"started taking this birth control at 16 and have taken it for a year now. the first three months were horrible, i had mood swings where i would start crying randomly, most of the time because i would take it at 7 pm and around 9 pm would begin feeling sharp cramps in my stomach that were unbearable, it was so hard to continue taking them at work knowing i would be in pain from them. however after three months i stopped having pain. before the pill i had terrible cramps on my period but since alesse my cramps are much milder. my mood swings have calmed down and i am not affected at all! a good thing to keep in mind is alesse is a mild birth control (less hormones than others) so you can still take other medications. i love it, good choice!"