Your experiences of coming off the Pill

[OohThatsMyTractor]

I'm 27 and have just come off the combined pill (Yasmin) after 9 years of using various contraceptive pills (it completely destroyed my libido - which kind of defeats the objective of being on the pill!).

I took my last pill on 18th August, had my withdrawal bleed a few days after that and ever since then I have felt so bloated, the scales say I have put on 3lbs and my breasts feel so tender.

We are not TTC and have been using contraception so it's pretty unlikely that I could be pregnant, but just wondered whether anyone else had anything like this when they came off the pill? Also, how long did it take to get your first period and how quickly did your cycle take to settle down?

TIA

Hello, I came off Yasmin after about 8 yrs in January. I got periods back straight away but they were very light and my cycles were short (22/24 days) I also had lots of spotting.

Now my cycles are about 27 days and more normal. We are TTC.

The biggest change I noticed was my skin has got crap again but that is to expected to be honest.

Hello! I was on Yasmin as well, also for years, and came off a couple of years back.

It took a long time for my period to come back - maybe 5 months - and then settled fairly quickly into long cycles (35-38 days). I kind of expected this - wasn't planning on TTC straight away anyway - so didn't mind. During that time my libido really came back (made me realise it had dropped a lot) and also lost a residual few pounds with no effort at all. Made me never want to go back on TBH...

Started TTC after 4/5 cycles and got a BFP straight away.
Good luck!

Oh yes, sex drive, through the roof since stopping the pill!

I was on various different types/brands of pill from 15-21 - luckily I've always had regular cycles so when I came off my cycles went back to normal within three months, I was also much happier as my sex drive returned pretty quickly (and with a vengeance!) and my IBS symptoms (side-effect of Yasmin) went away almost overnight!

Just as a thought - were your cycles okay before going on the pill?
What I see a LOT is young women being prescribed the pill for 'menstrual problems' or to 'regulate periods' - it doesn't regulate, it just causes regular bleeding, and so this means any problems just get hidden. Thus when you come off the pill the problems can re-surface. If that's the case talk to your GP/

Try taking either evening primrose oil capsules, black cohosh capsules, or best in my opinion would be chaste tree tincture daily to help regulate your hormones - all these can be found in any good health store.

I've got no idea what to expect with regards to my cycles KashaUK, it's been such a long time since I had an 'unadulterated' period that I really can't remember how long they were.

My sex drive is certainly starting to come back but the bloating/cramps/tenderness has only come about in the last few weeks (the first week after my withdrawal bleed I felt fine) so I think I may in for a really evil period the first time round. I really hope that after this the problems start to ease but I suppose I am just being impatient in expecting things to settle down immediately. I hope this weight won't stick around, although I suppose if it is just water retention it should be fairly easy to shift

I have recently started taking evening primrose oil but will look into black cohosh and chaste tree tincture too.

I'm to admit it but I can't really remember how it all works with your cycle, is the first day the first day of your period and the last day the day before the next period starts? Please can someone remind me how it all works again?

day 1 is the first day of proper bleeding (not spotting)

Just be careful with chaste tree (also called agnus castus) its pretty powerful and should be taken only under supervision of a qualified herbalist.
Although it has helped some ladies on here there are also a few whose periods stopped completely. I would give it 3/4 months without taking anything and just get a sense of your cycles.

Ah yes, I have heard of it called agnus castus. I will just wait and see for the next couple of months, it could be my body starts to settle by itself. The cramps seem to have eased over the last week and, dare I say in case I jinx it, the bloating seems to have eased fractionally too. Think I'll brave the scales tomorrow to see whether things are changing or if it's all in my head.

Thanks to everyone for all your advice, here's hoping everything settles down soon

I came off the pill on the 21st September last year after 10 years. I felt a bit bizarre afterwards but it turned out I was pregnant.
The date I gave the midwife for LMP was my withdrawal period which was 28th September!
I did put all the weird symptoms down to my body getting used to no pill but it was just early pregnancy!