My experience coming off the birth control pill

I want to start this blog post by saying that I am simply telling my story with my experience with the birth control pill. This is in no way advice about what to do with your body or what I think is best. This is simply MY STORY. Every single person has a right to do what they want to do in regards to their body and this is not a way to convince you to do what I did. I have had many people reach out wanting me to talk about my experience so that’s what I am going to do. Okay here we go…

My first semester of college I did not have a period. Looking back, I believe that was due to stress/environmental changes/etc as I did not like college my first semester and was homesick and was in a very different type of city/environment than I was used to the previous 18 years of my life. I went to the doctor over Christmas Break after my first semester away at school and she recommending going to the birth control pill to “regulate my period”. I didn’t know any different and lots of my friends were on the pill and seeing as though I wasn’t having a period at the time, a “regular” period sounded great, so I took the prescription and filled it and was on the pill for the next 14 years straight. I think it’s INSANE that we aren’t taught about our menstrual cycles, hormones, and exactly what the birth control pill does to our bodies. I am all for doing what you need to do but I believe we should be given ALL of the information before taking a pill and more than just being handed a pamphlet of “side effects”. Anyway, I digress. So I started taking the pill in December of 2006 & continued to take it until January of 2020. It’s so wild to me that I didn’t have an actual period for that amount of time. If you didn’t already know, the “period” you have when you are taking the pill isn’t an actual period because you do not ovulate when you are taking the pill. So the period you experience is simply a withdrawal bleed.

I started taking the pill and my “period” came back. So I thought, well the doctor was right, my period is back and it’s regular so yay, all is right with my body…until it wasn’t. I honestly didn’t feel different the first 8-9 years of being on the pill. Now, I will say, I also was going through big life changes, one of those being in college and second I was in a near fatal car accident Spring of 2007 so that was an event that changed me forever, which resulted in many broken bones, a stroke & a traumatic brain injury. So the pill could have influenced me more than I realized at the beginning of taking it, but other events in life caused me to not really notice/think it was the pill. So let’s fast forward to 2015/2016. This time in my life I was experiencing symptoms that the doctor said were “normal" if you’ve been on the pill for a while. I wasn’t having a withdrawal bleed, I didn’t have a sex drive and sex was sometimes painful. I also had daily brain fog, thinning hair, wasn’t sleeping well & felt like I was just kind of “riding through” life, no real highs or lows in my mood/energy. In total, I didn’t have a withdrawal bleed for 5 years. When I brought this up at the doctor I was told to decrease my stress & that this should all “get better”. So I did that to the best of my ability, and nothing changed. So in 2018, I began to do my own research & read books & articles about the menstrual cycle and my eyes were opened to so much that I didn’t know before. I was 31 years old learning about my menstrual cycle in detail—WHY DID IT TAKE THIS LONG.I highly recommend the book by Alisa Vitti called In the Flo: Unlock your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life.

After working with a functional medicine doctor, I decided to come off of the birth control pill. I had worked with her on some gut issues, brain fog, etc I was having and they were getting better but I had a gut feeling that the pill was contributing to more than I realized. I decided at the end of 2019 to give up alcohol for a year, go to therapy, and get off the birth control pill starting in 2020. I did all three of those things and I feel that 2020 was such a year of growth for me. It was hard but it was SO worth it.

My period came back 2 months after being off the pill. This is on the quicker side for the amount of time I was on the pill, but I credit that a lot to the work I had done on my health with my functional medicine doctor leading up to the transition off of the pill. The biggest thing I noticed pretty quickly after coming off the pill was the mental clarity I felt, the only way I can describe it is that a cloud felt like it lifted away from my brain. It was SO freeing. I actually FEEL things now and have highs and lows and I love that. I feel like a human being again instead of a zombie. My cramps came back and were pretty rough the first several cycles but now that I work with my cycle instead of against it, I feel much better around my cycle than I used to before. (Check out my blog post on CYCLE SYNCING if you haven’t read that one already) My sex drive came back after coming off the pill and my gut issues are better as well.

I use an app to track my cycle called myFLO (it’s the one with the circle in the app store, not the feather). The app is made by Alisa Vitti who wrote the book I recommended above. The app is a few dollars to buy it and I LOVE IT. It gives you information for each phase of your cycle as far as hormones/food/exercise/food/love. It’s awesome. When I first came off of the pill the regularity of my cycle was a bit off & took about 6-8 months to become very regular. Now, it’s like clock work (unless I’m traveling/extra stressed as that can impact your cycle). Other things that can impact your cycle are over exercise, under eating, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of regular sleep cycle, and more.

Another thing I’ll say about your period is that it shouldn’t be a time of the month that is debilitating. Yes, our hormones will cause us to feel a bit more tired, not as social, and hungrier than normal…but that doesn’t mean it should be a time that you are in excruciating pain and laid up on the couch for days. If you are experiencing symptoms that are causing you to have to call out of work or cancel plans, this is a sign that something is off and I’d highly recommend seeking out a functional medicine doctor.

I have now been off of the pill for 2.5 years (this blog post was written summer of 2022) and it’s something I won’t take again. Like I said at the beginning of this blog post, I am simply sharing my story & not trying to convince you one way or the other about the pill. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.