Q+A: My Journey Coming Off Birth Control Pills

I’ve been off the pill for almost a full year (this October) and there are so many things I wish I would have known before coming off. Unfortunately, wellness and women’s health in general are such hard topics to find information about on the Internet. I read a really great article in the New York Times this week that outlined just how the healthcare system gaslights women and ways that anyone (but especially those who are oftentimes mistreated by the healthcare system) can advocate for themselves more forcefully.

I came across this emptiness around the topic when I was first debating coming off the pill this time last year. I wrote an early recap to my experience last December, but now that I’m almost at the year mark there are so many more questions I wish I had found answers to back then. I’m answering some of those questions (plus ones people have asked me over on Instagram) below. These are all answers from my own personal experience coming off the pill and I’m not a medical professional, so take it with a grain of salt and maybe use it as direction for what to speak to your own doctors about.

Why did you go on the pill in the first place?

I started the pill on and off when I was 19 years old and then 100% on it at 21 years old. At first, I got on the pill as a way to help regulate my intense menstrual cramps. Later, I was on it as a form of birth control.

Why did you decide to come off the pill? How long were you on it for?

I was on the pill for almost a decade. It’s true that sometimes we’re way too close to our own experiences to spot the red flags because now looking back I realize I was never okay when I was on the pill. Every few months I would get switched off one type of pill and put on another brand in hopes that the side effects would lessen or fully disappear. I rotated between feeling sluggish, bloating, depressed, lowered libido, dryness, and anxiety. The reason that made me ultimately come off it was that the last pack I was on had triggered the most intense bloating and depression that I had ever experienced. I felt so uncomfortable in my body and mind that I couldn’t function normally.

What happened the first month you came off the pill?

I started my regular period the first month off the pill (which isn’t always the case), so it gave me somewhat of a baseline to start comparing following periods to. I lost about 4 pounds in pure bloating that first month, I felt my organs feel less constricted (which is wild), and started feeling less uncomfortable in my body overall. Because my hormones were suddenly being tapped back into the game after a decade of being on the bench, it almost felt like going through a second puberty. My hormones were up and down as they regulated, and so was my mood. But even so, last October into November was the most clear minded I had felt in years.

Does coming off birth control impact your physical health in any way?

Yes and yes. I had no idea how much my health would be impacted by being on birth control for so long and subsequently coming off of it. I would recommend having your doctor do blood work before you come off birth control and then a few months into being off of it. I just so happened to have had my annual last year at the same time that I was stopping birth control, so I had to get routine blood work done anyway. It gave me a baseline understanding of my own health (which at the time my levels weren’t impacted by coming off birth control) but now when I had some follow up blood work this summer, I learned that both my iron and Vitamin D levels were low. Had I known that coming off birth control could impact my body in this way, I would have advocated for myself a little better.

Has COVID messed with your period at all now that you’re off birth control?

YES. We had COVID in May (for the first time ever) and since then my periods have been shorter, with longer cycles, and much heavier. I attribute my iron deficiency partially to this as well. I read an article about how more studies are being published with regards to how the COVID vaccine and COVID can impact a menstruating human’s cycle.

Did coming off birth control impact your sex drive?

Absolutely. I think I’m particularly sensitive to the pill’s hormones and my sex drive and mental health were two of the most impacted parts of my being while I was on them. Immediately coming off them, I felt my sex drive peak, any dryness lessened significantly, and overall I think feeling less bloated made me feel so much more confident in my body.

What are the biggest surprises when coming off birth control?

Top surprise for me was how much it felt like a second puberty  — I struggled so much with acne, my hormone fluctuations, and feeling myself in my own body again. I was surprised to learn how much birth control had impacted my gut and my vitamin levels. I was also astonished to learn how much doctors don’t tell you any of these things before you get on the pill. Looking back, particularly with my anxiety and depression, I don’t think I should have ever been on the pill. I wish a doctor would have helped me see that and helped me find other options along the way.

Overall, a year out, I do not regret coming off the pill at all. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for my mental health and physical wellbeing. I think it is so messed up that our healthcare system puts the burden of pregnancy prevention on women, even when it’s oftentimes at the expense of our own mental and physical health, and all the while decides to strip us of basic rights over our own body, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Have you had a journey while on the pill or coming off of it? I’d love to hear.