anxiety attacks after stopping birth control

oops-i meant month 3 off bc

i read these comments and over and over i keep saying to myself thats whats happening to me thats whats happening to me! i can not say how wonderful it has been for me to read everyone's comments about these horrible symptoms that are happening from the wacked out hormoe levels after stopping birth control. it has given me some hope to keep looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. thank you all so much! we are strong women and we can get through this!! i can't wait to be myself again and to never mess with my natural balance by taking birth control again! Does anyone know of any natural remedies to help the anxiety, panicy, nervous feelings. my worst syptom is the feeling that my heart is pounding incredibly hard :( any plants that i could make a tea out of or anything like that? also its been about a month for me since i have been off the pill (a progesterone only pill that caused me to never have a period) and i still haven't had a period. im hoping that once i menstrate my hormone levels will start leveling out more and these horrible and terrifying side effects will go away. does anyone know of anything that can promote menstration??? thank you ladies so so so much!!! you all have helped me feel so much better all ready!

I sure hope this gets better. My heart goes out to all these women experiencing this! I stopped taking the pill in July and then had a horrible anxiety/panic attack at the beginning of August, if was the worst thing I've been through. The anxiety/depression/insomnia is horrible I went back on the pill in November thinking it would help...NOT. So I gave it a couple to see if the pill would help..it did not. So I took myself off it March 20 and now it has been a little over a month and the anxiety is horrible and not being able to sleep. I have some good days but they are very few. The worrying/racing thoughts are horrible, I get sick to my stomach easily from the anxiety. I have never had these symptoms until I stopped taking the birth control, this is horrible! I'm hoping that I get back to my old self real soon. I take my multi-vitamin & iron pill daily hoping that it helps balance things out. How long is this going to last?? I'm just scared that I'm stuck like this & that its only going to get worse :( plz share how you got over/through this

It took 10 months for my hormones to get back to normal after going off bc pill .  I also found out I'm hypothyroid in the mean time which also causes

 anxiety.  I took a low dose of xanex to get me through the worst of it.  Things are finally starting to return to normal now. I,m on armour thyroid too

now.  I was on the bc pill for 12 years.  It just takes a while for your body to readjust. 

Hi it took about 8 months to notice my mood settle down. I still have acne after a year but I'm not as concerned about it.

Traditional Chinese Medicine also offers some herbal medications that can help with anxiety.

One in particular translates to "Free and Easy Wanderer" - I believe it is meant to help with liver qi... not 100% sure... in any case, it also works wonders!

Everything will be alright...

:)

Hey girls-I have found some relief oddly enough through a surprise pregnancy!  Talk about hormones gone wild.  Anyway, wanted to post to you what I recently learned as I thought it might be helpful:  When I first went off bc and had the horrible symptoms and anxiety and panic, my OB referred me to a psychiatrist, but it took a really long time to get in.  I also was a little concerned that she would just want to put me on meds and be done with it.  My OB could never give me the peace of mind that this was all from going off the pill and said being on the pill for 18 years wouldn't cause any issues.  My primary doc told me I had suddenly developped an anxiety disorder.  The psychiatrist was the first one to say that she sees tons of women like us and experiencing the same symptoms...she said our hormonal backgrounds that we have built all the years on the pill have dropped out from under us when we stop the pill abruptly.  She said it just takes time and meds can help if people are interested, but for me being able to take some time off work and not force myself to be so uncomfortable was very helpful.  I learned to treat this like an illness and rest and care for myself, instead of feeling terrified all the time and increasing the panic.  I do think accupunture and meditation really helped as well as magnesium (especially if you have muscle twitches), vit D and B supplements as well as daily walks and reducing the stress in life by shielding myself during this time.  I know this sounds ridiculous b/c a few months ago I would have said who can stop their lives and just do these things, but I did it b/c I couldn't do anything else.  I hope that this is somewhat helpful.  I know someone else who said she had relief from vitex within 6 weeks, but it took 2 yrs to have regular cycles and feel normal.  Small amounts of xanax did help me, but now that I am pregnant I cannot take it anymore.  I am still healing, but things are better with these rushes of hormones.  However, all my labs until now showed my hormones were totally messed up.  I tried a progesterone supplement, but it swung me into depression and totally sedated me.  I can only encourage you with something that a wise woman said to me, "you have to love yourself even more during times like these".  I really didn't think I was going to make it, but it does get better.  Good luck to all of you!

Yep, I would say loving oneself is always helpful. I started listening to Louise Hay's audio books... I totally think they helped me be more empathetic.

I tried a ton of more holistic stuff. I worked out, ate a very clean diet, took supplements (vit b and d are very important for those coming off the pill), and i did take magnesium citrate ( a product called natural calm), and I'd say the primrose really helped as well as the TCM herbs. Also Bach's rescue remedy is a great product.

It will take some time. My hormones are still off... like I said I still have acne (and I never had a single ounce of it all my life prior).  And docs will insist on telling you the pill is safe and shouldn't cause side effects. See a naturopath. Try doing a liver cleanse (St Francis has a good liver support product) and eat healthy and things will settle. If you support your overall health by providing the proper nutrition, working out, and reducing stress via meditation or yoga or breathing exercises, you will allow your body to heal and adjust again. It may take some time... and in the mean time, the 'Free and Easy Wanderer' and the Bachs Rescue Remedy are 2 options that provide immediate relief.

My last time having birth control was in April. Didn't take anymore pills after my last period in that month.

Well, got my period in May, and June, now I have missed it for July? Thought I was pregnant, but im starting to wonder if it has anything to do with my hormones still fluctuating..all of a sudden recently here ive been experiencing anxiety when I was doing well before. I am prone to anxiety, but am on a medication that helps manage it quite well. Lately here I feel fatigued, trembly/nervous, Thirsty, Increased appetite, Fearfulness/Paranoia, and have had to wee a lot. Feeling a lot of the things that these Woman here are experiencing, and glad im not alone in this if it does have something to do with the post BCP stuff.

Won't get my blood test back til tomorrow to see if I may possibly still be pregnant. If im not pregnant im definetly going to look into what could be going on. Probably something hormonal. Ugh. Have also noticed ive been getting lightheaded and clammy feet/hands. Anyone else? I have to calm myself. I think it's just an uncomfortable feeling and nothing too horrible is going on? Hormones can REALLY play a major game with us but it will get better! Im trying not to dwell on the symptoms im experiencing. Hoped it was from pregnancy but kept getting several negatives, even recently.

Will let you guys know. Im hanging in there! Trying to be positive. Some days are easier then others. If im not pregnant I really hope my period shows up here soon so I can blame it all on it! Hahaha.

I have had panic attacks since stopping birth control too. Some days are better than others but I have noticed that right before my period it gets the worst. I don't want to go back on ANY birth control pill again. I have a few friends and cousins who use Mirena and they say they have had no problems.... but neither has stopped using it to see if it would give you panic attacks. I'm so scared that it would do the same thing to me if I had to stop taking it for any reason. Does anyone know if it is better than the birth control pill or have had bad or good results from it? If I look it up online I see that some people have had panic attacks while being on it and getting off it. I'm so confused..... Don't know what to do..... Today is not a good day today..... feeling horrible....

Ladies, just be patient (easier said than done, I know), but it will get better.

I suffered from the same thing. I took supplements (including primrose oil and Estrosense), ate healthy, worked out... and those things helped...

But mainly the passage of time AND refraining from things that exaccerbate anxiety are the real 'cures'.  Cut back on alcohol and completely refrain from marijuana use.

Free and Easy Wanderer (traditional chinese medicine) and Rescue Remedy can provide short term relief.

Everyone is different. Mine took 3-6 months to for all the mood effects of coming off the pill to dissipate. But rest assured, it will pass.... hang in there.

 

 

Wow, I have just started suffering from severe anxiety/ worrying thoughts and had one panic attack, and the worry keeps telling me i'm going completely crazy, it's all going to be a downward spiral from here, nothing will ever be the same, etc, etc. And guess what... it began happening a week after going off the pill. I've had quite a lot of stress and changes going on, so I assumed that they were the cause - but my levels of concern over them just didn't seem to do justice to the level of worry and anxiety I began having about completely unrelated things. My anxiety is still trying to tell me that it's got nothing to do with the pill, i'm just going mad, haha but I know in my heart it's not true. So, right now, i'm accepting them as JUST THOUGHTS, not some kind of prophecy or telegram from god or something. Most of my past worries have never turned out true, so why should these? They are completely irrational, but I know I'm having them because I've been trying to find an explanation for why I am feeling this way, and my brain is making up reasons! And, because I feel anxious, I worry about them!
Haha, I can't believe such a simple change as going off the pill has had the ability to mess with my life so completely. I have never gone through something so hard, even during various life crises/ heartbreaks/ changes. So, I guess I hate to see that so many have gone through or are going through the same thing, but at the same time it's reassuring to know there seems to be a logical explanation for it, and that so many people have gotten through it. But, I want to share a website that I found yesterday, and along with this one it seems to be particularly helpful - especially the bit about the anxiety trick and the humour.  ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** web addresses not allowed***

This site has been a lifeline for me through some extremely dark days. Went off b/c in August sometime and it was the end of September when I started experiencing severe panic attacks for the first time in my life. Depression would come on the heels of the anxiety, and insomnia set in. I had already decided to go back on the pill that week (which I did, and it is NOT an immediate fix---still taking time to adjust out of this hormonal imbalance, and I'm on my 2nd pack since starting back) and never once thought of the possibility that going off b/c caused my symptoms. I lost my appetite, have struggled terribly with mental and memory function, but the anxiety/depression/paranoia combo is by far the worst. I have taken an anti-anxiety pill for a month, and am finding that its strength is limited during the week of my period and the week after. Those 2 weeks are AWFUL, as all my symptoms come raging in. The other 2 weeks I become more like myself again. I've had co-workers question me since my quality of work has suffered due to my inability to focus and remember. So grateful for this site when others don't understand what I'm talking about/going through. I have referred to it often when im tempted to think im alone or going crazy. Glad to see that generally no one is back on here after they post ; hopeful that means they get better and forget about it.

I was taking birth control for almost a year. I started in January of 2011 and stopped in early November of this year. I started to take a birth control pill that had a stronger hormone in it because i felt the other one wasn't strong enough and i had been having mood swings. Around that same time i had also gotten a flu-shot. About three days after the shot, i had a reaction to it. My arm became numb and i had a little anxiety attack, which was my first one. After only taking the new pills for 4 days, my doctor suggested i get off of them cause of the reaction i had to the flu shot. After a while of being off the pill i had been experiencing anxiety attacks, slight depression, and just feeling out of place with myself. my doctor put me on hydroxine to help with the anxiety, and i think it has been working, but i really hope all the anxiety and stuff ends within a few months cause i've never felt like this before and its horrible.. i'm just glad i now know this is a real symptom of coming off the pill and i'm not just going crazy or thinking i'm dying..lol

I am so glad I found this site, it's been really reassuring. Before I started BC I already knew I suffered from acute anxiety... it was pretty mild though- just worrying about stupid stuff and feeling anxious say before giving a speech in class or going on a plane. Nothing that would seriously interfere with my everyday life. Everyone once in awhile it would get worse, but never to the point where I thought I would need to see a doctor because of it. After being on BC for a couple months it just made everything SO much worse and so I stopped taking the pill a little over a month ago. This past 5 days I've had a couple anxiety attacks and I've felt terrible. I had a feeling that it had to do with my hormones being out of whack so a couple days ago I went to the urgent care because I was feeling so anxious and the doctor DID say it was likely to be caused from the birth control/being off it (THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN THE TWO!) and she diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder. If I hadn't been on BC, I honestly don't think it would've ever gotten this bad.

I had only been on it for a few months but I noticed my anxiety getting worse, migraines being more frequent then usual so I decided to go off it. I'm glad that I am now but I'm just worried of how long this anxiety is going to last. It was weird because I had experienced really bad panic attacks before (From my already existing anxiety + marijuana use. But no worries everyone- I quit!) so when I had first experienced a panic attack sober I was really thrown off by it but now I understand why I've been feeling so awful.

Reading these is really comforting and knowing I'm not the only one dealing with this makes it easier to get through. I don't want to go on anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications because they're relatively new medicines and it worries me to be on them. (and causes more anxiety. HAH how ironic, right?) So I'm going to do this the all-natural way. It may be harder, but I think it'll be better for me. One thing that I have found helps a great deal: if you're feeling anxious- go for a run. Or even a walk. Just get moving! Like many people have said on here, exercise is key. Its a natural stress reliever. The other day I felt a panic attack coming on so I said F this (Pardon my French) I don't wanna go through this again, went for a run and felt a hell of a lot better for the rest of the day. I hope it helps you all too!

I'm hoping that since I was only on BC for a short amount of time my hormones will balance out faster. Does anyone know this to be true? All I know is I am NEVER going on birth control again.. Sex with condoms may not be as much fun, but isn't it much better to let your body menstruate naturally without putting all these synthetic hormones into your body? I'm a firm believer in that now... if only I had known that before I started.

TO EVERYONE WHO'S GOING THROUGH THIS- It's not easy, at times you may feel hopeless and feel like it's never going to end but I think we will all become stronger because of it. Keep your head up, keep breathing and remember that you're not alone :)

It has been so comforting to read all of your posts. For the first time in 23 years I felt anxiety about 2 months ago when I stopped taking birth control. I started taking it at the age of 18. About a month after I stopped my birth control and right before my period, I started with the anxiety. Any thought sparked a panic in me that I had never felt. I was jittery and my heart would beat incredibly fast. It was so sudden that I felt like I was going crazy which naturally, made me more anxious! That feeling lasted a couple of weeks. Now my period is approaching and I'm feeling the same thing. I hope this doesn't last long and from what I've read in your posts I'm a little bit more at ease. Please update the rest of us if your symptoms go away!