anxiety attacks after stopping birth control

I wish there were more stories of recovery from this. I have been strugling for 8 months and altho I can honestly say Im nowhere near to how I started I still feel crushed by the anxiety almost panicky feelings. I've noticed its worse meaning less manageable the last two weeks of the cycle. Oh how I wish I could make this go away.

Hi everyone,

I posted a few months ago. I have been going through hell for the last 6 months because I made the mistake of going back on birth control and now I recently went back off again. PLEASE do not get back on birth control. It is not a fix and it will just make everything worse. One thing that can help a ton is a healthy diet. I've recently been learning a lot about the plant based diet. If you get a chance, pick up the book called "How not to die" by Dr Michael Greger. He explains how our body is effected by what we eat and we can cure many diseases from implementing a healthy diet. Yes we can use progesterone creams or estrogen creams but in the long run that's still as much of a "fix" as birth control would be. It may help us get through a few months to get back on track but diet is so so so important. Every time that I have researched how to balance hormones or neurotransmitters or your thyroid naturally, it shows I need to eat more spinach or eat more protein, nuts and cruciferous vegetables. Women in the eastern countries rarely even go through menopause symptoms or PMS because of their diet. Dairy is one of the worst things for us as it causes inflammation. He also explains that meat is the same with the inflammation problem. I have done so much research and it's crazy. It's hard trying to explain everything in one paragraph but I have had to do my own research because most medical doctors know nothing about diet. As everyone has mentioned, seeing a naturopathic doctor is a great idea. They understand all of this and they don't try to push drugs like the medical doctors do. My naturopathic doctor tested me for the MTHFR mutation and I am compound heterozygous. This gene mutiation has to do with how we process folic acid. Here's an important piece I found "So if your body is not activating folic acid, it could be disrupting other nutrients and processes, including the production of neurotransmitters, detoxification of estrogen, and production of usable vitamin B12. This can result in anxiousness, fatigue, brain fog, as well as increased risk of cancers, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. But it also means we need to proceed carefully when we start giving methylfolate, because all of these processes will be affected." I think it is important that everyone has this test done as well so that you can start taking the correct form of folic acid.

I am so glad I am not the only, I really needed to see this! I thought it was just me. I've tried explaining to family and friends when I had anxitey attacks but just had people tell me that I'm over-reaccting... I really needed this and I'm glad to see that after a few months it goes away... Hopefully in a few more months I'm back to normal.

Same situation with me. I am trying to pass it on my own and by reading success stories in this thread and i think i need to share my story aswell.
I am 24.My story begins in September when i was prescribed Yaz by my dermatologist and ob/gyn because of the cystic acne i had on my chin. Before that i did a total hormonal chek up and everything resulted in order,my hormones were just fine,despite this both my docs gave me the pill.they said it would fix my chin perfectly and they never mentioned any side effect.i was so happy.i started them in the beginnig of September.the fisrt days were fine excepts from some nausea which i didnt pay much attention but after the first couple of weeks i started grandually being overemotional,angry i would cry for hours for the most stupid thing.i told my mom these pills were getting me very emotional but she was so happy my face was finally almost clean that she just ignored me.i was happy too that my face was getting cleaned.the ups and downs with my humor continued,fights with my boyfriend all the time,getting angry with my father which i love so much and normally never argue with,crying for nothing etc..my period at the end of the first month lasted only 2 days while it usually lasts much more.i started the second pack and it was all the same..but my face was near to perfect and i could handle my mood swings..until one week before i'd end the active pills of the second pack. October 29 ,I was sitting in the couch with my boyfriend watching tv and smoking a cigarette when it all started...FULL BLOWN MIND!! Crazy heart rate,shaking hands and body,crying,whats happening with me,whats all this, im dying im going crazy..and it lasted for about 10 mins but i couldnt sleep all that night..my mind couldnt stop thinking..racing thoughts,crazy thoughts which i couldnt stop!..the next day i felt like sb hit me all night.i was exhausted.it had never happened to me before so i didnt know what was it.i thought that was it..ill sleep fine tonight and it will go.BUT NO! After what happened i couldnt sleep anymore! I could sleep only 2-3 hours/night..i went to see my university prof, a psychiatrist, im a medicine student.she made me do some tests and her answer was you have anxiety and a little depression.she prescribed me bromasepam,vit B6 and Mg for a month,(only took vit B6 and Mg).I accidentally told her that im taking contraceptive pills too,and her answer was that might cause this too but she didnt pay much attention. Immediately after the visit i went to my parents home.I told them everything was happening..that i needed support, that i dont recognise myself anymore.they thought i was overreacting.Usually i am full of life,i laugh a lot,i have good sense of humor and i always have an optimistic view of life,nothing has ever scared me, i am very selfconfident. What happened to me?? Thinking all the time what changed in my life that made me like this and not finding anything! Good life, wonderful family and boyfriend,wonderful school. Nothing bad..and still i felt on the edge.the only thing that changed was that i was taking Pills now.i thought i was going crazy.At my parents house i continued not to sleep despite how tired i was, not eat despite all the good food my mum was cooking.i couldnt move from the bed and i still felt miserable staying there.i felt paralised,foggy brain,shortness of breath,anxious,feeling bad about myself,JUST NUMB! I was a zombie.
I finished my second pack of pills and decided to quit forever. i thought that soon it would be everything like before but i was wrong. Here begins the real nightmare.Besides all the symptoms that i already had, i started having intrussive thought( why am i alive,who am i,what is the world,why are we here,who is God,what is all this??)I couldnt look at people,they looked like aliens ,everything freaked me out.It was a nightmare.
But ladies,there is HOPE!
I ve been one month off Yaz now and things are getting everyday better.I didnt have any other panick attack after the first one.I dont have intrussive thought anymore and my sleep has got better even though i dont sleep as i did before. (I used to sleep like a panda lol )I dont have anymore shortness of breath and loss of appetite, i really eat a lot now :P..Things that have helped me are:
1-Stories of success in this thread whenever i felt down and i thought i couldnt make it. 2-Knowing that this is not me going crazy,these are my hormones trying to balance after stopping their production although they were fine.3-Knowing that it is temporary,nothing lasts forever,and so wont my hormones be imbalanced for ever. 4-Eating well and taking a multivitamine everyday. 5-no coffee,every night a chamomile tea. 6-Not staying in bed all day thinking about what happened to me, instead go out and do all the work/school i have to do even though i dont want to or i dont feel like it. 7-dont feed your thought and dont fight them,let them come and go without effecting you,if you feed/fight them they'll return much worse and kill you.
I am still recovering, i am still not the old me, but i want to and i will win this fight! So can you!
We can do this Ladies!

Thank you for posting your success!!!

Has anyone had severe hypochondria as a result? I'm two months off the pill and still struggling a lot and always concerned there's something physically wrong with me :(

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Update so I posted back in August 2015. I had stopped the pill and full blown anxiety,intrusive thoughts,ocd and some depression caused by the prior set in. I also experienced on and off twitching on my toes,cheek,arms which haven't completely gone away after over a year..still have my 2 toes on my feet twitching on and off the arm and face twitching went away. Point of my story is I'm not better but I'm like 35% better I think its a long way to go but improvement has been seen. This is testing you as a person, it requires a lot of soul searching to really get to know yourself and say "okay this is the problem, I accept it lets find the solution". its harder said than done at the beginning I would cry everyday and felt it was so unfair to me that my world just came crashing down when everything (school,relationship,work,family etc) was great how I was a victim of my own brain and thoughts and something I couldn't escape all day everyday. I really felt ..defeated to say the least. I'm still going thru it but what helps is knowing that something somewhere went wrong with the starting and stopping the pill, that we are not our thoughts and that although it seems like a long time we will get to the finish line slowly but surely. I went to therapy I think that seems to help 1x every 2 weeks. I also take fluoxetine which is an anti depressant but tbh don't feel any different so tapering off..I was taking celexa before it didn't really work either...so I think this is a time,faith and let your body self-heal type of thing. I wanted solutions and fast I felt so horrible I tried Chinese herbs,acupunture,aromatherapy etc.etc.etc and the only thing that helped was my mom saying "your adding herbs,acupunture this that...Just let your body heal..just like a broken bone takes months and months to heal..let your body heal. Just eat good,exercise,have faith." that seems to be the only thing that has really helped when I was in the search of googling what was wrong with me everyday and only talking about my anxiety and obsessing over a solution I found myself just thinking more and more of it. Until the moment I kind of said "Okay yes I have a problem, my serotonin in brain is probably low or hormone levels. Let me exercise daily and eat better. I know I know I will get back.." just reminding me that positive affirmation made me be hopeful as opposed to when I would say "omg I'm a good person, why is this happening,what if I lose my bf,my friends,what if I go mad,whats wrong with me,what if mental illness run in my family...am I going to be like this forever. I'm probably not going to be able to get married,have kids..have a normal life with anxiety 24/7. Is this what I have to live now forever"......I kept making myself feel worse. Its so hard but we must be gentle and say positive affirmations to ourself "law of attraction" have faith you will get better. I know I'm nowhere close but I'm closer to myself than a few months when your only choice is to stay positive and root for yourself it really makes you feel a bit like a warrior like "I'm here ive dealt with this problem over a year.still dealing but babysteps and theres nothing that has not happened in terms of thought or fears that I wont overcome".

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Hello, can I ask how long you were on birth control for? And what brand? Are you managing a work life? I'm off since May 2015 and I'm not healed yet. It took me a year to get a period and when I got my period my anxiety got worse. I'm hopeful I'll heal but it's taking a lot longer than I anticipated. I tried 2 anxiety med and they didn't agree with me. I've been tempted to go back on birth control. It's so hard to ignore these things. I know googling all the time doesn't help and I'm sure it's hampering my recovery. I just can't help researching online. I do know my anxiety is better than it was a few months ago but I'm in a depressed state now. Tired a lot. It's hard to get past. I know it's hormonal but I wish my hormones would hurry up and settle down. :(

Hi,
I'm just wondering if going back on birth control worked? Did the anxiety go away?

Hi, I'm just wondering if you recovered?

Anxiously waiting did you recover in the ends? It's a nice awful experience. I'm still not healed.

Hi Sarah, just wonrdering did going back on the pill help you? Did the anxiety go away?

Just wanted to see how you are doing since this incident. I am going through something similar. However, I already take an SSRI for my anxiety and depression. I also work night shift and will be getting off of it. Hopefully that helps. I might just have to go back on yay though. I can't live like this. How did you cope?

Just wanted to see how you are doing since this incident. I am going through something similar. However, I already take an SSRI for my anxiety and depression. I also work night shift and will be getting off of it. Hopefully that helps. I might just have to go back on yay though. I can't live like this. How did you cope?

I have these exact symptoms! This thread has been my saving grace! I still don't feel quite right though! I went off birth control for about 2 weeks and then went back on..I thought nothing of it. I had recently quit smoking so I assumed my anxiety was from
That until it became unbearable and the bizarre/irrational thoughts began to terrify me. Can anyone who has overcome this tell me how long it lasted? I know everyone is different but I am terrified!!