Can Stopping Birth Control Pills Cause Depression

v Things to Know When Yous Quit the Pill

Women opt to finish taking birth control for many reasons.

"Women might be searching for alternative birth control methods. Others cease taking the pill considering of side-effects of either an emotional or physical nature," said Dr. Mara Thur, a Jefferson Wellness - Abington obstetrician-gynecologist. "But probably the nearly common reason women terminate the pill is because they desire to become pregnant."

If you're considering going off of your birth control pill, here'due south what to expect.

ane. Your hormones will fluctuate

This may seem obvious, but the change in hormones is what triggers side-effects.

"Conventional oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are most commonly a combination of estrogen and progesterone. Past taking them, the trunk is provided with a consistent level of hormones, thereby preventing fluctuations in hormones that unremarkably occur during a normal menstrual bike," Dr. Thur said. "The 'side-effects' or symptoms experienced by women when they stop oral contraceptives is due to the torso returning to its normal ebb and flow of hormones."

2. Side-effects volition mostly be concrete

"Virtually women don't experience much in the mode of emotional side-effects when stopping the pill," Dr. Thur said. However, if a adult female experiences mood swings or emotional instability on the pill, that may go abroad when she stops taking it.

Sometimes physical side effects are the reason they went on the pill in the first identify.

"Women ofttimes beginning oral contraception to treat heavy or irregular bleeding, pain with flow or menstrual migraines. Once they stop the pill, these symptoms often resume," she said.

3. Information technology may take some time for your period to render to normal, simply your fertility isn't affected

Well-nigh women'south periods resume to normal within iii months of stopping the pill. However, it doesn't accept time for your fertility to "return to normal."

"The oral contraceptive pill does not decrease a woman's fertility in any way,"Dr. Thur said. "She should conceive in whatever her normal time frame would be."

That ways that a woman no longer on the pill who isn't using other reliable forms of contraception, such as condoms, could become pregnant.

iv. If yous're going off of the pill to get pregnant, in that location'southward something else you should get-go taking

"A woman should start on a prenatal or multivitamin prior to stopping the pill if she plans to become pregnant. Nosotros recommend three months prior [to conception]," she said.

5. You may want to wait to get pregnant

According to Dr. Thur, women shouldn't try to become pregnant right after going off of the pill.

"I usually instruct patients to get at least ane normal menstrual cycle prior to attempting conception, which amounts to about three months," she said.