Hi all,

I am new to this site but have been following with interest for some years. I have always struggled with my skin but consistently one thing has always helped: the mini-pill. I'm aware of how unusual this is because typically the mini-pill causes acne to get worse, but there it is!

However, the pill also has some bad side effects for me, namely hair loss and terrible mood swings, so last year I came off it. I felt amazing, the hair loss stopped, and my skin was almost perfect for about three months. However, once I hit the three-month mark, it started to break out horribly, all around my mouth. At this point, as you can imagine, I started to go crazy with products, trying to combat the breakout (previously I had been using nothing on my face). Eventually I caved and went back on Cerazette.

A month later, my skin is looking lots better but my body is really hating being back on the pill. I've decided to come off it and try and balance out my hormones for good, but I'm obviously scared of having my skin break out again. I'm taking 1000mg of Evening Primrose Oil, along with some fish oil capsules; a decent vitamin supplement; and some Lymecycline to sort of pre-emptively prevent bacteria from messing up my skin. However I've heard good things about other hormone-balancing supplements such as Vitex, Maca, DIM etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am really determined to stay off the pill this time so any help/ anecdotes anyone has would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.