Hi Polpringle
from me too.
Not thick at all. The key thing is that once you stop the mini pill ovulation will no longer be suppressed and therefore your uterine lining will build up as Birdy says. You don't have to have a bleed per se in the sense that you need to bleed, but if you take a continuous combined HRT when you are peri-menopausal then you will continue to ovulate and therefore your womb lining will build up ( not as much as if on conti HRT because you are taking progestogens all the time which as birdy says helps to keep it thin) - and then you will bleed sporadically and it won't be as clear-cut. HRT does not suppress ovulation.
So - you mentioned Mirena - this delivers the progestogen mostly locally to the uterus so it stops the lining builing up even if you ovulate ( Mirena doesn't always stop ovulation) - so this sounds ideal for women switching from mini pill. Maybe consider this?
Depending on your age you could switch to a type of COP that is like HRT - so may well prevent bleeding or vastly reduce it, as well as acting as contraception. The oestrogen in these two types is estradiol - the same as in most hRT including the gel. The pills are QLAIRA and ZOELY. Qlaira only has two dummy pill days. There may well be a withdrawal bleed but maybe smaller than with HRT.....? Sorry don't know about that.
Hurdity x
