Feeling depressed after stopping the birth control pills?

I am sorry you have to go through this awful stuff. I am at work and I just had a panic attack! I am not sure if it is because I just got my period today. The week leading up to my period was pure hell. I am leaving work early because I have an appointment with a therapist because of all of this. It is so frustrating to feel like you don't have any control over how you feel. You feel like a prisoner in your own body. I so desperately want to feel better. It makes me want to SCREAM!!!. If it wasn't for this forum I don't know what I would do.

I know how you feel and i’m so sorry. Do you have a boyfriend? are your feelings with him the same?

I feel weird when I’m away too. I used to miss him so much and now it’s kind of just a blah feeling. I miss him but like don’t feel anything if that makes sense

Oh my gosh that’s me right now. It’s hard because i know i love him but lately i’ve just been kinda like oh miss you too without really seeming sincere. I’m excited to go see him but like it’s fine if i don’t see him for a couple more days. I don’t know. Do you think it’s all hormones?? He’s seriously the love of my life. Been in love with him since i was like 13 i’m now turing 19 so why all of the sudden am i messed up on our feelings you know?

I am married. It’s hard I feel so detached from myself that it is hard to connect with my husband. I love him so much and he has been so patient with me. I just want to show him all the love he deserves, but it is hard when you don’t feel yourself. I think Love is a choice even though I don’t always feel those feelings I have to trust that there is a reason why I married him and I hold on to that. I know in my heart I love him and I try not to rely on my feelings all time since they seem to be so inconsistent. I feel for you this is one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. Try to rely on your instincts and not your feelings since are feelings are so out of whack.

I feel detached from him and a lot of things actually. It has to be hormones because i don’t know why all of us girls have the same feelings you know? It’s the strangest feelings. It hurts so much but sometimes i feel so blah about everything including him and i don’t even have energy to care sometimes. It’s so strange when i feel like i don’t know him. Like his face and his voice. I’ve known him for years and all of the sudden after stopping birth control i don’t? I’m sure that this will fade away with time and i’m really hopping everyone that suffers through this stays with their partner!! I can’t imagine being with anyone else and i know i say i feel blah sometimes but once i think about someone else being in my life it feels so wrong and i get a pain in my heart. i obviously love him.

I’ve been off 4 months now and still have feelings of no emotion which scares me.. it’s like I can’t feel happiness. I just want to go back on birth control to be able to feel again

Hey Everyone,

I've been following/positing on this forum for about 2 months now. Next Friday I will be off of birth control for exactly 3 months. My story is a little different, as my symptoms started when I switched to a new birth control after being on the same one for a year, and then when I started the new one all hell broke loose. I had to stop taking birth control altogether, and my symptoms persisted and even became worse at times. To this day, I still struggle with anxiety - its actually gotten a lot worse over the past month, to the point where I have trouble leaving my house (agoraphobia) without feeling anxious or like I'm going to pass out. I also have weird head pressure, dizziness, fatigue, and brain fog (most of these, most likely, are symptoms of the anxiety). The worst part about this situation is that in the beginning/middle of May I began to feel better. I started seeing glimpses of my old self again and was able to engage in activities I loved and not feel as anxious. Then towards the end of May when my period was coming due, I experienced a level of anxiety and depression I have never had before in my life and had two scary anxiety/panic attacks that made me not want to leave my home again. This high level anxiety continued for about 2-3 weeks (before, during, and a little while after my period) and now my next period is due in about a week and I am terrified that the anxiety will increase again. The point here is though, I can absolutely see that these symptoms are linked with my cycle and therefore have to do with my hormones, so yes - the birth control pill did change something in me to cause me to be this way now. All I can do is pray and hope that one day, someday, things will level out. Some days are way more difficult then others, but I have been playing the anxiety game for a long time now so in a way, I kind of know what to expect and the good news is - although it may feel like it at times, your anxiety will not kill you. It tricks your mind into thinking it will, but it actually can't hurt you. I just have to keep that all in mind when I'm going through anxiety attacks and feeling awful. 

I hope and wish for everyone on here to find some sort of peace as we are trudging through this hell. It is tough, no doubt the most difficult 3 months I've gone through in my 31 years of being alive. 

Hi Anna, I just hit three months in the middle June and I feel terrible. I feel so detached from everything. I through a bridal party today and I wanted to cry the whole time. I feel like I am stuck in this mental prison and I hope and pray that I will find a way out!!!

I'm so sorry you are feeling terrible. Believe me, I know the feel all too well. I also feel very detached, and if I am not struggling with anxiety I'm struggling with derealization/depersonalization. Being stuck in a mental prison is a good way of putting it... but good for you for throwing the bridal party and holding it together. I know, things like that are really tough for me right now too.. even just going to the grocery store gives me anxiety. We will get through it though. How long were you on birth control for before coming off? What are some of your other symptoms aside from feeling detached from life?
Take care,
Anna

Hey Anna,
I was birth control for 3 1/2 months. By then end of the second to third months I started feeling really depressed and I anxiety attack’s almost daily which sent me into emotional upheaval. The symptoms I have are depersonalization/dearealization, high anxiety, depression, not wanted to eat because I just feel so weird. The thing I hate the most is the depersonalization/Derealization. Like I said I was throwing a bridal party today and I felt terrible like I know all these people, but I don’t feel a emotional connection. When they talk it’s almost weird because I feel like I shouldn’t understand what they are saying words sound weird, but I comprehend them. If that makes sense. I HATE THIS!!!

I have all of those symptoms too, I know it truly is awful. I feel weird a lot too, I don't even know how to really describe it... its like, just not like myself at all and kind of "off." Sometimes when I go out into a crowded place or even just outside I start to feel anxious and worried. I never experienced anything like this before the birth control. I do know what you mean about not feeling an emotional connection to the people around you, that is really hard for me too. For me, sometimes even when people who are close to me are talking its like I don't even care what they are saying, I just want to get away and be alone. I feel so so guilty about it too and so disconnected. Have you talked to your doctor at all about all of your symptoms?

I have spoken to my therapist about it. He suggested maybe I should go get all my hormones checked out and maybe get on some kind of antidepressants like Zoloft. I am not opposed to going on a antidepressant, but I have read some of the posts were the girls complained that it made their symptoms worst. I feel so fragile right now and I am afraid the antidepressant would make me feel worse. I feel like a lot of us on here are really sensitive to hormonal changes.

I’m 19 and have been with my boyfriend since we were 15 and I know how sad the feeling is to feel so distant from this person. I went through the faze of not knowing his face. I would look at him and just feel so weird and confused and so different! It completely sucks. I think we are also so young and I often feel like oh maybe I should experience more, or maybe he’s not right for me, or maybe I’m too young to settle and 10000 other thoughts that cause a lot of my anxiety! This has only started to happen when I went on birth control and unfortunately when I came off as well

THIS. this is exactly how i feel and it’s the most horrible feeling. The whole “i look at his face and can’t recognize him.” it’s so horrible. I think it’s just anxiety making you block him out of our brain. Because it’s just so painful your mind just snaps and distorts a lot of things. But i’m not 100% sure. It’s also like my memory. I feel like i don’t really remember doing things with him. I look at old pictures of us and i remember that memory but i feel like since i don’t remember his face too much i just block out the memory in whole. It’s hard to explain especially to him when he thinks i’m falling out of love. I keep worrying thats the issue as well. I really really cannot stand this feeling. I just keep telling myself that if i didn’t love him i wouldn’t be so upset and worried about this. I just feel like it’s never going to go away and that would force us to break up. at the same time i’m hopeful it will slowly fade once the hormones start getting balanced and it will make us stronger! please keep me updated! I’ve only had this once i got off birth control right when i got my first period.