Feeling depressed after stopping the birth control pills?

Hey Shyla

At this stage, my tinnitus is the only thing lingering that really messes with me. I have no ringing in the ears,. I woke up in August and had a plugged ear for 1 month, ever since then my left ear feels more full anx I get that popping and comfort when I swollow.

When I went to ENT specialist they told me what I had was ETD and that it's something that goes away on its own. They couldn't tell me what caused it, but after A TON of research it is hormone related. I think what was adding to my discomfort and tight throat was silent acid reflux, which can mess with peoples ears. when I'm eating all the right things I don't have the whole ear dysfunction thing, it's not debilitating i should say.

After the pill I had a ton of food allergies so I may still be going through that. Right now I'm mostly vegan and am trying to do that full time plus eliminate all sweets except some fruits. I honestly don't know what to attribute the whole ear thing to, my chiropractor says I have a bit of TMJ going on, n I notice myself clenching during my sleep. My body just cannot relax. Silent reflux, TMJ can be caused by stress.

Head pressure is gone, I am sinusey at times. I think my main goal rn is to eat all the way clean n heal my gut with probiotics. hope u feeling better.

Hey everyone, I'm the guest who posted a few days ago about coming off of OTC 4 weeks ago. Well it's now been 5 weeks and as of this last week the insomnia has gotten worse. I'm typing this at 8:50am after not having slept a wink in two days. My anxiety is through the roof. I took 2.5mg of Valium around 10pm last night thinking it would help me sleep. I woke up again at 12am. So I took the other 2.5mg of the 5mg tablets my doctor prescribed. I fell asleep and woke back up at 1am and I have been awake ever since. The night before I could not sleep because Of my anxiety. I am physically and mentally exhausted. I can feel the anxiety getting worse and I feel very irritable and like I just want to break down and scream and cry. I have a 10 month old baby girl to care for mostly on my own. I cannot keep going like this. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you.

I feel your pain. I hate to say that all this is normal during the first 2-3 months, well for me it was.

I would take melatonin gummies or Valium to get me drowsy at night so that I could fall asleep, but I also had the same problem of waking up in the middle of the night or 3-4 am and not being able to fall back asleep.

You may want to call physician and see if you can double your dosage or get a higher dosage to take before bed. I know it's hard when you have a little one to take care of and be alert for. : ( so maybe see if someone can watch the baby the first night you try it out.

Magnesium in the powder form is a really good vitamin most of us are missing. The plus side is that it calms and makes you sleepy. I use the brand called CALM. It's worked the best this far.

Any teas that relieve stress and tension will help you relax. Try incorporating lavender in your soaps/ essential oils.

Start taking raw organic vitamins to help balance you out. make sure nothing in the vitamins are synthetic. Good start would be probiotic, b complex, multi-vitamin, magnesium.

Hope you feel better.

Right now I've just been taking the Alive brand multivitamin. It's supposed to have the full B complex vitamins. I haven't noticed any difference though. I've seen your posts about the different supplements you suggest but I'm a little afraid of taking anything that might mess with my hormones anymore. I've considered and researches evening primrose oil, St. John's wort, and Vitex. And I'm unsure of where to find all organic vitamins. If I can make it to a store soon I will look for a magnesium supplement.

I'm just so miserable. It's been 5 weeks and I almost feel like it's not even hormones anymore that this is actually who I am and I may be truly losing my mind. All I want to do is cry. I've never been more tired of something in my life than I am of feeling this way. And knowing it's the birth control helps but at the same time on particularly bad days it doesn't. Because even though I know what's causing it there's still no fix for it and all I can do is suffer for god knows how long until it's better. I'm sorry to vent like this I'm just at my wits end. The only support I really have is my mom and she gets frustrated with me sometimes.

A whole food raw/organic multi vitamin is the best way to go. That way you know nothing in there is synthetic.

I've heard really good things about vitex! Gaia makes an all natural vitex that has good reviews. I take evening primrose at times when I'm menstrating, like if I get really bad cramps and feel moody. I used to take everyday but It was giving me acid reflux so I stopped, plus I didn't notice a huge difference.

St. John's wort triggered my anxiety when I was still in the thick of things, I stopped taking. I really just needed stuff to calm and relax me. Everyone is different so if you wanted to try it's worth a shot.

What you're feeling is normal. Things will get better with every cycle. Have you had a period yet? Vitex is known to raise progesterone levels which regulates period cycles and helps with depression.

I was the same way with not wanting to take anything to alter my hormones anymore than what they were, but if they are all natural I make the acception, I've been feeling Really good since adding Oceans 3 healthy hormones to my daily supplements. It's a strong fish oil with added herbs to balance hormones.

Time, good supplements, healthy diet, rest, and light exercise are the only medicine, no quick fix unfortunately. I'm not sure where you are located but vitamin/ health stores, Whole Foods market, or even Amazon will carry all natural vitamins.

My apologies for the long response but I've been there, know how you feel and just want to help. It's hard when you don't know what's going on with your mind and body and the people around you can't sympathize let alone understand.

Yes I had my period and it was actually on time according to my tracker app. I just ordered some of the magnesium you suggested and an organic B complex. I'll see how those help and keep you posted. Thank you for all of your help. I just can't wait for this to be over.

I'm six months off and still struggling with a few things. Occasional depersonalization and things still look a bit distorted. Anyone else having weird vision? It could also just be mental. Things are too bright, look off, fish bowl effect sorta. I've had my eyes checked and they're alright.

Shyla

Is anxiety and insomnia your main issues? My doctor gave me progesterone cream to regulate my cycles which has helped and also Gaia Adrenal supplements. The nighttime ones have ashawaganda. Doctor said my adrenals and everything were out of whack so it's supposed to balance the whole endocrine system.

Also, raspberry leaf tea!! It's helped me a ton.

Prayers

Shyla

The anxiety has been going on since I stopped the pill, it was the first thing I noticed followed by depression. The insomnia recently started last week and has been worse the last few days. I am on day 3 with no sleep as of posting this. I'm going back to the doctor later this afternoon.

I have a question..how long have you been taking this pill?

I had the nexplanon in my arm in November. Got it taken out by mid December because it was causing me to feel this way. After a couple weeks of having it out I felt better so at the beginning of January I started the pill. I took one pack at the beginning of January, one at the end of January, one at the end of February and the end of march was when I was supposed to start the next one and I didn't. I had never been on birth control prior to having the implant.

I'm back, last night I finally slept a little after taking 5mg of Valium however I was still extremely nervous so I was forced to sleep on the floor in my moms room while the baby slept in bed with her. (Not enough room for all 3 of us). I woke up this morning feeling extremely anxious and having all kinds of irrational thoughts that persisted for hours. I literally was telling myself I need to be checked in somewhere. It's now noon and I still feel very depressed and nervous, but the thoughts have kind of subsided. I'm still having some very bad anxiety over bed time and not sleeping and I don't want to have to become dependent on sleeping on the floor in my moms room and having my baby sleep with her. (Me and the baby normally cosleep, she doesn't have a crib.) I am absolutely miserable and all I want to do is cry. This is quite honestly the worst I have ever felt in my entire life and I see no end in sight. I'm having bad thoughts like the only way out of this would be for me to just die. I don't want to feel this way anymore. I just want to sleep. I also haven't eaten much in the last 3 days. I will update if I feel better.

My name is Iris by the way. I'll start adding my name to each of my posts. I'm the guest who posted about being on Ortho Tri Cyclen for three months along with having the nexplanon prior to that.

Hey Iris. I think your body is undergoing a lot of stress which has your cortisol levels (stress hormones) out of whack. I used to wake up with hightened anxiety during the first 2-3 months when it was the worst. I remember gong to bed hoping to feel better in the morning to only be disappointed and scared. I take ashawaganda to balance out my cortisol levels and it helped a ton. My body now has a better reaction when I am under stress. Shyla, the other gal that posts on here will know about cortisol levels too, she sees a naturopath. Apparently our cortisol is really high in the morning if we are having an imbalance. You may want to look up effects of high cortisol or anything related.

Right now you are in the thick of things, it does get better with time.. I know that doesn't help much. At least you have the help of your mom with the baby. My daughter is 11 so shielding from what I was going through was really tough. She knew something was off and I just blamed it on a really bad sinus infection until I started feeling better, thats when I told her about the dangers of birth control and how she needs to take care of her body/ hormones. Wish someone would've pulled me to the side and let me know my body could go haywire.

If you don't work right now, to get you through the day and calm you, you may want to take half of a valium just to settle your nerves and thoughts. When I was as bad as you seem to be feeling I couldn't even watch TV, read, or focus on anything. Everything made me panic.

Just remember that these are your hormones, not who you are. Hopefully that reminder will comfort you somewhat. You may need to go get them checked, sometimes they come back normal, but no one knows what your normal range was before you got on the pill. Hormones fluctuate daily so its hard to get an accurate reading. There is a light.. its just a real dim dull light at first that gets brighter every month... ugh

Yes this takes from our quality of life but remember this will pass and its only temporary... feel better. These supplements can add up but also give you a little boost... 1) Ashawaganda 2) Vitex 3) Oceans 3 healthy hormones. I really recommend the Oceans 3, I swear it works. I've read reviews of women who take them after BC, as well as menopause.

You are not going crazy! Your hormones just need to work themselves out! Youre going to feel like sh*t all day for awhile, but it gets better! Diet, supplements, time are the true healers of this.

I bought some of the Organic B Complex Vitamins and I just started taking those yesterday. I also bought the Calm Magnesium you mentioned and I took it yesterday and I think it made me sleepy but I was also sleep deprived so I'm not sure. I may take it tonight before bed to see if it helps. I had ordered some vitex when this started but the bottle was damaged in the mail and I've yet to receive my replacement bottle. Those are the only supplements I can afford for now. :/ I have a job but I've been off the schedule since this started. My mom and my aunt have been supportive but they are both insisting I take the anti depressant I was prescribed. I refuse to take it because I am afraid of the side effects and the doctor told me that it takes about 6 weeks to notice a difference anyway. I told my mom how I felt about it and she told me I either take the medicine or not take it but deal with this the best I can but I can tell this is starting to take a major toll on her as well. And I'm afraid I will lose both of my support systems because I won't take the anti depressants. They feel as though I'm not trying to help myself.

Also I've had a song stuck in my head for the last 4 days, it was what kept me up one of the nights I couldn't sleep. Could this be part of the anxiety?