Why I Stopped Taking Hormonal Birth Control pt.1
Considering getting off of hormonal birth control can be a really big decision. Trust me, I’ve been there. I have now been off of hormonal birth control for 6 years and I’ve never felt better. At first, I was terrified of getting off of the pill. I was nervous that my painful periods would return. I was nervous that I would break out in acne all over. I also had no clue how my weight would fluctuate once I detoxed from the synthetic hormones. All I knew was that I was feeling cranky everyday and I didn’t like the fact that my body was hindering what is a completely normal and healthy process. I knew that getting to the root cause of painful periods was my only option.
In this series, I will be telling you exactly what I did to stop taking birth control without all of the bad side effects. By implementing these steps that I will be sharing with you in this blog series, I was able to minimize all of those symptoms as I was going off of the pill. It is now my passion to empower women like yourself to gain the confidence to get off of hormonal birth control without the side effects if that is something you choose to do. Getting off the pill doesn’t have to be scary, traumatic or even hard. Once you’re equipped with the necessary information you need to get off the pill, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t pulled the trigger sooner.
So if you’re going to get off of hormonal birth control, but you have no idea where to start or what to do, or even if you’re fearful of getting off of the pill because you don’t want your painful periods to come back, then you’re in the right place! I’m going to teach you exactly what I did to get off of the pill.
I am not a medical professional and I am not giving you medical advice. This post may contain affiliate links which I make a small commission off of at no additional cost to you.
It is my passion to empower women like yourself to gain the confidence to get off of hormonal birth control if that is something you choose to do.
What led me to make the decision to get off of hormonal birth control
I started my period at the age of 10. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was my best friend’s (at the time) birthday and we were going swimming. Yep! That’s right. There I was, 10 years old, the first of any of my friends to '“become a woman” and I somehow was supposed to disguise this life-changing moment on DAY ONE. I was mortified and so emotional. I remember crying when it happened and literally felt like it was the end of the world. I remember learning about puberty in elementary school but NOBODY prepared me for this!! I ended up going to the pool party without any mishaps, but the trauma of having to hide it from my friends will stay with me forever.
When I turned 13, my cycles started to become extremely irregular. I was menstruating two out of the four weeks and the cramping was unbearable. I would become nauseous in class and would ask to be excused more often than not. I truly thought that’s how all of my female peers functioned as well. I didn’t think it was abnormal until I had to start missing school because of painful periods. I was carrying midol in my backpack and was constantly wearing a heating pad to ease the pain. Finally, my mom suggested we go see my doctor to remedy what was going on. That visit was short, only a few questions were asked and next thing I knew, I was picking up a prescription for birth control. Neither my mom or myself knew what to do at that time. We were told it was normal for girls my age to start the pill to ‘stop the menstruation process’. Never in a million years did I think that stopping what is actually normal could be harmful to my body. I just wanted relief and I wanted to feel normal around other girls my age. I wanted to be able to get through class without having to leave from being sick. So, I started taking the pill.
Fast forward 7 years, and I’m fresh out of college with a huge passion for health and wellness. After going through a breakup, I dove into books and research on nutrition and supplements and holistic health. The entire time I was on the pill, I knew I felt “off” but I could never really pinpoint it. My days consisted of brain fog, dips in my mood, and I couldn’t digest anything I was eating. I also couldn’t lose any weight. It seemed as if I was always snappy and moody and to be honest, not truly happy. My newfound passion for health sent me into a frenzy of research. I started reading other women’s stories about hormonal birth control and how they felt after stopping it. I found myself relating to their pain and I finally started considering the pill as the center of the majority of my problems. I was determined to get off of the pill, but I was hesitant because of the side effects I had been warned about. (Acne, weight gain or loss, painful periods, irregular periods and even more drastic changes in my mood).
I knew I had to make a change. I felt I owed it to myself to treat my body like the miracle body it is. After taking the leap and carefully and methodically going off of the pill, I can confidently say that going off of hormonal birth control was the best decision I could have made for my body.
Now, here we are! My brain fog is gone. My cycle is regular and I can pinpoint, to the day, when my period will start! I now understand the phases of my cycle and I don’t have to be afraid of them. I feel empowered as a woman who now controls my health without my health dictating everything for me. I now understand my body vs trying to avoid the inevitable. I know what workouts to do during each phase of my cycle. I know what foods to avoid prior, during and after my cycle. PMS symptoms no longer hit me out of nowhere, and if they do, I know exactly what to do to nip it in the bud. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been because I took my health into my own hands and I’m going to teach you how to do the same thing, so you feel empowered!
While there is so much information surrounding women’s health, the very food we eat can have a huge impact on how our reproductive system functions. Our health starts with the very food we eat. We are all so different, none of our bodies are the same, but there certain foods we can eat that have been shown to help balance out our hormones naturally so that we have a solid foundation when it comes to cleansing our bodies from the excess hormones. I’ll be covering the detox process more in this series, but for now, sign up for my 5 easy go to hormone balancing recipes. These are foods and meals I eat on a regular basis that are helping my body stay balanced. Sign up below!