anxiety attacks after stopping birth control

First let me say how comforting this site has been! Thank you for all the ladies who took the time to write their story-it makes us feel like we're not alone and less crazy!!

I started taking birth control when I was 20. I was pretty emotional when I started it, but it leveled out. A year later I switched form the NuvaRing to Lutera and was on it for 5 years. I stopped birth control in August 2013. A week before my next period I had a panic attack, and like everyone else, I have been blessed with good mental health my whole life. Lucky for me, I was with a friend who has had anxiety attacks before, so she talked me through it. It feels like you're going to die! The rest of that week I was depressed, weepy, nervous and lost my appetite. That whole month, I thought I was getting asthma-I felt like I couldn't get a full breath. Exactly 1 month after my first anxiety attack, I had another. It wasn't as intense, but I still had the shortness of breath, dizziness, heart racing, and tingly hands.

For the next few months, I had moments where everyday tasks wear overwhelming and terrifying. One morning, I was getting ready for work and burst into tears. My husband asked what was wrong and I said, "I can't find anything to wear." Another time I was riding a bus and thought "This isn't right! I have to get off!" When I went to restaurants, I thought I was going to have an allergic reaction from a new food or get food poisoning. I felt CRAZY!!

My husband and I talked about everything and realized the only change in my life has been stopping birth control. Learning that stopping birth control can cause anxiety changed everything!! I've been researching and trying to figure out ways to reduce the anxiety. I learned that shortness of breath is a symptom that gives you the sensation that you can't get a full breath. It is really caused from over breathing, and that was the main symptom that I've felt since September.

hi I meant to click thumbs up, but clicked thumbs down by accident. Do not take it the wrong way! I really hope you get better soon! I too have had some anxiety since going off yaz, but am founding meditation to be doing wonders! also, try to keep yourself busy with distractions

hi, its bizzare isnt it. i almost had a mental breakdown untill i saw this forum. its the best thing that i could have found. like you, i went all crazy with silly thoughts, im still convinced im going to start hallucinating or feel strange from new foods, convinced people will put drugs in my food, or tamper with it. even my parents, i thought they were putting valium in my cuppa because i was anxious. its crazy. yet even though i know its absurd, i still panic when tryin a food/different brand JUST INCASE !! never been so mentally messed up. i almost see the funny side when im feeling "normal" ! i weep all the time for the silliest things also. ive cried yesterday and today and feel sooo gulty on the slightest thing i do or say wrong. can not wait untill im ME again. keep plodding on chuck, it will pass.

I went off the birth control pill, Ortho Tri-Cyclen just before 2007, which I had been on for 6 or more years. A month or so later, the panic attacks started. Now, seven years later, I am still dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. When it first occurred, I was given anti-depressants which helped to some extent but never took away the fear. I believe the immediate drop in hormones being fed to my body had everything to do with it. I was 34 at the time, and I believe my estrogen levels have stayed in the lower end of normal. I menstruate monthly, which to OB/GYNs makes me normal, but my periods are very light, and I am an anxious wreck and still have a couple of phobias I picked up in '07 when it all began. I used to be able to drive anywhere without fear, but a panic attack hit while I was driving on the freeway. I haven't driven on the freeway in over a year, and before that, I had to do it with someone in the car with me. Haven't had long term success getting over that. I also used to have no problems swallowing pills big or small, but during that initial time of anxiety, an allergy pill got stuck in my throat. I didn't panic at first--just kept drinking water. The next day when I went to take another allergy pill, my throat closed up and I was in total panic. I break up or crush pills now, but some pills need to be taken whole, so I can't take them. That is problematic when I get ill and the doctor only has one antibiotic to offer me. I am looking into trying hormone therapy, because nothing else has worked for me. Sorry to bear bad news, but I have read of so many women getting better over time, whereas I have not. Just wondering if there is anyone like me, and did they find a way out.

Hi, it tom me 2 year to get my main anxiety and panic rid if the last time this happened to me (after giving birth), that was 9 year ago, and although I was back to normal after 2 year, I still had the odd panic attack while driving on certain roads and I still had terrible pms symptoms and still had any phobias I developed 9 year ago. So suppose it never really went entirely. You seem to be stuck with the anxiety , maybe is it more in your head now than hormones controlling it, you perhaps havnt gotten over the fear of anxiety ? Or can you still feel its hormone related...ie , I'm now anxious, nervous every waking morning untill late afternoon at the start if my period fir at least ten days. Therefore its hormonal. Where as if you recover hornonally, you could still be left mentally scarred. In trying counselling when I get an appointment , ! Been waiting 2 month. If you feel its still hormonal, have you tried the magnesium supplement ? They are a great help. I totally calmed down after starting these along with lots if omega 3...mackerel, etc. I takesupplement too, along with hHugh strengthb complex, Vit c , d zinc and just found out today that Vit e is great for pms. Magnesium worked almost instantly. Others take a good 3 month to work fully. I'm suspecting" the change" in me too, I'm only 37, but my mam and both her sisters went through it early, my aunt was 40 when shed completely gone through it. My tests were normal, but we know our own body, and we know its not normal. It took my mam 6 year if testing to finally get results, she was panicking, raging, crying, you name it fir years and doctors suggested hysterectomy. It cured her ! Im hoping to go naturally, pffft.. I should have been a male x

Try magnesium even if its not hormonal I meant to say, it helps calm anxiety anyway

i think this might be happening to me as well. I have been faithfully taking the pill (rarely miss a day) for 6 years now and recently there was a mix up with my doctor where I couldn't get a new prescription fast enough so I ended up missing over a week of pills. I started taking them as soon as I got them but for the last week I have been suffering from severe anxiety. I have never had a panic attack nor been an overly anxious person, so this is extremely new and alarming to me. I feel like I'm going crazy. I start to shake, feel disoriented, my hands start to tingle and feel heavy, start panicking and end up thinking I'm dying of some horrible disease which makes it worse. when I start to feel like it's getting better it comes back again full force for no reason. Do you think this is from missing the week? did I screw up my hormones? 

Seeing this makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER. My entire life, I have been a happy, outgoing person. I started taking birth control about 2 years ago and everything seemed fine. All of a sudden, last Decemeber (major career change), I suddenly started having panic attacks and anxiety strictly about work (socially, I'm fine and still love to be around people) and I had to start seeing a therapist. Since then, I have been up and down with my levels of anxiety. A few days ago I stopped taking birth control (due to a surgery I'm planning on having) and my anxiety has been SKY HIGH and horrible and it's hard for me to even make it through my work day. Seeing that other women feel better after a while gives me hope.  

I feel it's important to me to return the favour here...When I was having the most terrible time over Christmas with anxiety after coming off the pill (a progesterone only one) I found comfort in this thread. So I want to share what I hope will be an uplifting story and give some of you hope if you're currently going through anxiety hell. 

Around Christmas (2013) I came off the pill and a week or two later a string of severe anxiety started. I've had occasional bad bouts of anxiety/panic before as well as the odd random panic attack. This however felt very different. I couldn't face eating much, my hands and feet sweated a lot, shortness of breath a lot of the time, panic constantly coming from nowhere and some really bad panic attacks. It felt very physical, as well as mental waves of anxiety.

The worst lasted for 2/3 weeks before it gradually subsided and pretty much totally cleared up by 4-8 weeks. I wouldn't recommend sitting back and waiting for it to go though, I think what helped was being as active as I could in helping myself. It's now near the end of April and I've barely had any more panic. The only times I notice my anxiety going up is just after my period - I believe this may be down to hormones again as it feels like it comes from nowhere, hopefully this will continue subside a bit each month as I settle even more after the pill.

So what I believed helped was:

- Repeating to yourself that the physical sensations that start to creep in are just your bodies way of reacting to your fear, and that it actually means your body is 'working properly'. Panic is harmless and you are not in danger. Saying this to yourself meaningly is a really good way to start calming down the panic. You don't desperately try to stop the panic by fighting it, but you tell yourself (or tell the 'fear') that it's not dangerous, and the panic you're feeling as unecessary.

- There were points when I felt nuts, like I was losing my mind. When this happened rather than physical attacks (such as shortness of breath/feeling faint) I reminded myself that you can have a panic attack in a very mental way, and that if you were actually going crazy - you probably wouldn't think you were!

- Exercize, everyone knows it relieves stress. It also really helped balance me out. I imagine it's a good natural way of balancing your hormones

- Mindful meditation. By practicing being in the 'here and now' it helped me big time when it came to stopping negative or anxious thoughts in their tracks. If you're more aware of the present, you're much more likely to catch anxiety out and pour water on it's fire very quickly. 

- Keep busy and try not to avoid things. I was terrified of travelling alone and had to get a lot of lifts from supportive family members. Just as my panic start to gradually subside after about 3 weeks, I had an interview for a job. I was terrified of having a panic attack in the interview and embarassing myself so could barely sleep the night before and really didn't want to go. But I knew I had to, not just to try and get the job, but to keep the progress going anxiety wise. Yes I felt anxious at the beginning of the interview, but I actually did really well and the interviewers clearly didn't notice because they rang me to say how well it went. It's so important to push yourself (little by little if it's really bad), even if you know it might make you anxious.- Evening Primrose Oil. I've been taking it every day since. I can't say how much effect its had but I reckon it's probably helped with PMT because I've had very little of it.

And finally a quote which I love by Rainer Rilke:

“Let everything happen to youBeauty and terrorJust keep goingNo feeling is final”

Hope this helps, know you are not alone.

I just came across this thread and I think this is what is happening to me. I recently missed my last pack of pills about 3 weeks ago, so just decided to stop them for another week and then restart them. I've been on the pill for 9 years solid. Well before I had the chance to restart them, I got extremely dizzy at work and had to be taken to the ER. They thought I had a stroke! All tests came back fine and I was sent back home. About a week later, the dizziness and rapid heart beat started again and I was back in the ER. This time they said I had supra ventricular tachycardia which is where your heart races, then slows, races, then slows. I asked if this could be related to me coming off my birth control, but the doctor didn't seem to think so (no doctor will say anything negative about the pill). Now, I am having severe panic attacks. All of a sudden I'll get this wave of nervousness that comes over me, I get shaky (but an internal shaking feeling) and my heart will race. Not to mention I'll get a feeling like I can't breathe or swallow and I get nauseous. This feeling WILL NOT leave. I don't want to be put on anti anxiety meds but I feel like this is never going to pass. I'm about a month out from the last time I took my pill so I should get my period soon, but I still feel so horrible. Anyone else going through the same thing??

Hey, I'm the 'guest' who wrote a week ago. Feeling dizzy, like the earth is being pulled out from under your feet (sometimes even just a strong dropping sensation) is something I've had too. They can be hard to calm yourself down from and realise nothing is wrong because they are so sudden and seemingly out of the blue. Just try not to worry about it happening again...Think to yourself 'if it does, so what?' You'll feel dizzy but you will end up feeling fine again. The fear of panic or physical sensations such as feeling dizzy not subsiding makes them worse. I know it's very hard, but you have to kind of train yourself to not worry so much if the physical sensations return. The quicker you cut and in and tell yourself 'I'm feeling dizzy, it's most probably just anxiety and therefore nothing to worry about', the easier it is to start managing the episodes.

Thank you for the response. How long did it take for your body to get back to normal? I've had the worst day today....I woke up feeling shaky and nauseous and then I are and felt so so. Then it hit again! It just keeps happening over and over and over again! I'm a month off of the pill and so far, I feel horrible :(

Hi all, I'm back after four month to recap and tell you I'm 8 month post bc...and my panic/depresdion/anxiety is all gone , I'm now leveled out to a pms week before period where I get stupidly weepy/bit stressed and only have a slight attack during thid week if I sit and think about it and let it take control.. I've gone from being a physical and mental wreck every single day, was off work 5 month, I'm now been back over 2 week and the last 2 month have been on an even keel with only the anxiety slightly kicking in during that pms week , maybe 2 days during that week ill have a little stressed episode then get butterflies and then I recognise the feeling, get up and do something then its gone. It does go away, this is the second time I've been through this and both times got better...last time took a lot longer as I'd not been through it before and I didn't change my diet or take the vita

Sorry, pressed reply by accident.... Cont from above post..... Vitamins that I'd taken this time, b, complex, magnesium/d3 , omega 3, Vit c and zinc. And knowing the WAS the pill that caused this truly helped keep me strong untill it passed...so basically it took 7/8 month. If you read back on my posts four /5 month ago you will see how I was. Now I'm normal with the ODD minor blip during pms week...which happens to be now actually ! All is good in the end, and I will NEVER mess with my hormones again. Stay strong all if you, it really does get better, its just the negative frame of mind that your stuck in caused by hormones that makes you feel hopeless...just ride the rollercoaster and eventually it stops. !

Hi Everyone, I am very glad to have found this post.  I stopped taking Ortho tri cyclen-lo in August after heving been on it for 5 years.  I've always been a happy person, but also a perfectionist, anxiety prone, easily stressed person, as well.  My period became very irregular in college, due to a combination of stress, as well as my very active lifestyle (I'm a professional dancer).  So my main reason for being on the pill was to regulate my period.  I decided to go off of it to see if my body could regulate itself, which it has not yet, and after a false diagnosis of PCOS, my endocrinologist diagnosed me with Hypothalamic Amenorreah.  I've always been a worrier, but for the past couple of months, I haven't felt at all like myself and can barely make it through a day without most of my thoughts being consumed by worry and anxiety.  I do think that I get enough sleep-about 7 hours/night, and I am very active, but the minute I have a moment to myself, I just feel off and like my ability to LIVE my life is being blocked by something.  There is nothing concrete in my life that should be making me feel this way, so I am really hoping it is just my body trying to regulate itself and that time will help, as it seems to have with others on here.  Any advice or vitamins/supplements that have worked for others?  Thank you so much.