This is Anna again! Just wanted to thank you for coming back here and responding to me again :) I spoke with my doctor and he wants me to come back in for an appointment next week because I am still experiencing these symptoms after being off the BC pill for 3 weeks this week. After reading a lot of the posts in this forum, it seems that it may take much longer than that for many of the symptoms to subside and improve so I don't know if its even worth it to go to the appointment. I think his plan is to get me back onto the brand birth control I was on before with no issues. I'm honestly torn now and don't know if that is a good idea after everything I've been through I didn't think I'd ever want to take any form of birth control again, but if it would mean these symptoms would go away, maybe I should try? I don't know what to do.
I know what you mean...I should have never taken that generic prescription. I'm so sorry you went through that and had to go to the hospital. Its so weird, before this, I would have never thought that birth control/hormones could do that. Your post and a lot of the other posts on here have given me hope though, even though a lot of people write that months later after stopping the pill they are not 100% back to their normal selves, they have had much improvement and are able to actually do some of the things they did before. Thank you for your advice about not being alone and staying busy. I try to do both of those things and they seem to help me not think about my symptoms as much. I also started to see a therapist again and this evening is my second appointment with her. I'm hoping she will be able to help me work through the anxiety issues and depression. I am trying to just look at this rough time in my life as just a phase, but when the symptoms really hit it just feels like it will never end. I will try and stay positive and will also try and update on here for anyone else who comes here and is curious. Thank you again for your kind response, I hope you continue to feel better and that your symptoms completely go away very soon! Take care!
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Im soo happy your doing so much better. i was in a bad state back then too!! im just happy that i still did things when i was anxious because i look back and im happy about going out with friends etc.
but now that im fully single and want to experience life on my own, i really hope i can get down to the core reasonings for my anxiety, i want to change my mindset, i hope i see clarity on this journey!
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Reading your post makes me remember myself a few months ago. Your story is very similar to mine. After i stopped bcp cold turkey November 2017 the first 2 weeks I was fine... then the 3rd week that's when it hit me hard. I couldn't understand what was happening to me. I have no energy, my muscles all over my body feels weak, i feel sick but i dont have a fever or anything. I went to the doctor and went to the ER because i was terrified of what i was feeling. All of those check ups told me i was fine and there's nothing wrong with me whatsoever. That added to my worry because deep down inside me I know I'm not well.
I stopped working and moved back to my parent's home. Being alone scared me. I did not go out of the room and did not shower foralmost 2 weeks because I'm afraid of something i dont understand. Christmas passed and I felt miserable.. then my cousin asked me what i changed in my routine. That's when It dawned on me.. i stopped the pill. I did my search online and found this forum. Reading hundreds of testimonies from women around the world similar to mine. I felt relieved. Finally an answer. During those times i have days where i doubt its the hormones but looking back at the stories of women here it's not a coincidence.
I took action right away and by January 8 i had my first session of acupuncture and the next day I saw my naturopath. Months 2, 3 & 4 i will not lie - were the hardest times of my life. There are days I just cry all day miserable if it will ever get better.. there are so so days but mostly bad days. What helped me are:
-meditation
-l theanine
-acupuncture
- vitamin b complex
-journal
-eat healthy
After the 4th month that's where i saw the change. I can say i felt 50-60% better. In mt journal last March i had 17 good days.. 3 bad ones and the rest are so so days.
Now I'm on my 5th month. Will hit 6th month on May 9. I can go out now and do the things i used to do little by little. Though there are still days synptoms will come back and they are random symptoms .. you will learn how to manage it. Right now i feel some symptoms came back.. i dont know if its my period finally coming after 4 months of being absent or what but it's still scary sometimes.
Don't go back on the pill. Better to get it out of your system now. Just message if u need to talk.
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Hi Martha,
This is Anna. Thank you so much for your reply! Honestly, the thing that has helped me the most since all of these symptoms have come up is finding this website/forum. It sounds like our stories are very similar indeed, and I'm sorry for what you went through. I know what you mean...being alone really scares me too sometimes. I live with my boyfriend but I work from home and he is gone for 8-9 hours a day, so I've been trying really hard to keep busy. I find that when I have something I am actively working on (be it a work project or just talking to a friend on the phone, playing a game, reading etc...) I have less time to dwell on my symptoms and although they are usually still there, I don't think about them as much. Another thing I have found that really helps me is exercise. I haven't been able to go to a gym since this happened, but I swim laps almost daily for 45 minutes - an hour and that really helps. I feel a ton better after. The hardest part for me right now is just being tired and having that weird "foggy" feeling most of the time. I don't think you mentioned it in your response to me, but did you ever get that weird foggy feeling? Thank you so much for letting me know what has helped you most during this - I actually have my first ever appointment with an acupuncturist next week - really hoping that will help! I'm so happy that you have noticed a change and are feeling better these days. At the same time, I am not sure I can last for 4 or 5 months with these symptoms. I definitely feel like this experience will have a lasting impact on me, it has changed me so much already. I feel like a lot of it is out of my control right now and I just need to allow my body to heal and the hormones to go back to normal. Thank you again for responding, I definitely could use someone to talk to. This is a really difficult time and both mentally and physically stressful and exhausting but at least I know the cause of all of my symptoms, which makes me feel better.
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Hi,
I hope you are doing okay. I am on my third week off the pill (exactly 3 weeks tomorrow) and could use someone to talk to also. What are some of the symptoms you are experiencing since being off the pill? I know its really tough right now, but reading this forum has really helped me...there are so many women who have gone through the same thing and they have all made it out and gotten back to normal, even if it has taken a while. My name is Anna by the way, feel free to chat on here or let me know if you'd like to exchange e-mails and talk that way? Take care, and remember you're not alone and you will get through this!
-Anna
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Hello all its James again,
It has been a while since my last post. Unfortunately my girlfriend who I think is going through this Post BC stuff but won't believe it has broke up with me. I am broken. She told me that she wants to be alone and she can't be with me. She said she sees me being with someone so much better than her and can't do this any more. Have any of you had these kinds of thoughts? Is that what you are talking about when you say ROCD? I asked her if we can still be friends for now hoping that we can get back together down the road but I am on the worst rollercoaster of my life and the woman I love has basically cut me off totally. Do I just need to let her be for a couple of weeks and hope she misses me? It is so hard because for the last several months (she came off pill about 6 month ago) she would tell me she was feeling sad so I would try to cheer her up and be there for her but I didn't think anything of it really. Then she freaked out one day ( 1 month ago) and said she was tired of pretending that everything was alright between us and she wanted space. After that I was basically too clingy and trying to be nice to her and spend time with her because at first that helped, now it just infuriates her.
Recently (Past 2-3 weeks) she didn't want to talk to me at all and then one day (last week) she talked to me for 2 hours on the phone and said everything was going to get better and she wants to go back to being us again and I wanted that too more than anything. The very next day after saying that she wanted to stay home and watch a movie and drink wine. I asked if I could join and she said no, so I tried to shrug it off and then got drunk at a party with friends. She showed up and I talked with her and I was drunk and emotional and that really made her made because she said she just wanted a night alone, what was so wrong with that and was so pissed at me that I was upset she didn't want to be with me. Is this like a mood swing kind of thing going on? Anyways, 4 days ago she said she just wants to be done and she can't be with me because of who I am and who she is. She did this all over text and refused to call me and tell me what was going on.
This has been the worst couple of weeks of my life, I think she has fallen out of love with me. Have any of you felt this way towards your partners? Does this sound like ROCD stuff? Does this stuff get better? I basically just really want to know if I should keep trying to hang on or totally exit her life... I really don't want to and it would kill me to do that but if it would make this stuff easier for her than I will.
Again, thank you ladies for your posts and I appreciate any guidance you have to offer me. I haven't gone through what you have with coming off the pill and the negative things associated with that but I do assure you that the other side of it (the boyfriend/husband side) really really sucks too!
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Hi James,
I'm so sorry to hear about the things you and your girlfriend are going through right now. I'm sure it is no fun on your side either. If it really is post BC symptoms she is going through, as someone who is also going through it right now (this is my third week off of the pill), I can tell you that it is miserable. And while I never had any relationship OCD type issues yet, I have had terrible mood swings and been horrible to my boyfriend. For me, the mood swings started while I was still on the pill and continue now (among a bunch of other issues, both mental and physical) and I often find myself wanting to be alone too...which is difficult at times because my boyfriend and I live together. Some things that he does really irritate me and when I'm having a really bad mood swing or depressed, the littlest thing he does sets me off so I find myself holing up in the bedroom and just wanting to stay away from him. I'm not sure how long you and your girlfriend have been together, but I have been with my boyfriend almost 5 years now and I found that telling him everything that is going on with me right now is easier than holding it in. Even while feeling this awful, I can't justify treating him poorly without any explanation. The thing is though, if it is post BC depression/anxiety/issues that your girlfriend is going through...just know that its really not at all about you. It is the hormones that are making her feel this way as her body and mind work to adjust. This can take quite a while from what I've read on this site. In the end, you can't force her to be with you and if she needs time away from you then I say you give her that. Its okay to check in every now and then and see how she's doing, but you have to let her work through this whole thing. I know this may not be the answer you're looking for, but its just my opinion as someone who is most likely dealing with many of the same issues as she is right now. Its really tough going through this and also having a partner you are trying to please as well. Hang in there, give it time, give her space if thats what she needs. Take care!
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I see what you are saying and I really do just need to come to terms with it and leave her be on her own for a while before I make things even worse between us. I was trying so hard for so long that I wasn't really myself anymore and that made her more sad. I'm very very afraid of the thought of losing her totally but that is a risk I'll have to take to ever have a chance to be happy together again down the road.
I know I'm mostly not the reason she is acting the way she is but it doesn't make it feel any better. It just sucks that I still feel in love like we were before all this and she can be so distant and recently, mean. That blows my mind.
And Anna I know that you will get through this alright because you are talking about how you feel and you are researching why you are feeling the way that you do. My girlfriend would get mad at me for trying to talk to her about these things and she would just say she feels crazy. Most importantly tell your BF how you are feeling and that you do want alone time and the worst thing he can do is take that personally (I made that mistake many many times before I found this forum). Just be open with him and he will likely understand and be supportive because you two have been together for so long. My advice is that even though there might be 20 bad things that happen in one day, take one good thing and dwell on that... Whether it be the fact that it was a nice sunny day or you found a dollar on the ground or your boyfriend's favorite sports team won. Things could always be worse and taking a good thing and dwelling on it helps me know that the sun will come up tomorrow and that things will be alright in the end.
I wish you all the best of luck and I will post on here when I have more news of what has happened on my side of things. I am subscribed to this page now so will see if anyone replies to me. Stay positive everyone you will get through this :) Also any more advice for me would be appreciated!
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Just wanted to check, can you clarify if you mean you felt better after going back on the pills or you feel better after you stopped them and some time passed without taking them? Reason I ask is because my doctor suggested I go back on my birth control to see if the issues will go away if I continue feeling this awful within the next month, so just wanted to check if that is what you did and if it worked well for you?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
-Anna
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Back when I was 18, sex with my boyfriend started to become very painful and burned. A few months of this and I started taking the pill for about a year and a half. This helped the pain and I felt great overall. The only setback during this time was that I began experiencing migraines with aura (vision problems) though I didn’t know at the time that this was related to estrogen. Eventually, my eye doctor told me that I needed to stop taking estrogen immediately because it increases your risk of stroke if you experience aura.
Then I started taking the mini pill (progestin only) for about 7 months. Sex started to become slightly uncomfortable again but not unbearable. I also started gaining weight and getting back acne. My cycle was also out of whack, and the gyn kept saying it would regulate in about six months. Around months five and six, I was getting my period every other week. At this point, I switched medications and doctors.
I started depo provera (the shot of progestin). My new doctor also listened to my concerns about discomfort more seriously. He said I have some issue with estrogen where I’m deficient in it, causing the dryness and burning during sex, but also was unable to take estrogen orally due to the risk of stroke. So I was on depo for about a year and started using an estrogen cream.
Things seemed better for a while, I would get my period about once every three months and feel great. Eventually though, I started getting it for 2-3 weeks after not having it for two months and also had terrible cramps that I hadn’t experienced since before I ever started any form of bc.
After 1.5 years on the pill, 6 months on the mini pill, and 10 months on depo, all back to back, I finally decided to stop. At this point, I thought if I just took the estrogen cream I’d be fine. I had no idea the terrible emotional and mental toll that coming off of bc can cause in some people.
I’ve always been a somewhat anxious person, but it was more of issues like social anxiety that I was familiar with and knew I could overcome. The anxiety after stopping birth control has been one of the most challenging things in my life. The anxiety attacks became common in the first two months after stopping. I had a lack of motivation, overate to combat these feelings, didn’t care that I wasn’t trying hard enough in school. During the third month, the attacks subsided and the general anxiety seemed more manageable. Towards the end of the third month, I started working out more rigorously and it did help my mental state a lot and I thought I might have squashed these negative feelings for good.
Now, almost five months off bc, I feel defeated. Even with working out, I started having anxiety attacks again and even wake up to them. I have felt disconnected from myself and everyone around me for the last two weeks. I saw another commenter mention she felt like she was even questioning her feelings for her boyfriend, and that is exactly what I feel even though I know rationally it’s not true. He has been here all these years and been a huge support with all of these issues. It’s had a real strain on our sex life at times and caused a lot of stress. I usually am intensely emotional about this issue in my life. But now I suddenly feel empty and want to isolate myself from everyone I care about. I know it’s not my fault, but I feel disappointed in myself because I thought I had this anxiety problem taken care of, and now it comes back along with feelings of emptiness and detachment from myself.
I really appreciate reading eveyone else’s stories on here and it gives me hope that all of this will eventually go away for all of us.
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I really don't think I can take this anymore. Last week (third week off BC) I felt a little bit of improvement but it all came crashing down this weekend. Friday I felt a little off all day and then had severe depression and anxiety in the evening, Saturday I was fine during the day until I woke up in the early morning hours with extreme anxiety about my health (worrying I was going to have a seizure or die in my sleep), Today (Sunday) has been a train wreck of a day. I woke up feeling foggy/groggy and it didn't improve at all. Usually my "foggy" feeling lifts for at least a few hours during the day, but not today. It stayed with me all day and I couldn't do anything except lay in bed and watch TV most of the day. I would randomly get emotional over little things and cry throughout the day. Mood swings. Then in the evening the anxiety kicked in again...tense muscles, feeling dizzy and shaky, and I have had poor concentration all weekend...I can't even read anything without spacing out or getting distracted. I don't know what to do. I've been taking my anxiety medication but over the past few days it hasn't been doing too much to help and feels like it wears off quickly. I'm about to just go back on the pill at this point. I could really use some advice or someone to talk to tonight. This is the worst I have ever felt in my life and it feels like it will never end.
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