"i started the birth control last summer in august and stopped it this april. for the first 6 months of taking the pill i had no problems at all, i felt normal except i did get acne which went away after about 1-3 months. it shortened my period to about 4-5 days instead of my normal week long and a half periods.   but after 6 months of taking the pill i would sometimes get my period early by about 8 days and then the next month it would be back to normal. also i would get bad cramps and back aches which appeared after 6 months. this was bothersome to me, especially after the pill working great for about 6 months. the early periods, cramps, and backaches were doable but i decided to switch off it to loestrin 1.5/30."