vaginapagina | Success taking birth control for dysmenorrhea? (Reply)

Hey there,
I'm 19 and my periods are quite awful, bad enough that I'm unable to do anything on the first day of them.

I've told my parents I want to try BC (I'm not sexually active so controlling my periods would be the sole reason) but they are completely against it (I know, I'm 19 and old enough to decide on my own but it won't happen due to other reasons).
My grandma had breast cancer and they are worried about BC making it more likely for me to get some type of cancer in the future. I've tried looking up articles and research papers but they have blown them all off.

Thing is, I'm scared of pursuing BC (with all the shit-storm it would ensue at home) only to find out it doesn't work. I know (really, I do) that everybody reacts differently and what works wonders for someone may not work for someone else. But what I want are experiences of people telling me if BC worked for them this way and also if they had to try many types before finding the right one. I feel I only have one shot to find the *right* pill, and if it doesn't work it would terribly suck, because I don't really think I'll dare to try again for a long time.

In some way I'm worried that I'm glorifying BC, imagining it will solve my problem when in reality it may not, so I wanted to see how likely it was.

(In addition, I'm interested in side effects you have experienced -again, I know they vary from person to person- just to have an idea)

Thanks a lot,
Z.