I Quit Taking The Pill

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

Actually, I quit hormonal birth control altogether. Why? Well, because it was fucking up my body and I was tired of it. When I went on the pill I broke out in prepubescent-adjacent acne for two months. My face eventually cleared and my cycle shifted from sporadic bleeding to a very timely, every-28-days, regimen. The predictability of my period was the only positive side effect of the pill. Every month, my weight fluctuated drastically, my breasts swelling an entire cup size. My mood markedly changed, and I found my emotions growing increasingly sporadic. I gained weight and noticeable bloat every month before my period started. I felt tired and sluggish. My cholesterol increased. I was losing a lot of hair. All of it was terrible, and all of it was caused by a tiny white pill called Lutera.

Prior to the pill I had Nexplanon implanted into my upper arm, which caused a host of issues as well, and which I wrote about at length here. My largest problem on Nexplanon was near-constant bleeding. I also had a hormonal IUD for about two minutes before that also needed to be removed. My body has never been on the happy side of receiving hormones, so I talked to my gynecologist about non-hormonal options. I learned a lot from her, some of which I will now impart to you: