Cycles have changed now I'm not on the pill

[primaryteacher87]

Hi ladies,

I'm brand new to the forums and hoping some of you can shed some light or reassure me in some way with your own experiences.

I'm 32 and recently came off BC. I barely recognise my body anymore!! Some back story - I started with BC at age 16 to regulate my periods as a teen. I would have heavy, crampy periods and get spots, sore boobs etc every month.

BC pills helped no end and I had no trouble on them. My periods became light and regular and I had only positive side effects.

I split with a long term bf at age 27 and decided to come off the pill and give my body a break. Worst decision ever at the time - my sex drive went through the roof, my boobs shrank, my spots came back each month and my periods became heavy and crampy again - it was just like revisiting my teen years almost straight away. So I went back on BC and stayed on it for another 5 years.

Skip forward to this year, I'm now in a happy and committed relationship and we're thinking of 'trying' for a baby very soon. I decided to come off the pill in January to get used to my body and cycles again before trying.

Except this time, nothing has gone how I expected. Instead, my sex drive has remained pretty low, my periods are very rarely, if ever, crampy, they are lighter than before and my cycle seems to be a 24/25 day cycle rather than the 26/27 day cycle I remember from my teens.

I am worried this means I'm not fertile or am going through early menopause or something... I don't get spots, my boobs haven't got smaller or more sore... nothing that I expected has happened and my periods are as light as they were on the pill.

I have also started experiencing blood in my cervical mucus 3 days before my period arrives, which is new, and when my period does start flowing properly it's light and brown in colour.

I mentioned it to my GP and he said as long as my cycles are regular, I needn't worry at this stage and I should be grateful that they're light and painless as it's no reason for concern.

Has anyone else experienced such a change after coming off the pill?

I've bought an ovulation testing kit to use this month to see if I can gain any insight from that, but I'm pretty worried!

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for any replies :-)

[sah168]

Hi! I'm in a similar situation in that I came off the pill (Yasmin) around 6 years ago and experienced spots, painful periods for the first time around the 4 month post-pill mark, so I went back on. I'm now 30 and 4 weeks post-pill and just waiting for these symptoms to kick in again (but praying they don't!!).

It could be that your hormones have changed over the past few years and this is just how your natural cycle is .

Or your hormones may not have regulated just yet, they say it can take up to a year (sometimes more) for things to return to normal after the pill sadly. As i said, first time round when i came off the pill it wasn't until 4 months in that I started to suffer any side effects.

[Rbr11]

Hi ,
I'm also new and just read your post . I really couldn't believe how similar our story is. I went on microlite aged 16-25 then took a break after split with first bf 25 - 30 back on it for 2 years 30-32 now off it since Feb ttc. Had March period heaviest I've ever had couldn't get over it, April tracked and dtd in the build up to what I hope was ovulation now I'm 3 days late .No positives on test and think my cycle is gone a mess
Don't know what to think ?!?! Hope you are ok I'm just starting to wonder and wait on AF thanks