Feeling depressed after stopping the birth control pills?

I got off the pill a month ago, and haven't noticed any symptoms or change. Are you all 100% sure depression and other mentioned side effects are due to stopping the birth control pill?

yep.

i came off the pill before and had no side effects. only when i changed pill, coming off it was absolute hell. you're just in the lucky majority, most people will probably not have a problem coming off it. trust i would have said the same as you before i switched pill.

Hi girlies! i last posted on 5/3/11, (I'd been on yasmin for ten years)... well its now nearly 2 months later and i have to say i am gradually improving! I've been off the pill for nearly 5 months now, and i'm not as depressed, angry and crying as much, I do still have the odd day where I feel a little depressed but not much at all! I'm taking agnus castus, evening primrose and vitamin B6, so whether its that which has helped I dont know! I'm gonna carry on taking them though just in case!

I have to say coming off the pill the strangest thing i've ever experienced and still very reassuring to read your posts. When i last posted I was more depressed than anxious, and as time goes on and the depression gets less and less, but I'm realising how anxious I still am! I read someones post earlier about magnesium for anxiety so i'm gonna try that! It so annoying cos its completely battered my confidence, which i spent so long building in the first place! Its like i've got butterflies, all the time for no reason, sometimes i think i must be excited about something, and then sometimes i think its a nervous feeling, but what ever it is, it follows me everywhere and also stops me from sleeping! so basically if i can get rid of that feeling then i'll be much better!

I am experiencing some other weird things like loss of appetite, feeling shaky, lack of concentration, strange blurry vision and still no period for 5 months (!!), but these are all things I can cope with! I expect once i get rid  of the anxiety, my period will return, everyone keeps telling me that stress will keep it away. I never thought I'd miss having a period! lol!

Anyway i thought i'd share some words of advice from my experiences:

WORDS OF ADVICE:-

* DONT GO TO THE DOCTORS! They are rubbish basically and all they want to do is perscribe something as quick as possible to get their appointment times down! They'll try and give you anti depressants and anti anxiety stuff which will only mask the problem temporarily, it WONT fix it.

* For mood swings/depression/general hormonalness, try agnus castus, primrose oil, and vitamin B6 for a few months (at least 3 months), but be sure to do your own research first incase its not suitable for you, (eg, allergies etc..)

* talk to as many females as possible, MEN WILL NOT GET IT! ..I basically went on facebook and asked some of my female friends if they've come off the pill and if they had any side effects.. out of 11 girls; 7 had no side effects, and 4 had similar symptoms to mine. So it was really reassuring to chat in person with them :)

* Dont think about it too much and KEEP BUSY! I honestly felt like i was going mad, but i found that going for a walk, or meeting up with friends and family, really helps.  Also, gardening, cooking/baking, swimming/spa/massages. Try to do these things with people though, not alone, as the more your alone the more you'll dwell on scary symptoms!
I also found reading helpful. (books about general everyday fictional stories... NOT about hormonal/pyschological stuff!).

* TRY to eat healthy! This has been so hard for me cos i've been so off my food but I've been asking my hubby to litterally force feed me vegetables and it definately helps!

I hope some of this has helped! I'm not claiming to know everything and I know I'm not completely better myself yet, but I just wanted to share this with you and hopefully it may help you!
I'm gonna try out some magnesium next and see if that helps the anxiety!
Stay strong girlies :o)
-cherry xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

it will be a month tomorrow since I've been off the pill these post have really helped I'm still early in the game and may I say I BEEN THROUGH HELL AND BACK..AND BACK AGAIN! This is unbelieveable..this means I have to spend my summer sick!

Angels- Just keep the faith...I know it's hard. I'm on day 18 of month 2 and I have had a good past few days but starting to go downhill again. I have found that positive thinking and not thinking too far out (such as summer..trips..etc). have kept me calmer! Good luck and prayers with you!

 BC has made my life miserable! i started it when i was 17, and just  got off it last May. I'm 27 now. I was on Yasmin. A month after i got off BC i fainted at my Boss' party. Wasnt drinking, had just eaten... etc... No one knew what happened or had an explanation for it. Was fine until September( when i went back to work, i'm a teacher.). I started to get heart palpatations, dizzines, foggy brain,anxiety off balnace, sweating.... I started to work with a holistic doctor who SWORE it was my hormones being unbalanced b/c of the BC. He put me on supplements to get my body back on track...It got a little better... Then in March i started to get swollen hands and feet, depressed, gained weight, wasnt sleeping.... (I eat VERY healthy, organic, and have been excersising regualry for 12 years now.) This would continue for about 3 weeks and then I would feel normal again... So it wasnt something I was doing! Happened in April, and now in May. I'm currently taking a saliva test.... Epanded Female Hormone Test... When im done with it... i send it in and they will test my hormones and send it to my doctor. Hopefully we can find wats going on!!!

guest1423 wrote:

anonymous wrote:

Hey everyone, this thread is AMAZING.

I stopped birth control 2+ months ago and I'm wondering what anyone has experienced during this time.

For the first month after I stopped birth control, I felt very off, had tons of anxiety and some depression. Overall I just felt weird and very, very, very bad. Then, the second month was pretty good, I got more active, more social, I did not feel horrible but the anxiety and bad feelings sometimes would show up, but WAY less. Then I finally had my first real period after about 2 months. During my period I felt good, but as soon as it ended, my anxiety went really really high again! I felt so horrible for about 3 days, and I had a panic attack for the first time in a long while. By now it's a few days later and I'm feeling a lot better for sure - but not 100% good. It feels like I had a major setback for about 3 days :(

I'm wondering how long it took people to feel really really okay again, and what sort of things people have experienced in the first couple of months coming off birth control.

Thank you all so, so much.

Me again! I'm here to update.

I am now 3 solid months off the pill. Since the bad anxiety I had about three weeks ago, for the first time since quitting BC I've had MULTIPLE GOOD DAYS scattered around. My anxiety, sadness, weird feelings are definitely not gone. They still come on a lot of days and I definitely still don't feel great all the time. But for the first 2 months off the pill I never felt like myself - had good/bad days, but still always felt foggy and weird. But now I've had so many more times where I feel like my normal self is coming out again! So, definitely not perfect, but things are changing!

I will continue to update from time to time.

Any of you ladies who have gotten PAST the awful symptoms, please come back and update! It helps so much to read good stories :)

Thank you for the prayer it's been almost three months since being off the pill most of my symptoms are gone but these few days I've been having trouble keeping my food down the sence of doom has returned with horrible anxiety in my calmer moments...OY I want off this ride already thank goodness I have an appointment to see another doctor this will be number 4 but I have this feeling this one is going to be tge right one after all it's a natural/holistic doctor I'll post again and let you know the 411 on it. Ask your angels for guidance ladies they can hear you ;)

Wow. Like every other woman on here, thank you for this post!!! I got off Loestrin about 3 weeks ago because I just didn't think the pill was healthy and I was happier using the fertility awareness method. Boy, did I find out it isn't healthy. After the first week my sex drive kicked in and I was like, "Oh, hi, there you are." I felt happy I'd stopped taking the pill and that I was returning to normal.

Now it's been 3 weeks and I do not feel I am returning to normal. I have been suffering severe anxiety/panic attacks, fuzzy brain, like I'm not even in my body or vertigo as one doctor told me it was, shaking hands, weak legs, insomnia, nightmares, fatigue, depression, stomach issues, etc. It's the worst in the mornings when I get up, but lasts on and off all day. I thought I was going crazy. I'm normally a very happy and active person. I was finally in tears one day wondering what in the hell is wrong with me?

Doctors are a waste of time. I thought I had an adrenal gland problem or a hypothyroid or a brain tumor. They told me it was only vertigo, anxiety disorder and depression and immediately wanted to prescribe medication. That's all doctors do is push drugs. 

Then I remembered when I went off the pill once before about 6 or 7 years ago and that I'd had some severe panic attacks during that time as well. I suddenly wondered if the symptoms I was having had to do with coming off the pill, and I found this post. I understand why doctors don't tell women about this because they want to push their drugs, but the fact that they ALL say, "Oh no, there aren't side effects if you stop, that's not what's wrong with you," is really shocking to me. These are doctors. They're supposed to be intelligent and know what they are doing. This has taught me they don't have a clue about the drugs they prescribe. I'll never take the pill again.

I also know this will pass with a few cycles as I recovered from my last experience. I started taking a multi vitamin, vitamin B, vitamin D and magnesium. I get out and exercise and keep active, and when I get that feeling like I'm leaking out of my head and my heart starts to race as I panic, I just remind myself that I'm hormonal, take a deep breath in through my nose, let it out through my mouth, and I do feel better. Then I put in a movie with Daniel Craig or Jeffrey Dean Morgan to give my hormones a kick and start them working again. Hang in there and take care of yourself and know you are not crazy anymore!! This too shall pass.

Good luck!!

i need infoo also

Jenny - OMG I've found a soul mate. Love Daniel Craig and am going through exactly the same experience as you.



I started Loestrin 9 weeks ago, had a terrible dizzy spell and panic attack and was whisked off to hospital by a silly nurse who said I may be having a stroke. I was in ER and admitted overnight, had MRI, CT scan, EKG, EEG, blood work the works. Nothing. I stopped taking the pill immediately because since starting it I'd felt worse each day till this incident.



No sooner did I stop then my world started to fall apart - constant dizziness, nausea, tingling, heavy limbs, chronic anxiety (much of it from wondering what the hell was wrong with me), poor sleep, and so on. I saw my PCP who basically said nothing. Saw an ENT for the dizziness and he said it was a travel related imbalance syndrome. My naturopath could find little wrong with me. My chiropractor is great, but only treating the symptoms (neck tension, arm tingling).



So thousands of dollars and 8 weeks later, I am still crippled with anxiety and about to see a new primary care doctor because everyone tells me I should be tested for hormonal imbalance, lyme disease, whatever!



I get days where I feel myself, but I am so in tune with my body that the slightest twinge throws me off. Always worse mid-cycle and before my period, the dizziness escalates. I was convinced I was going to get a blood cot after my neurologist told me I may have had a stroke that resolved itself - talk abut freak a woman out!



Last night I had another bad dizzy spell and nausea with full on panic attack. I'd been anxious all day worrying that I had MS or something.



I'm at the end of my tether. There are support groups online for women coming off the BC pill and they offer hope, support and some nutritional recommendations. I am taking magnesium and B and C vitamins too. Agree that social activity is essential, I work alone from home and it isn't healthy in a time like this, I crave company.

Yes, it is the worst mid cycle and right before my period, when our bodies should be making progesterone. One thing that has really helped me is researching estrogen dominance, which is caused by the pill. Try reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause by Dr. John Lee and Ageless by Suzanne Sommers. Both discuss the dangers of synthetic hormones. I've been using the natural progesterone cream, and I have to say it has helped. I'm in my second cycle after coming off the pill. After I got my first period and was in the estrogen phase of my cycle, I started to feel great, had a lot of normal days. I started in with the progesterone cream on day 13 and still felt good, but slowly the anxiety and dizziness and panic are returning, but more mild than before. Traditional doctors will not help you because they do not know how to help you. We have to help ourselves and take our health back.

Hi Jenny - good advice, who did you work with to get the progesterone cream?


I just saw my PCP and am having my FSH levels tested, thyroid, vit B12 and more. I can't do the saliva panel test until I return from an overseas trip in Sept. My anxiety (now I'm in month 3) has sky rocketed (more panic attacks than I care to mention), dizziness is worse, it's almost been like returning to week one all over again! Doc thinks I could be peri-menopausal too.


Both my docs are good I have to say, one has a naturopathic background (therefore reluctant to throw drugs at me) and one is experienced in hormones. Although neither really think the pill did this.

Hi Ladies,

 

I've been on the pill for about 4 1/2 years and little over a week ago I decided to stop cold turkey (half way through my pack) because I wanted to know what it would be like to feel like me again without the fake hormones.  Well I felt so weird and did not feel like myself AT ALL last week, it scared me.  I've been in a mental fog and can't seem to concentrate or remember things and feel spacey and out of it and just feel weird.  As the week went on I became depressed and felt just out of control.  So when Sunday rolled around I started my BC back up again because I couldn't take how I was feeling- I've been back on the pill for 3 days and still feel like I'm in a mental fog and emotional.  I can't decide if it's better to be on the pill or give it another shot to go off and stick with it.  I just want to feel normal and happy.  Does anyone know why going off the pill makes you feel so awful?  And how long does it last?

megs15 - girl i felt the same way when i stopped my birth control in december of last year, between that feeling, and the stress and everything between home, work and school my doctor put my on lexapro and i felt alot better. i recently had to quit the lexapro because i found out that i am pregnant and i had that weird spaced out feeling maybe once or twice since i have been off the lexapro. but i feel just fine now. idk if its the pregnancy hormones or finally just feeling normal. good luck girl, i doubt it will last long! =]