Feeling depressed after stopping the birth control pills?

My oceans 3 arrives today!! Praying it helps.
Shyla

Oh yey! I noticed I felt closer to normal or how I used to feel before within a couple days, some gals on the reviews took a couple weeks. I hope it helps too. I feel like we are all a little traumatized by this whole ordeal. Its not easy to snap out of either. Hormones and health should not be taken for granted!

What do you feel like it helped the most? Pressure and fog? Emotions? My emotions are getting so much better just still feel physically off.

Shyla

It's been a year and 2 months for me. I started taking pms comfort over 2 months ago and although I had improved gradually I see a bigger difference now with pms comfort.

I feel less foggy, that's for sure, I am getting over a cold so I have more congestion and pressure right now. Prior to catching this cold I had been taking allergy pill, Neti pot, and nose spray daily. That helps with sinuses, which I think a lot of what our stress and head pressure is related to.

But hormones can cause allergies too, I'm still on my first bottle of the oceans 3, I think it's helped both physically and emotionally. I store it in the fridge.

Hello. Are you talking about something like Evening primrose oil? I take that for cramps or when I'm feeling lousy while on my period.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of BC were you on? Did you hav any allergies/sinus issues? Anxiety? When did you start to feel better? How do you feel now? When are your rough times? Was your cycle regular after coming off the pill?

Sorry for all the questions.

I was on ortho tricy clen lo for 5 years. Had to come off for an emergency surgery in april 2015 and in those 2 months I became depressed and would cry all the time. I thought it was because i was stuck at home with my brocken foot but i was wrong. I went back on the same bc pills in june and then had a panick attack while having lunch at a restsurant of course At the time I thought my blood pressure had probably just gone up or something. Then i started having crying spells for no reason really there was no reason to be unhappy. My eyes became very sensitive to light my anxiety and depression would cause me to leave work crying until I started researching and realized it could be the birthcontrol pill. I stopped it cold turkey again and the first week or so it was a relief until the madness started. I could list all the horrible things I went throu and im sure you have heard them all racing thoughts anxiety depressed foggy mind like. Stomac upset etc. the first 3-4 months were the worst. Then little by little my good days became more noticeable. I did not take the anti depressive pills even though they were the first thing my doctor prescribed. Fast forward to now a year and 2 months later. I see a bit more anxiety around ovulation and right before and during my period. The feelings of depression seem to come swiftly just like a mood swing usually lasts a few minutes then it goes away unless I dwell on them. Same with anxiety you really have to put a lot on your part keep busy i srarted exercising 5 days a week and it does help my anxiety. I also do yoga twice a week. Have changed my eating habits although i could be better. I think yes more sinus like allergies especially around ovulation its worst some times i feel itchy that could be it. My periods were regular some what they just varied in lenght i could have 34 days one month and 25 or 15 the next but that was i would say for the first 7 months. Its not evening primrose i took that and became more anxious at night i researched and read somewhere that it can make u more anxious. I take a pill supplement of calcium magnesium and vit d3 morning and evening. Also take the pms comfort by dr heller look it up morning and evening i really think this has helped. Let me know if u have any questions always glad to help other girls that can relate to what we have experienced.

Thanks for a sharing your story. I'm seven months off and still having bad head feelings. Pressure, sorta dizzy, heavy headed. I'm just now having my third slightly normal period. Didn't have one from November to February. Did you have weird head feelings? I still feel super weird in stores. Lights too bright, disoriented. The fog is getting slightly better. Feel like I should be more improved than I am.

Shyla

Thank you for posting. I'll be 9 months off this Friday. While my anxiety is now very light, I still feel damaged and traumatized by all this. I have this ongoing fear that I'll never be the same, I feel better ever month which is a plus, it's just definitely been a slow healing process.

You described perfectly how when depression hits it only lasts for a few minutes and more comparable to a mood swing. Did you have any food or alcohol sensitivities?

Thanks again for taking the time to respond and share!

Yes the foggy mind was very present and sensutive vision especially in stores or places with fluorecence lights. But i am much better it has happened a few times but not like the beginning.

I have never been much of a drinker so i just don't think i have not noticed any food sensitivity do you? Do you get the same swift feelings of depression like the rug just gets pulled from under you? I too think that this has been so traumatic that every little change makes you worry and anxious about why am I feeling like this... will it ever go away but mostly I think its the fear of going back to that dark hole again. Also thinking that perhaps you really have a psychological issue then you read these posts and you say wow yeah its definetly these hormones...

I have had food and drink sensitivities. More so when I first quit the pill. I haven't had caffeine in around 8 months and I would feel really strange after eating starchy foods or anything high in sugar. I would also get a tightening of the throat after I ate something my body didn't approve of. It's not so bad now, but then again I've been eating more Whole Foods.

I've been able to exercise again too. The first 6 months off the pill I couldn't do any cardio or weight lifting without feeling light headed and having really bad anxiety/panic afterwards.

Slowly I've been coming out of the fog, the first 3-4 months I couldn't even concentrate enough to read 1 paragraph and couldn't watch tv because the light from the screen was too bright, it was also uncomfortable to watch the sunrise or set, that transition would really mess with my eyes. I also had blurred vision.

I couldn't watch the news without panicking on the inside. I would startle very easily, loud noises were a trigger also. I have to say you've been pretty on point with describing the little after effects I am now going through when it comes to the mental tug of war as I like to call it.

I feel like it took a full 8 months to start seeing more better days than bad days although the bad days remind me that I still have more healing to do. I have heightened anxiety during my period. Not so much around ovulation anymore, but it has happened.

How were you when it came to handling stress through out all this? My body literally could not handle a stressful situation for awhile, I would tense up immediately to the point where I got knots on my shoulders and neck, get light headed, a weird tingling feeling, shortness of breath, tightening around my chest. I would have to drink water and get air to calm down. Kinda sounds like a panic attack idk.

Thanks for the reply!

I think yoga has helped with the stress also exercising 5 times a week cause when I dont I feel more stressed. What you described is definetly panick it gets better i do think that the supplements im taking have help a lot though. Sometimes I think this will never go completely away its like pmdd and we have to deal with it.

If you dont mind me askind how old are you. Im 35 I have thought recently that all this could be perimenopause. All the symptomps are right on the dot.

I'll be 32 in a couple of weeks. I feel like a lot of these symptoms do mimic menopause and post partum depression, we've basically been put in a false state of pregnancy for however long we were on the pill. I think if this were menopause our periods would be more irregular and eventually go away all together, I could be wrong.

I shed a lot of hair for 7 months after the pill. I heard that happens after women have a baby and no longer have those extra pregnancy hormones.

I've given it a lot of thought and I feel like our bodies went into shock N forgot how to make their own hormones after we quit the pill. I know I started feeling very strange while in the mist of taking the pill because my body was not agreeing with synthetic man made hormones, but at that point it was already so used to not having to makes its own hormones that when I stopped the pill, all hormone production ceased which is probably why I felt so off balance.

Not to mention that the pill already caused its side effects: depleting nutrients, weight gain, etc. Depending on what condition our bodies were in would determine how well it could snap back to natural hormone production. Just my theory I could be wrong. I really don't want to believe this could be pre menopause. I don't think these hormone tests are completly accurate considering all the anxiety/panic I had but I did have FSH test that said I was within the normal range.

I was just browsing online and they have some pretty cheap at home kits to test whether or not this could be menopause. They were around $20, you could test on different days of your cycle to get a more accurate reading.

Where are you from? I am in the Bay Area CA.