topic Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills in Wellness

Stopping Birth Control Pills

morganjen — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:14:04 GMT

For those who have discontinued BCP for whatever reason, did you stop mid-month or finish out the pack? I think I need to get off them. I've stayed on them so long because they have helped with perimenopause symptoms.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

janz — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:26:13 GMT

This is probably something you should ask your doctor. You could possibly call and have them ask the doctor, PA or nurse and have them leave you a message.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

GenXmuse — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:55:38 GMT

I stopped at the end of the month when I discontinued use to get pregnant. Now I’m back on for perimenopause.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

GSPgirl — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:03:46 GMT

ALWAYS finish the pack. This is what my doctors told me, but please call your doctor or nurse.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

Ainhisg — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:05:05 GMT

Finished out the pack.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

Tinkrbl44 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 05:17:12 GMT

@morganjen wrote:
For those who have discontinued BCP for whatever reason, did you stop mid-month or finish out the pack? I think I need to get off them. I've stayed on them so long because they have helped with perimenopause symptoms.

@morganjen

I hope you're just kidding about this.

Why would you ever think it's okay to stop a cyclical medication mid-month? It also appears that you haven't yet discussed this with your physician ..... you "think" you need to get off them? Based on what? Are you having strange symptoms ... or pain .... or unusual bleeding? You need to have a discussion with your MD or PA before you do anything.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

morganjen — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:07:14 GMT

I want to get off them to see if I am already in menopause (I'm 55). I've never had my hormone levels checked and to do that accurately, you have to be off of BCPs for at least a month. That, plus concerns of increased cancer risk due to my age.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

SeaMaiden — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:10:38 GMT

@morganjen Read this

https://www.floliving.com/quit-pill-without-getting-symptoms-back/

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

VaBelle35 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:36:23 GMT

My physician recommended that I get off of them at 50. When I went for my annual after my 50th birthday I mentioned it to her and she said to stop them at the end of the pack.

I agree that they help with perimenopaus a great deal as I had no symptoms until I stopped.

I was on them for 27 years straight and didn't have a problem when I stopped. I have had one light period a year since stopping.

I take Andrew Lessman's Ultimate Women's Wellness (2 per day); Positive Passage (3 per day) and B12 Complex (1-3 per day depending on how I'm feeling). They really help. I will say the B12 Complex has an immediate effect (in less than an hour) when I get that wave of feeling like I"m going to cry.

The Positive Passage is a critical one for me. Sometimes I move the bottle and forget to take that third one and I will notice a difference in a few days in terms of mood and hot flashes.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

GenXmuse — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:45:15 GMT

Wow @Tinkrbl44. She didn’t say it was okay. She asked about it. What’s with the omg and are you serious?

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

Tinkrbl44 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:08:56 GMT

@Bonanzajellybean wrote:
Wow @Tinkrbl44. She didn’t say it was okay. She asked about it. What’s with the omg and are you serious?

Well, I'm sorry if you think I overreacted. I admit I was surprised she knew so little about a med she's been taking for years. It's pretty common knowledge that you don't stop BCP mid month, but always complete the cycle.

Her comment "I think I need to get off them" was a red flag, IMO. Clearly there's a problem and she needs to have a discussion with her MD. Maybe there's a serious, unrelated problem ..... or she just needs to be on a lower dosage pill. Any version of "self-medicating" with prescription drugs is always a big mistake. JMO

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

Lipstickdiva — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:33:23 GMT

I would discuss it with your MD, definitely.

My gyno suggested I get off them when I was in my early 30's because I absolutely didn't want kids so she wanted me to do something more permanent. Her opinion was that these are bad news and since I had been on them for so long, she felt it was time for me to be done with them. When I got off the pill I finished the pack and then never started a new one.

I have posted this before but during another test, they found a cyst on my liver. Upon further testing, I have a few on my liver and now I have to get an ultrasound done yearly to make sure there are no changes. When I went to see a specialist, I was told that they are finding that women who have been on BC pills are getting these liver cysts. There is a lot of information out there about this.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

cherry — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:36:56 GMT

The pill was originally invented to space pregnancies. It wasn't intended to be a permanent method of contraception

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

Tinkrbl44 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:04:28 GMT

@cherry wrote:
The pill was originally invented to space pregnancies. It wasn't intended to be a permanent method of contraception

@cherry

There are many medications that can be used for more than one thing. Nothing wrong with that.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

cherry — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:06:47 GMT

I didn't say there was. However if they are finding cysts on women who used it long term ,it might be because they are using it for longer periods of time ,than was originally intended

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

ID2 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:19:58 GMT

WHen I turned 35 my doctor told me he didn't feel comfortable with any of his patients still be on the birth control pills. So I went off mine then. That was 28 years ago.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

BirkiLady — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 18:34:55 GMT

@ID2 wrote:
WHen I turned 35 my doctor told me he didn't feel comfortable with any of his patients still be on the birth control pills. So I went off mine then. That was 28 years ago.

My Gynocologist also suggested I stop taking the Pill by age 35. We knew we weren't going to have any more children, so I opted to have my tubes tied when I was 28. One of the best procedures ever. Incidentally, I never had a hot flash or problems with menipause. Have no idea if there is any relation to not taking the pill for a lengthy time, but I've always felt it wasn't prudent in the last '60's and early '70's. Those BC's were too highly medicated at that time.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

ALRATIBA — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 18:44:49 GMT

This reminds me ... just in the last few days I saw one of those class action commercials by a law firm.

It had something to do with a condition called "pseudotumor cerebri" caused by birth control pills / devices. Apparently there have been some serious side effects.

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

GenXmuse — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 20:12:18 GMT

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:
@Bonanzajellybean wrote:
Wow @Tinkrbl44. She didn’t say it was okay. She asked about it. What’s with the omg and are you serious?

Well, I'm sorry if you think I overreacted. I admit I was surprised she knew so little about a med she's been taking for years. It's pretty common knowledge that you don't stop BCP mid month, but always complete the cycle.

Her comment "I think I need to get off them" was a red flag, IMO. Clearly there's a problem and she needs to have a discussion with her MD. Maybe there's a serious, unrelated problem ..... or she just needs to be on a lower dosage pill. Any version of "self-medicating" with prescription drugs is always a big mistake. JMO

Regardless of your assumption of what is “common knowledge” among the general populous that type of response was unwarranted.

Why not just answer the question without ridiculing someone about what they should know or do. Stopping the pill doesn’t always require a doctors tacit approval. I didn’t need permission to d/c birth control.

She also stated in a follow up post that she wanted to see if she were in menopause at age 55 not that she was having problems.

The wellness forum should be a pretty safe place to ask a question.

BTW, thank you for your apology. 😊

Re: Stopping Birth Control Pills

77yangya — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 21:17:01 GMT

Hi morganjen,

I took HRT for around seven years. I went complaining to my GYN doctor that my monthly was all over the place and I was just a mess. He gave me premphase that I took the whole month. There were three colors in the round dispense pack. There is something called prem pro. These were one color. Anyway, I always went annually for mammogram and they were always clear, always.

I had noticed, every time I renewed the prescription of premphase, there was a black box warning from the FDA stating that it can cause breast cancer, endometrial cancer. I ignored it and continued with it. One day, after having my scheduled immages, I got a phone call to come in and do more. They did ultra sound and told me come back in six months. I never did. Years after that, I got smacked with a door in the breast and found small swelling. I had immages done and they then said I needed biopsy. That came back positive. I had two choices. Either have modified mastectomy or lumpectomy and some radiation. I chose the former. That way I did not need anything else. Luckily it was stage 1 and all nodes were clear.

I learned later on that after encouraging women to take HRT that breast cancer sky rocketed. After people stopped taking that, the cancer plummeted to it's regular stats. They don't encourage people to take it anymore since it carries a serious threat to women. Please be careful if you take birth control because this carries the same serious risk. I would not want to see anyone suffer like that.