Why I Came Off The Pill

For being pill free for six months now I thought it was time to give you the low down on why I came off it… 

For some reason I was a little (okay, really) nervous about posting this blog post. Or even contemplating writing it. I feel like period and pill talk is still an ongoing taboo, and its also opening yourself up on an even deeper personal level. But then at the end of the day the pill is something that like 90% of us females have some sort of experience with – whether thats good or bad. And when I asked you on my Instagram story whether it would be something you were interested in, I got a pretty good result.

So here we are. But I also just want to point out that I am in no way a doctor *SHOCK*  nor should you just take this blog post and come to any conclusive decisions. I know that before I came off the pill, I read a hell of a lot of blog posts, reddit feeds you name it. But the best person to speak to is a doctor, or pharmacist and trust your own instinct because it affects everyone differently. 

I went on the pill when I was 17, which came after a doctors trip in which I felt like my legs where going to give way from under me due to nerves. Can you picture an embarrassed Emily walking into the GP surgery? My main reason for going on the pill was that I wanted a bit of regularity. You know? Being 17/18 years old, during summer and going off on trips and holidays. You don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere and BAM your period comes. My periods were also quite heavy and long before I went on the pill so in other words I went on it for ease. 

I was put onto Rigevidon – which I stayed on for about a year before swapping to Marvelon for another 9 months. I did experience some side affects on the pill. The first month that I went on it I felt really nauseous every morning, but only for an hour or two, but after my first ‘pill period’ as I would call it, it subsided. Also had the classic boob growth (which I was VERY in favour of) but other than that for the first year of being on it I didn’t experience any other side effects. 

For a year Rigevidon worked for me. But then things slightly started going down hill. I started getting very moody, very emotional and just not feeling like myself anymore. I wasn’t sure whether just to wait it out. Or whether it was just down to a break up that I had been through. But I bit the bullet after I read THIS ARTICLE about it and yikessss. I am not a doctor, and I know that all pills can lead to some complications, but it did put the frighteners up me a little bit. I then changed to Marvelon, which is a combined pill but with a low amount of oestrogen (I think???) Which is what is responsible for mood swings etc. 

I went through some of the symptoms of changing pill, but my skin was good, I had no weight fluctuations and life went on. However I still experienced some low points on this pill. In the end when October last year came around I decided whether it was all really worth it? I didn’t need to be putting hormones into my body, I only did it for ease, but it wasn’t making me feel good. After having a natter with my uni friends on our big snapchat group chat I realised that perhaps 80% of everyone in the group had come off the pill. Various other had tried other methods of contraception but the general consensus was similar to how I was feeling. I rang my doctor before I did anything, as they have to stop your prescriptions, and just like that I stopped taking it. 

Again, I had read a load of posts, watched Youtube videos on what it was like coming off of the pill. I was expecting this all mighty period and some big ass change. But it was pretty anticlimactic. I never had any ‘big’ symptoms of coming off the pill. The main two were oil skin/breakouts and a big goodbye to my boobs.

I have always had skin dryer than the Sahara desert but I all of a sudden got really oily skin after about a month after I came off. Of course, this lead to some post pill acne. It subsided after a month or two but I still get breakouts more often that I did when I was on the pill. I also from a combination of losing a bit of weight and coming off the pill went down at least one bra size which I am not going to lie is expensive haha! Bras are not cheap to replace!

But the best thing about it? I felt like a whole new woman. Pretty much a week or two after coming off I felt so different. I was less angsty, less moody and just generally felt like I had a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Of course, around that time of the month now, I get moody, and I will make people aware of them. But don’t we all?? 

As for my periods? Well they seemed to return *pretty much* to normal. I had one a month after I cam off, when I normally should have and they haven’t been too irregular. Maybe like a week out at max but nothing drastic. But boy oh boy, the cramps are real, and they have gone from a 2-3 day cycle (pill length) to an almighty 7-8 day cycle. 

But even though the periods themselves are worse – I will take a few days of being moody a month over being moody every day like I was on the pill. Defo not a win win but it means I can now drink wine and not be crying everywhere! 

Have you had an experience with coming off the pill? 

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