What I've experienced after stopping birth control

After stopping birth control pills I've experienced lots of positive effects. I feel myself again, no more depression, no crying, no mood swings, vaginal infections stopped right away (sex is great :)) Woo-hoo!!!

But it's four moths after and I still struggle with side affects of being on bc for such a long time (10 years). My hormones are definitely screwed and I don't know how long it will take to get them to normal level. I've experienced excessive hair loss, bad nails, and the worst - acne came back with vengeance. Still I think that I've made the right decision to quit bc pills. Apparently there are some long-term side effects of bc pills. For example one study showed that it could lead to  continuing sexual, metabolic and metal health problems. If I'd have all the information I have now at the time when I started taking bc pills, I probably would never started taking them.

I think that quitting bc is not a simple process. We have to prepare our bodies for such a sudden change in hormone production. And by preparing I mean the right diet, supplements and vitamins. I'm still in the process of searching for the right solution. I think that some research should be done in this direction. But it's definitely not as simple as "if you want to stop, stop right away".

I found a great forum - other people's experiences after quitting bc. It really helped me to understand that I'm not the only one there. There are many people with the same problems. Some women are lucky and have no problems with bc, but it wasn't the case with me. So I've decided to start this blog just to aware people about the bc pills, their side effects and moreover how to deal with side effects after stopping bc.

Currently I'm developing a diet which is kind of low glycemic index diet with tons of vegetables and fruits and no fried food, grains, breads, and meet. I'll wright about it soon. This is the only thing that seems to work with my acne. I'm not sure if it'll work in a long run but at least I've started to see a slight improvement. I wasn't able to achieve that with any other methods. My hair is also much better now. The only problem is that diet takes a long time to work. I'm planning to see naturopath, dermatologist and endocrinologist sometime soon. Hopefully they also will have good advices. I'll keep posting updates after these appointments here. I'm also planing to wright about my diet, skin care routine, supplements and vitamins, etc. I wish I have more free time to devote to this blog :)

Quitting birth control pills

I was very scared of stopping bc pills. On forums I read that side effects of stopping bc can be more severe than taking them. It takes a long time for our bodies to regulate hormone production disturbed by long-term use of bc. So after sopping bc some women would not get period for 3-4 months, some would need up to 2 years. Hair loss, acne, weight gain/loss, anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings were also mentioned as side effects after stopping bc. Again I was seeking help with doctors (I decided to see a few), hoping that they can at least help me and maybe tell me if I need to somehow prepare my body before quitting bc. But no, the answer was if you want to quit, just stop taking pills at any time. They have suggested to wait until the end of the pack and quit. I knew that I had to quit and I did, in August 2010.

By that time my acne started to reappear. It was very mild, just a few pimples. Again I talked to my doctor.  And she said that it's no problem and it should go away on its own.

Why did I stop birth control?

A year ago my depression became very serious. My boyfriend with whom I'm together for about 10 years now, started to really worry about me, and was the first one to suggest quiting bc. Oh God, I didn't want to do that. Birth control pills are so convenient, I didn't have to worry about getting pregnant and my skin was great. Moreover sex with condoms wasn't really appealing to me, I didn't like the feeling :( I also was convinced that my depression had nothing to do with pills, I thought that just my life sucks, and that's it. I was sure that pills are not bad for me. How foolish... However I had my reasons for that. My doctor  convinced me that bc is the best that is out there, and it's safe to take them as long as I want, and it's the best to quit bc only when I decide to get pregnant. Many girls take bc now and nothing bad happens to them, right? So why me? Thanks to my dear boyfriend I've decided to take a look at bc pills seriously and just educate myself about them.

The first thing I've done was looking up bc side effect on google. I found a few articles that mentioned some side effects like nausea, headaches, weight loss/gain, lower libido, hair loss, anxiety, etc., but it seemed like nothing serious to me. Moreover I haven't really experienced any of these effects. Most articles were mentioning that side effects are minimal and bc are very safe to use. I was happy, it seemed that I can still use bc. Somehow I wasn't really satisfied with what I found on internet. I've notice that most of the studies are conducted over a short period of time, at most a year or two. There is no studies that would monitor women health for 5-10 years of taking bc or after stopping long-term use of bc. I've also looked at  "Information for patient" list which is included in every pack of bc. You know, the one that is written in very small font and is huge and I've never bothered to read it carefully. Finally I did and there it was - a very impressive list of "the risks of bc pills": risk of blood clots and hence increased risk of stroke and hart attack; increased risk of breast cancer, gallbladder disease and liver tumors, just to name a few. Depression was also mentioned as one of the side effects. It became clear to me that my depression indeed can be caused by Diane. So I've decided to switch to Tri-cyclen lo right away. This time on Tri-cyclen I've started to experience vaginal infections that were coming back every single month. I couldn't understand what was going on with me. My doctor prescribed Flagystatin which helped but every month the infection was coming back. Doctor gave me a referral to a gynecologist which suggested to use some steroid cream which had numerous side effects. Honestly I've stopped trusting these doctors. I was reading lots of different forums about peoples experiences with bc and why they have stopped using it. Many have experienced reoccurring vaginal infections because of bc, so again it seemed that bc was to blame. My doctor said that it cannot be true. She's never heard of bc causing vaginal infections and encouraged me to use the prescribed cream or switched to another bc. So I've used Alesse for a month and didn't feel any improvement. At the end I've decided to stop taking bc. It really did more harm for me than good.

Side effects after 10 years on birth control

Actually I think I was lucky. I didn't feel any side effects of the pill for about 8-9 years being on it. I didn't gain any weight, didn't have headaches, or any other health problems, just periodical mood swing, that could be very manageable. However a year or two ago I've started to suffer from depression. Especially during the time when I was switching between the pills. I had horrible mood swings, cry and then laugh in 5 min. I could cry for no reason. I've also developed a lump in my breast. Nothing serious, fibromioma but still. I'm not sure if that's because of bc, but they definitely didn't help. Long-term side effects of being on bc can include sexual disfunction, breast cancer, increased risk of cervical cancer, blood clots, etc.

How it all began...

I had a pretty good skin when I was a teenager but it all changed when I turned 18. Horrible red cysts appeared everywhere on my face. It was bad. I was looking for any possible solution and at that time I came across the birth control (bc) pill "Diane-35" which promised to help with acne. A miracle happened , three months after I've started taking this pill my skin became acne free. No scars, no pimples, amazing results. I was extremely happy. My doctor suggested not to take "Diane-35"  for more than a year, so I was following her advice. I stopped taking it and switched to another bc, "Tri-cyclen". 3-4 moths later new cysts started to develop , but it wasn't too bad... This time I've decided to try "Proactive", and again it worked. It was great. My skin was beautiful, no dryness or irritation that some people may experience with Proactive. I was happy again. Two years later I've moved to England for a year to study. Maybe it was stress, maybe change in food but my acne came back again. Proactive didn't work anymore. My doctor suggested to try Diane-35 again and it worked in a few months. So this time I was switching between Diane-35 and "Tri-cyclen lo". I was for a year on Diane than 3-4 months on Tri-cyclen and back to Diane. This seemed to work extremely well for my skin. I had such a beautiful complexion, people would complement me all the time. However that's only one side of a medal.