Going OFF the pill after 7 years on it

What can I expect? Anyone have experience after being on them long-term? I'm pretty nervous... actually quite scared... I'm afraid I'll go psycho and get sick and not be able to perform as well in school, but I figure it's now or never since I've got a lot of

Reasons I've decided to go off:

I hear it's not great to stay on them long-term. I've been on them almost 10 years. It's starting to weird me out.

The fiance is cool with condoms. He was always very paranoid when we went without them, even though I told him I was on the pill.

I will finally be off the last of the pharmaceuticals. I didn't need heart medication, and felt immeasurably better once I was off them. Anxiety pills caused me to have a seizure. I'm generally not the type that likes to be tied to a medication, anyway. It's like carrying a boat anchor around, and they ALL have side effects.

I don't need the pill. When I was a teen going through puberty, it helped even me out. When I was going through my "let's go bareback!" phase, it was nice to go without a condom. Now I'm 23, and it's just not necessary anymore.

I will miss being able to set my watch by my periods, and knowing exactly when my bouts of hormonal eating will start, but I will also feel better knowing I'm putting one less chemical in my body and I'm not doing anything to possibly harm my fertility when I am ready to have a child (or two or three). I also won't miss the almost 15 pounds I put on almost immediately after I went on the pill. It was dramatic. Now that I am trying to lose my spare tire (which I hear can be caused by hormonal issues), it kind of matters. Mind you, I am not saying I am going off the pill to get a flat stomach, but it will be a perk not to have to work so hard to stay at a healthy weight. I'm pretty short. I have a manly appetite. It's hard enough as it is without hormones working against me...

 

I just want to say, good for you! I too was on birth control for many years and I finally had it with having a synthetic hormone induced period and I really don't like to take medication. Anyway, I only felt better when I went off the pill, and best of all, my migraines significantly lessened in intensity. But everyone is different and I wish you the best

 

Thank you!!

I just got the official greenlight from my doctor's office. One more week and I'm off the pill-track for good...
Really all the research I've been doing is making me think this can only be good for me. Looking up side-effects, and I have almost all of them. Not to mention it is a sex-drive killer. I noticed this when they lowered my dose and all of a sudden I had the drive again. It will probably improve further when I'm off for good.
Can't wait to be halfway to normal again... I can hardly rememeber what it was like...

 

I took myself off the pill after being on it for 9 years.

Expect nothing to happen besides longer periods at first. Other than that, its much easier being off it...sex is enjoyable now, my periods seem normal...only downside is the PMS

 

Heh, I still have PMS. Like a sonuvabitch. A week and a half before the sugar pills, like clockwork. Then I'm eating everything in sight and losing my marbles at the drop of a hat. My mom says it's made it worse than it was before...

 

I was like that too and I figured going off the pill would help but it actually made it worse. I don't know if its my body still adjusting after almost 8 months of being off it, but the PMS has gotten worse being off it. I'm thinking of going on the PMDD drugs during those times of the month

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've considered that it may make it worse, but the fertility stuff scared me a little bit, among other health problems associated with those drugs and hormone manipulation. Unless I become some raving schizo-affected bipolar something or other, I will play the hand I was dealt.

 

This just made me think of a quote I saw at my doctors office, "I am always worried that PMS doesn't really exist and that this is just my personality"

Anyway, I had PMS both on and off the pill, but my sex drive did get a LOT better once a stopped taking the pill!

 

yeah that's another thing I noticed...I enjoy sex so much now, where before I couldn't stand it!

 

I read today that they can only remove 76% of the kind of synthetic estrogen in my birth control pill from the water in treatment plants. I am so happy that I will not to be part of the problem anymore. No more synthetics in me.

 

I take the pill because if I don't I'll nearly bleed to death every month.

 

i have a question.. i started taking the pill because it helps with my intense pains! before the pill i would be in bed for a day or two, vomiting, crying, screaming, just trying to fall asleep to ignore it all.. i don't enjoy being on the pill because i'm unsure of what it is doing to my body, so i'm curious to know if anyone went on the pill for the same reason, and has stopped taking it? if so, did the pains return or?

 

Wow.
And I assume you told your doctor about this or you wouldn't be on the pill in the first place, right?
I'm no doctor, but it sounds like endometriosis: http://www.endo-resolved.com/symptoms.html
Were you diagnosed with anything? That sounds like something that should have been investigated rather than throwing you on a pill and not asking any questions.
Personally, I went on the pill to ease cramps and have shorter periods. I used to bleed like crazy for 8 days at a time. I haven't been off long enough to know if this will return, but from stories I've heard, I assume it will (although who knows, I was going through puberty back then, maybe it will even out and be less crazy). It's supposed to regulate after your midtwenties anyway, so I figure it's about time I let go of it. For my own sanity I'm ging to start using an essential oil that's supposed to balance hormones (especially progesterone- which I have a lot of the symptoms of being deficient in). It's called Progessence Plus. I can't really post reviews for myself, but I've heard good things, and I can't wait to try it in a few days (after my period's done). Maybe you could look into some alternatives like that or a natural herbal balancing or something?
Your situation sounds way different from mine, though. I can't say whether or not you should stay on the pill, but I know I would be in the doc's office pronto if any of that was happening to me... And I thought MY period was unruly, sheesh!