to give it 3 months because it usually takes that long to adjust and she was right-- after the third month, MUCH better. She recommended starting Advil the day or two prior to my period until I adjusted to ward off the cramps, and that did help some. Other than that, the only side effect I *might* have is that my face dried out quite a bit; but I had also just moved to a new place, so I'm honestly not sure if it's the climate or the birth control or something else. I have some heart issues in the family as well, but my blood pressure, heart rate, etc. have been fine. I do not use nicotine products, though, so I can't speak to that part.

One thing I will say is that I've lost 33 pounds since April 2016, and at certain points along the way my symptoms would get worse because losing weight changed my hormones and my body had to readjust-- so that's been unpleasant. I imagine that would happen with any pill, though, and that may not even be an issue for you. Best of luck and I hope your upcoming appointments go well!

I did the lo estrin and it was horrible. I also use nicotine and am 39. I spent months crying for no reason, not even sad just completely hormonal. It makes you pms all the time instead of mimicking pregnancy. It took months for it to go away then they gave me Zoloft to help and it gave me serotonin syndrome. All in all it took a year or more to get back to normal. I will say though that it did seem to work so if you can tolerate it great! Just be aware of the side effects but give it a shot, many people do great on it.

I have been on Visanne for two years (after my first lap I was on Marvelon, which did NOT work), which is progesterone only. The side effects are minimal, and it definitely helped with the daily pain. Worth investigating, anyway.