Video and Diary – My Experience Quitting Hormonal Birth Control

I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time, and to be honest, I’ve done it once or twice before. I make some ceremonious declaration that I’m over birth control, quit for a week or two then run screaming and crying back to the pharmacy begging to go back on. Why? Well it’s a long story, but I am sure if you are a female who has ever been on birth control you know the saga well. Your body feels fine on the little pills, the world is working fine but a tiny voice in the back of your head is telling you that being on these things for over 10 years just can’t be good for you, right?! Let’s go back into a little BC time machine to when I was 20 or so years old. I was 100 pounds soaking wet, an avid athlete, overly cautious of gaining weight and my period was almost non-existent. It would come and then not come back for months at a time. While I thought that was awesome, it isn’t healthy to miss your period that long apparently. So to the gynecologist I went and was put on birth control – to regulate my period and also help with my hormonal acne. I didn’t have great skin growing up. My teens, 20’s and even into my 30’s I’ve battled with oily skin and hormonal acne breakouts. It was crushing in my teen years and 20’s and I don’t think I ever had clear skin for months at a time. I’d visited dermatologist and was put on so many pills and creams, but in the end birth control helped control my breakouts a lot.

I was on Yaz and LoEstrin and a few others, but in the end the one that worked best for me was LoEstrin 24. That is the one I take now and have for the last four years or so. It has 4 inactive pills and is a very low dose, so my period literally comes for a day and then goes away, or sometimes it doesn’t come at all. Again, not sure how good that is for your either but down the hatch the little pills went everyday for the last decade of my life. Being on birth control has surely prevented me from getting pregnant, but in the mean time I wonder what it has also done to my body. While my cramps are not as severe, I still get monthly PMS symptoms; weak, dizzy, low blood sugar feeling, bloated, irritated, fatigued, sore, tired, crampy. Non of that went away completely and to be honest in the last five years these feelings have gotten even worse. I’ve also read that being on birth control a long time can impact your libido, and here I was thinking I was just getting old and cranky and “tired from work” but BC has surely impacted my desires a bit and I have heard that going off BC can make a big difference in that. It’s altering your hormones for god sake, tricking you into thinking you are pregnant, which I can imagine takes a toll.

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Let’s also talk about the fact that for years now the cost of my birth control has gone up and down. At one point I was paying $85 for a pack of pills since the one I was taking was not covered by insurance and there was no generic equivalent. Since I was so afraid to go on any other birth control I just paid it, over and over and over. Finally now it is $0 to fill, but I’m still not convinced I want to do this for a few more years. So here I am today, April 4th 2016 and I just finished my pack of pills and have decided NOT to go pick up my new pack. Yesterday 4/3/16 was the first day taking no hormonal birth control.

This post is a diary of my experience going off of hormonal birth control for the next month. Today I am birth control free and week by week I am going to share what I am experiencing to share what it is like going off of these pills after having been on them for so much of my life! I have to admit it felt good to not go running to pick up my new pack, but who knows what will happen.

Some reasons I was fearful to go off:

Gaining weight or retaining more water than usual (bloating)

Acne – I fear that when I go off of birth control my break outs will come back with full force, something I am not sure I can handle in my 30s

Cramping – I’m hoping that it doesn’t become really bad when I go off birth control

Will my period come back quickly or will it take awhile?

Week 1 Off Birth Control Vlog Update

  • The first day off of birth control pills I am already getting cramps! I suppose it is because my body already expects to get it’s dose of hormones today, but since I am not taking any I already feel my abdomen getting mad at me. I feel some slight cramps and today my jeans feel a bit tighter than usual. I can’t imagine I am getting bloated already but I definitely feel something going on. I also woke up pretty tired and irritable but that can be for reasons other than going off of BC.
  • In preparation of going off birth control and fear it would cause break outs I did a glycolic peel last night to make sure my skin was clean and fresh and removed all the dead skin cells. I am also upping my intake of zinc tablets, vitamin b12 and drinking more water to try to keep my break outs at bay.
  • Literally on the 2nd day of no pills I started to get a small “period” but I wouldn’t even call it that. More like a spot or two, but was surprised to see any kind of period happening that fast. Went to the gym last night to workout because I felt super bloated, not fun. Had enough energy to get through a workout but was wiped after.
  • Tried to work out last night (Thursday) and couldn’t even get through a 3k run on the treadmill. Felt super tired, defeated, like I hit a brick wall and when I was done I kept sweating like crazy and felt like I had to lay down (which I did) on the mat and rest for a good 10 minutes. I was weak, tired and was craving carbs – as if my energy was so low and my blood sugar had dropped. Never felt that way before, did not like it at all.
  • Pants are feeling tight, feeling like I’m holding onto water even though I am drinking 100 ounces or more of liquids per day. Skin is relatively clear thankfully. A lot more irritable than usual this week.

Week 2 Off Birth Control Vlog Update

  • I am officially 2 week without hormonal birth control in my system and I have to say things are settling and I feel very well adjusted.
  • No breakouts to report since going off birth control and this week everything feels good when it comes to skin clarity. Only 1-2 tiny pimples may have shown up but that for me is normal. No massive outbreak thankfully!
  • Still some minor bloating and cramping but nothing that is earth shattering. Last week the bloating was much worse, this week it is not as evident but pants do feel a bit uncomfortable on some days – that just means I increase my water a lot more. I’m also drinking lemon and cucumber water infused in a bottle which is good for skin and bloating.
  • Less irritability and to be honest last week may have just been due to work and stress overall, but was harder to control for some reason last week. I was very on edge and irritated easily, this past week not as much.
  • Fatigue is slowly going away and I have much more energy this week for my workouts which is good!
  • Overall it’s been much smoother than I thought! No new period yet but I anticipate that in two more weeks.

One month free of birth control

It is now one full month off of birth control and I have to tell you ladies, I am SO SO SO glad I did this and stuck it out. Now that one month has gone by I am happy to report that there have been no scary side effects. It is something I am really surprised about but I am now really excited to report that I am now off and not going back, at least for the near term. So updates:

  • No cramping at all and no bloating either
  • My skin is clearer than it has EVER been, no break outs at all and even my oil has been under control
  • I had some hair shedding in week 3-4, which could be the hormone changes but it is normalized now
  • I had a period during in the week 3-4 time frame and it lasted all of 4 days. that was much longer than when I was on birth control but it was not bad
  • I was surprised my period came back on time but it did. I did not have to wait a few months, it came back around 28 days!
  • things are feeling good overall, no side effects to report

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The writer and creator of JerseyGirlTalk.com - a blog dedicated to inspiring and helping readers to feel and look their very best both inside and out. I love writing, photography, makeup, fashion and fitness.

7 Comments
  1. I was on the pill from age 15 until 25. I would have these terrible menstrual migraines. They were almost like withdrawals from the hormones b/c by day 4 on the sugar pills I would be in misery for the rest of the sugar pills. I tried a handful that were lower in hormones or didn’t have the full 7 days of sugar pills but only 4. Still didn’t help much.

    When I got married at 25, I switched to the Seasonal, where you went 3 full months straight and then had a period. The thought was that if we couldn’t stop the migraines then we could just lessen their occurrences. Well I put on 20lbs in the first 6 months of those pills! I’m only 5’2″ – so that wasn’t great. Along with the fact that the hormones increased my blood pressure too. So I made the decision to go off of them. We weren’t planning on starting a family yet (and didn’t for another 3 years) but I also had endometriosis and I too wondered how great it was to be on birth control for 10 years or more.

    Anyways – the biggest thing that I noticed within the first month, is that I just felt better & clearer being off of the birth control. I can’t give you exact details but I noticed a change my energy and my overall wellbeing. THEN – I didn’t have a single migraine again until I was 7 weeks pregnant with my first, 3 years after I went off the pills! The only times that I have had migraines since going off the pill have been a few times during the 7-18 weeks of my pregnancies due to all the hormone surges.

    I had preeclampsia with both pregnancies and I have a family history of hypertension – so I have chosen to stay off of any hormonal birth controls permanently. The add a lot of unpleasant stuff but they also have proven to give me migraines and increase my blood pressure.

    I hope that your experience stopping them is a positive one too! 🙂

  2. I had alot of trouble with hormonal birth control also. I’ve had the Paraguard IUD for a little over a year (no hormones) and have had success while still having the piece of mind that comes with birth control. It’s worth looking into if you still want some form of birth control!

  3. Thank you for sharing your story. I am hoping it is an easy transition and one I can stick to. My husband supports it and I think I’d like to just get off of it. We will see how it plays out this time 🙂

  4. Completely unconventional, but after being on the pill for 20 years, I decided to wean off of them. I was so afraid of psycho side effects and acne breakouts going cold turkey. The first two months I took 3/4 of a pill. Next two months 1/2 of a pill. Next two months 1/4 of a pill. I spoke with my gyn before doing so. Of course she said she would not recommend it, but it wouldn’t harm me. Best decision I made. Only side effect I had was breakthrough spotting mid cycle. Now been completely off bc for two years.

  5. Hi Adrianne,
    How are you doing almost 5 months off of birth control? Everything still going well? I am planning to get off b.c. Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo in a couple of weeks after 10 years on it O_O! and am deeply encouraged that things look to be working well for you. Pls update us!