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Original poster

The pill, anyone else feel like a new person since coming off it?

53 replies

susiemumof · 12/06/2012 22:05

Not sure if this is the right place to post or not but wanted to write this incase it helps someone else.

Am 30 years old and have been on the pill pretty much non-stop since I was 14 (heavy af) obviously came of while ttc and while pg with our 3dc.

Have struggled on and off with terrible mood swings, most of my adult life. Have pretty much starved my lovely dh of affection and often sex (due to no sex drive) for most of our married life. At some points we came close to splitting up because he always felt I pushed him away and I did not know how to be different.

Anyway I came off the pill about 6 months ago (due to medical reasons am not ttc) and I honestly can't believe the difference in me since I came off it.

I am so much happier and loving to my family have no mood swings and can't keep my hands of dh! I'm convinced that being on the pill totally altered my personality.

I actually feel quite sad when I think of how many years I have been on it and in a way feel like I have lost my 20's which I will never get back.

Am posting this as I was talking to a friend today who has just started taking the pill ago 40 and she has experienced a lot of the same symptoms I have mentioned.

Obviously the pill is fantastic for many but I just wanted to share my experience as I had no knowledge of anyone who had experienced what I did when on it.

OP posts:

hidingbeneathanamechange · 12/06/2012 22:24

The pill did exactly the same thing to me, and I am very very angry that I was not properly informed by my doctor of the side effects. The risk of TVB was mentioned but not the mood swings, depression and complete loss of sex drive.

Since I came off it I feel like a new person, and have a sex drive rivalling that of an 18 year old boy. Total waste of my 30s

oikopolis · 12/06/2012 23:23

i was actually going to start a thread about this myself.

i was also on the pill from a similar age and came off of it to ttc (now late 20s).

stopped it in october and could not BELIEVE how my sex drive ramped up almost immediately. i was actually truly unprepared for it. by dec i was absolutely rampant compared to before, and enjoyed sex so much more. and i laugh more, i'm more interested in life. i wouldn't say the pill depressed me, but it certainly did put a damper on my personality.

DH has floated the idea of not using the pill again after this baby arrives based purely on how i have changed for the better without it. he has said he is a bit disturbed to think how much i have been affected by ingesting these hormones for so long, if this is how much my personality has been affected. i agree with him.

it was nice to see my skin clear up, and to have shorter/lighter periods, but honestly, that's not worth the other side effects. whenever friends talk about contraception choices i make a point of mentioning the downsides of the pill because people don't talk about it enough imo.

rookanga · 12/06/2012 23:26

Definitely

I couldn't believe how long I had taken it for and that the extent of the effects wasn't really obvious to me until I stopped taking it. I will never take the pill again.

Original poster

susiemumof · 12/06/2012 23:29

Yes I never realised I was any different on it until I stopped taking it.

Also angry it was never mentioned that any off this may have been a sideeffect. Lesson learnt now though, I will never touch it again!

OP posts:

CointreauVersial · 12/06/2012 23:30

How funny, I feel like a new person since starting the pill, age 44!

No more mood swings and hideous periods. It has been a godsend.

gallicgirl · 12/06/2012 23:31

seriously thinking about talking to doc about pill for reasons a lot of you have mentioned.

Feel like i'm numb and don't know what is odd hormones after having baby and what is due to pill

brighthair · 12/06/2012 23:36

Yep I came off cerazette after finding loads of stuff linking it to anxiety and panic attacks
Weirdly my periods were always awful, now they are still heavy but only last 3 days and I have no pain with them

Sarcalogos · 12/06/2012 23:38

I came off the pill for this reason and no, it hasn't cured my depression but yes it has massively reduced my ragey bitch tendencies! Last year or so on it I felt I was underwater with tiredness, rage and mood swings.

Triffiddealer · 13/06/2012 00:47

Yes. Hated the pill.

Tried lots of different brands. All turned out to be really effective contraceptives as sex drive plummeted the minute I went on them and shot up again when I came off. Also made me moody.

Found coil the way to go.

Original poster

susiemumof · 13/06/2012 10:03

What coil do you have triff?

Thinking of getting one for long term contraception but worried the merina might have the same effects as the pill?

OP posts:

lazarusb · 13/06/2012 14:29

When I came off the mini-pill my periods settled down, regular, light and pain free. I also lost weight and regained my libido. We have used condoms for the last 18 months and he is on the list for a vasectomy. I am 40 and was fed up with being solely responsible for contraception

ThymeLord · 13/06/2012 14:32

I am a totally different person since stopping cerazette at the end of March. Been on it for years and years and we decided that OH would have a vasectomy. Finally no more pill. Sex drive has returned with a bang mood swings gone, skin problems gone, pleased as punch

MrDarcysbreeches · 13/06/2012 14:33

Exactly the same here - i came off when ttc. Our DD is now 10 months old and i would never go back on the pill or anything else which put unnatural hormones in my body.

I reallty think doctors should be more careful about prescribing it and give you more info on the side effects.

Rowgtfc72 · 13/06/2012 16:58

Im 40 been on the pill since I was 25 and have one dd but certainly not having any more. Thinking of getting sterilised,wouldnt ask dh as hes only 32. Cant remember what life was like before the pill but seriously thinking of getting all these drugs out my system as I dont even take parecetemol unless Im desperate. Terrified of "real periods " though as Ive got used to pill periods. Is it really that good when you come off the pill?

Twunk · 13/06/2012 17:08

I have not taken the pill for 10 years after realising the same - one pill actually made me cry every day for 3 months (my friend cried nearly every day for 6 months!) before I put 2 and 2 together and came off.

Now have copper coil as not risking hormones, plus a friend of mine has 'lost' her mirena in her body and as it is still pumping out hormones she can't conceive...(an attempt was made to retrieve it but the structures around were too sensitive to do too much rummaging). Unlikely to happen but I can imagine it happening to me!

If we have a putative third child I will be sending DH for the snip if he'll agree.

BalloonSlayer · 13/06/2012 17:31

When I came off the pill to TTC I also decided "never again." I do get PMT now I have had the children, but even so I would much rather have the "natural rollercoaster" of hormonal highs and lows of my body than the "trundle along on a milk float through suburbia" that is being on the pill to me.

LadyEmmaHamilton · 13/06/2012 17:36

I could have written the OP. Came off the pill about 5 years ago and never looked back. We use condoms and it's really not a hassle.

Original poster

susiemumof · 13/06/2012 17:59

Row I would definitely urge you to try coming off the pill.

Without sounding totally overdramatic (which I will) I honestly think it may have saved my marriage. The scary thing is because it must have been a slow change in my personality overtime I did not realise all the problems it was causing until I actually came off it.

OP posts:

MissKeithLemon · 13/06/2012 18:16

Twunk - how have you found the copper coil? I ask because it seems no-one has them these days (that I know anyway) but I really don't want anymore hormones either, for all the reasons in this thread.

I'm not taking a pill had enough of that insanity inducing shit by mid twenties, but have had implanon for years now and have finally decided enough is enough feel a bit better for even making the decision tbh, but of all my friends no-one has any recent exerience of the copper coil so wondered if you would share with me pretty please?!

Susie - I don't think its overreacting to say coming off the pill may have saved your marriage I really don't

rookanga · 13/06/2012 18:57

I have a copper coil, because I didnt want any contraception involving hormones. It is great. No need to remember to take a pill, and cover for 5 years. I find that it has changed the pattern of bleeding slightly (heavier initially, but for a shorter number of days than before).
I would definitely recommend it, even if they arent fashionable or new

PaulineCalf · 14/06/2012 08:47

Agree 100%. I was on the pill from 15 due to period pains.

I came off the pill in my late twenties (now late thirties) and could not believe the difference in my mood (bad prior / good subsequent to).

I did try and go back on it soon after to see if it really was the pill that put me in such black moods, but my DP at the time asked me if I was back on the pill as I was being moody again. I swiftly came off it and have never looked back.

I will never go back to the pill.

BabylannShallFall · 14/06/2012 08:51

I only went on it briefly and came off before my first follow up appointment for the exact reasons you stated. We had sex only a handful of times over 3 months, as opposed to our usual 2-3 times a week. And I just knew it was the pill, and that was proven when I came off.

The doctor didn't warn me and it wasn't involved in the information that came in the box. I guess they think it doesn't count as a real symptom.

MissKeithLemon · 14/06/2012 11:59

Thanks Rookanga

confusedgypsychick · 14/06/2012 12:30

I miss the pill!!! I was on it from 17 until we started ttc with ds. Fell pregnant with DS less than a month after going off so never really had a real period off it. Since I can't get the pill I used to me on in the Middle East (where we live) I've had to get a copper coil and I HATE it!! The cramps, the bloating, the back pain, the heavy period. Give me the pill any day!

Rowgtfc72 · 14/06/2012 14:08

Thanks for the advice. I dont have mood swings-Im that laid back Im horizontal-but I do just seem to be trundling along in life and I have a much younger husband to keep up with !

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