I am going off the pill
 

Hey ladies,

I have decided to go off the pill. When my current pack is done I will be not starting a new one. I have several reasons for doing so: feeling depressed, lack of sex drive, constant food cravings, and water retention.

I was wondering if anyone else has done this and what your bodily reactions were. Is there any advice you can give me?

I am also a bit concerned about the sex. My boyfriend is a little scared to use only condoms. Does anyone else use just condoms without being on the pill? If so, is it more risky? Has anyone here gotten pregnant by doing that?

Any advice is much appreciated! :)

I went off the Pill three years ago for about five months.
I was on it to begin with for PMS and cystic ovaries at age 14 and had been taking it for 13 years. I didn't have a great experience and went back on it because of an increase in all the things I didn't want to deal with--increase in emotional disturbance, headaches, PMS, homicidal thoughts. I was on a tri-cyclic pill to make all that quit in the first place, so my story is a bit different.

They restarted me on Yasmin and it worked well. Going off the Pill again and onto Depo was a horror story. I'm terribly sensitive to latex, so condoms didn't work for us. I'm trying Yaz in about two weeks. For me, the symptoms you described are what I deal with when I'm not on the Pill. :D

When I went off the pill, it took about two months after my last pack to get my next period, and it was a doozy. I was used to light flow, no cramps, and no fatigue. The cramps were so bad I stayed in bed all day the first day of my cycle. The next month wasn't so bad though.

As for condoms...we used the rhythm method and withdrawal instead because condoms irritate my skin...6 years and one kid later, I wouldn't advise it as birth control ;) I now have an IUD and love it.

I just went off the pill also. This is my first week off and I've noticed a difference in my mood. I'm not sure if it is the fact that I'm off the pill or if it's just been a stressful week. But my emotions have been intense and unpredictable. I've also been extremely irritable.

I think that changes in the body going on or off pills is different for everyone. I know that when I start my periods again, they are going to suck. That is one of the reasons I love the pill. Before I started taking them (about 10 years ago), I had 7 day-long periods with heavy flow, cramps that would put me out of commission for 2 days, vomiting, backaches, and migraines. I'm hoping I get pregnant soon so I won't have to deal with PMS. I know that pregnancy isn't a joyride, but at least that discomfort has a purpose. :)

Before I started taking the pill, we used condoms only. I never got pregnant, but then again we only did that for a couple of months because I was sensitive to condoms. Nothing is 100% and getting pregnant is a risk you have to take when you do the old in and out. However, with all the methods of preventing pregnancy available, I find it hard to believe that responsible people get pregnant on accident. But it happens from time to time so be prepared for the effect of having sex.

I went off the pill almost 4 years ago when my boyfriend and I broke up. I didn't notice any emotional changes, but it's hard to say, since I know I was dealing with a lot of emotions related to the break-up itself. :)

I would recommend finding another bc method to use with the condoms. Condoms aren't much fun (in my opinion), and their effectiveness rate is just too low for my tastes. Plus, it takes away some of the spontaneity that is fun with sex.

Here's a good resource to check out effectiveness rates: http://www.fda.gov/Fdac/features/1997/conceptbl.html It's from the FDA, so it should be quite accurate.

I went off the pill about a year ago because I was having health problems that most likely were caused by all the estrogen I was taking. I had been on the pill for about 12 years before that. What I noticed is that my periods last longer and are more erratic. However, emotionally, I'm also more agressive now and much less of a basket-case around my periods. I too am sensitive to latex so we use spermicide and coitus interruptus. Yeah, I know I'll probably end up getting pregnant, but I'm at a stage and place in life that's not such a huge deal as it once was.

My moods always seemed more even when on the pill, and shorter periods. But water gain, yes.

I'm sensitive to latex, too. Tried the sponge; have a daugher because of that. Tried an IUD and had a period for 4-5 months nonstop before finally going on pill to stop it. Turns out I had to STAY on the pill so the IUD wouldn't give me a constant period. Bye bye IUD.

Everytime I've been on the pill and gone off it I go through a phase of being very moody. I distinctly remember throwing a car part at a coworkers head once.
I do tend to feel much more balanced on it. But after not being on the pill for a few years now I either got used to be unbalanced for it went away. Likely just got used to it. heh

Personally I wouldn't be able to go off the pill because cramps, moodiness and such are the reasons I went on it. I wouldn't necessarily depend on just condoms. They just aren't very reliable in my opinion. I think your best bet is just to find a form of birth control that has little or no hormones. Some people really like the IUD but there are two different kinds with different effects. There is a thread here about that if you're interested.

I went off the pill for a few months-- had this crazy notion that I was going to have kids. It took me three months to get my period back to "normal" and get some kind of sex drive back. Another two months, and I was right back on it. If you're going off the pill for a reason other than wanting to have children--and your reasons listed are totally understandable--I would highly recommend talking to your doctor about a different form of birth control. The ring works for a lot of people, and I'm on a low-dose triphasic, which is perfect. The higher doses did to me what your pill is doing to you, but the lower dose pill keeps me protected and doesn't make me the water-retaining, sex-hating, starving psycho I used to be. Talk to your gyno and see what he or she recommends. And good luck!

After 14 years of being on the pill...I was glad to get off it and get my system back to normal. It made me feel so horrible, so slow and bloated, anti-sexual and headachey all the time! Sadly, I think that it messed up my periods so badly - that I was never able to get pregnant after so many years of use. However, I hated worrying about being prego, and used all sorts of other methods of birth control. The diaphram is a joke! The IUD is dangerous. The sponge was okay for a while. My favorite was rhythm, (the one the Pope HATES!!!) and the method where you watch the calendar and know when NOT to have complete sex with the spoo inside. You learn to know exactly when you are ovulating. It always 100% worked for me, but then again, ....I think by then I was probably sterile from too many years of too much estrogen thanks to BCPs.

Now I feel extremely normal & sexy & healthy and really glad that I don't have to think about birth control very often. Seldom. Once in a blue moon.....

Don't ask why. OKAY, I'm too old to have babies now (I think....)

I must be the only one around here for whom low dose bcps don't work. I was on a couple different ones but none of them worked well for me so I'm back on the patch which works great.

I agree though, I would try talking to your doctor about other options if you haven't already.

Low dose bcps didn't really work for me either. I had "bleed through" meaning I was bleeding between periods. So that's when I went on the higher dosage pills and started turning into an emotional mess. Took me a while to figure it out. Now that I'm off bc, I'm a much happier, more stable person.

I would just like to point out that this statement is the result of misinformation. There was one IUD in the 1970s, the Dalkon Shield, that led to some fatalities. That IUD has been off the market since then, and the new IUDs--the Copper T and Mirena--are both reliable forms of birth control the world over, with little complications. IUDs have been successfully used in Europe as the main form of birth control since their inception, and many women report (especially on this board) that their IUD has been a godsend.

I had that too, for 3 very long months. It's much better now. It really does depend on the person, and your body's reaction to things can change. At one point I was on the ring, which was great. I went off it for a few months due to insurance issues. When I started back on it, I had a constant yeast infection and went batshit crazy every month. I wouldn't use it again, but who knows? It may be a different case this time.

I'm on the ring and its been fabulous minus the introduction time period where I was a moody mess. I've never been on the pill and pretty glad now that I'm reading all these things about it.

I had only used Depo for over 7 years and then went to the pill because of the possible loss of bone density. It's been about a year, and for that time I had been on the pill. I didn't really get any periods though, as I had been on Depo for so long. I just recently started getting a very light period. I finished my last pack of the pill about 2 weeks ago and am loving it. I hated being on the pill. I'm horny as all hell now! I think I'd like to go back on Depo, but it depends what happens when I get a bone scan. I actually like the feeling of being off hormones (so far), but am dreading to see what a "normal" period will be like. I used to have horrible cramps etc. I kind of want to actually have a normal cycle though, just to know that everything is in working order after not having it for so long. I'm actually confused about what to do, tbh. I want to use Depo again, because it worked so well for me and I didn't get a period. But then again, I am slightly worried about potential bone loss and what would happen to my fertility if I were to be on it for another long period of time. I'm not getting much action right now (except from myself haha) so it's a good time to experiment with birth control and not worry about pregnancy I guess. The one thing I am really digging is my libido though, I have been giving my vibrator quite the workout.

I didn't read every post following yours, but ...

curious - what would you do if you got pregnant? (answer yourself, not us, if you're not comfortable).

does your BF agree with your answer 100%?

in other words, keep or abort?

y'all need to be on the same page.

and, stick to it.


that's the only advise i have ...
i'm on the ring now and I <3 it, but i've been doing various hormonal bc's for over half my life (yes, i'm old, and no, i'm not having kids) and have never had a big problem ...

but, god, the pregnancy thing in relationships where it's not clear and people follow through or not ... makes me a nervous observer.