I have been on birth control pills for 8 years without any breaks, I haven't had and children yet and I worry that maybe this will have long term side effects on my body. I eventually on children and I'm thinking that maybe I should just talk with my husband and doctor and give the pills a break and maybe try having kids now. Lately I have started having some really weird periods. I have never had this happen to me before. The whole time I have been on the bcp's. The last two periods my periods have been starting a week before it should be. That is it is starting the last week I am still on the hormone pills and it goes all the way through until I start a new pack of pills again. I have my period for 2 weeks!! This has never happened before. My periods usually start the 3rd day I'm on the sugar pills and end as soon as I take the first new hormone pill. I see my doctor next week. His office said not to worry yet, and just keep track of everything. But I can't help but wonder if I have done something to my body by taking the pills for so long. Any help would be great! Please help!!

I have never heard first-hand of anyone who felt they had problems due to being on The Pill for many years, but I also stopped recently, after being on them for 6 years, because uterine fibroids run in my family, so I didn't think putting extra estrogen into my body was a good idea. My periods never became wacko, though; I'm sorry you are having this problem! One thing to consider, are you eating a lot of foods that can act like estrogen in the body (mainly soy, flax, or a lot of meats/dairy that could contain hormomes?) Also, if you are in your 30's, it's normal for hormonal changes to begin. When did your mother start menopause?

Im sorry you are going through this sweetie. Now let me tell you something about the pill. I have had numerous classes in parenting, family living, sex ed, etc. Doctors will not tell you this, for some reason that I dont know..even my own doc wont tell me. After being on birth control pills for an extremely lengthy time it WILL begin to deteriate the lining of your uterus. As you know the uterus is where you carry a baby and if it deteriates then its not coming back! I dont mean to scare you. I was on BC for 3 consecutive years and got off of it when I found out about that. If you have been on it that long I would recommend getting off of it. Who knows, maybe your period will get back on track. Talk to you doctor and husband about coming off of them. Good luck hun!

I am sorry to hear about your situation. I want to let you know about another side effect from long term birth control use. I had never heard of it until it happened to me. LIVER TUMORS!! They are supposed to be very rare BUT I am not so sure about that. They cause no symptoms and doctors never check for them. Mine were found during a cat scan I had for ulcerative colitis. I have posted a thread on the liver disorder board & had several responses. My case does seem to be unusual because of the size & quantity that I have. I had surgury on my liver in Feb. 04. They removed the largest one and 5-6 others and could not remove any more due to not wanting to destroy my liver. I still have 45 of them & may need surgury again. I went for my liver scan on Friday & will get the results on Monday. I had no idea that birth control could cause this. Since they cause no symptoms I wonder how many women are running around out there with time bombs on there liver? I now am considered very high risk for liver cancer & they can also rupture...since they have a blood supply to them there is a risk of internal bleeding (see the liver board post "adnomas due to birth control" this happened to one of the people who responded) I don't mean to scare you but this is a serious side effect that no one tells you about. Doctors don't want to talk about it either. All I am told is that it is very rare. When I ask how do you know if women are not being checked for it & they cause no symptoms till they either rupture or cause liver cancer? I am told that with all the women taking them it is just not feasible to ultrasound every womans liver. I think we should at least be told & have the option of a liver ultra sound if we want one. Well if you want to know more about my experience go to the liver disorder board & post your question to me there (adnoma's due to birth control). Hope you get better soon. Take care & God Bless!!

My diet is pretty much the same as it always has been. And I'm not really sure about the wacko periods so luckily I have a doctors appointment this week. I'm only 26 yrs. And I'm pretty sure my Mom hasn't started menopause yet. (She's 45yrs) She was just complaining yesterday it was that time of month and she wasn't feeling very well. So I'll just have to wait for this week and see what the doc. says. Thanks for help!!

Beth

Thanks for the info I had never heard that before maybe I'll see if I can find anything on this topic, maybe even ask my doc. tomorrow. Thanks!!

Beth :wave:

I've never heard of these either. I am really going to have to do some research on my pills and find out what I can about them. Thanks for everything.

Beth :wave:

Interesting to me that this info is so current....I suffered liver and abdominal adnoma tumors from the Pill...in 1979!! I had so much damage - over the course of 5 yrs. I had 4 surgeries and developed migrane/strokes. I spent much time at the Mayo Clinic mid-80's to study these occurances. Now in my late 40's, I'm needing alternatives to medicine and surgery to help with the worst symptoms of peri-menopsuse. Good luck to all, too bad this doesn't seemed to have stopped after all these years.

I have been on the pill for 14 years now and I am only 25. I really hope that it dosen't affect me in any way.the thing is, i have to tak the pill or i get my period constantly. i tried a break about 5 years ago , because I heard that the problem sometimes corrects itself.Not in my case, it was as bad as ever. I also take 84 pills in a row and have my period and repeat, so i only get my period 4 times a year. this is fine with me, although if I had a choice, i would never want my period again.

(You were on the pill when you were 11?)
Anyways my mom put me on the pill when I was 15 and I'm 21 now. I was wondering if maybe the pill also can make you sick and stuff. I was on Aleese and my doc switched me to Ortho Tri Cyclen cause he thought maybe I needed a stronger dose(make a long story short I was having problems-turns out I have IBS) Needless to say I'm still on the pill but this month I couldn't afford to buy them so I haven't been on them this month. And I haven't been sick or anything, I feel great. But I'm only 21 and I don't want a kid now, and I have one of those boyfriends that don't like to wear condoms(we've been together for almost 4 years so I don't expect him to anyway) So could the pill make you sick if there;s too much estrogen? cause then maybe I should see about switching back to something less strong. I've never heard of any of these symptoms happening. But like I said i'm 21 and I don't want kids right now and I've already been on the pill for 6 years. So now what should I do??

yes, I was on the pill when I was 11. It wasn't for birth control, only to regulate my periods, b/c without it, I had my period all the time.

I am repling to both kootie pie and canadiangirl25,
I have heard so many things about the pill having long term affects on a body! And that is what has worried me! And then I have also heard just the opposite that some women who wanted to get pregnant who were on the pill for years and then went off got pregnant right away! My docs. (both gyn, and fam. doc.) have said that there is nothing wrong with talking the pill for 8+yrs or so. Now for the other comment about the pill making you sick! Oh my!! I was on ortho tri cyclyn for about 5 1/2 of the 8yrs. and just about 2 mos. ago my gyn. switched me to ovcon 35 and I will tell you I have never felt so nausous for 2 solid mos. in my life!! I called my gyns. office and they did say that was a main side effect of that specific pill! I looked it up on the web also and it said the same thing! This is the 3rd month I have been on them and I have noticed a huge difference!! The nausia has gone away, I just had to give my body some time to adjust to the different hormone levels! But I would deffinatly ask your gyn. about the nausia. But like I said, it did take me about 2 1/2 months to get over it, but I eventually did!!

It's kind of alarming to hear this. I thought being on the pill for an extended period of time was supposed to be good for you - like helping to prevent certain cancers, etc? I'm sorry that you ladies are having this problem, i just started using them, but i will keep this all in mind!

yeah i thought i just needed to adjust to it too but it's been almost 2 years (in june) that he put me on Ortho. they should be in my system by now! I didn't think it mattered either how long you were on the pill. I just heard that if you were on it for a long time that it might take a little longer for you to get pregnant the first time but that was it. Now I hear all these stories and i don't know what to think now. like I said, i'm 21 now, eventually i would like kids not right now though

I think it depends A) on the person (everyone's body reacts different) B) the type of pill. I have been on it for 15years. So far the only thing I have just have happend recently is spotting. I am not wanting to have kids so I am not to sure on if I would have issues if I tried to have kids. It might take longer to get pregnant and it might not. I think it really depends on the individual.

I just went to the gyno today b/c I have been having strange symptoms with my pill (Mircette/Kariva) for the last six moths such as 1) having an extrememly heavy period and then having no period at all the next month 2) starting my period a full 9 days after my last active pill and 3) much more extreme cramping than usual. My gyno told me that these were just "effects from being on the pill for an extended time." Her words. I've been on it for 11 years, since I was 16. This kind of alarmed me b/c I didn't think there were ANY effects from staying on the pill for a long time -- in fact, like the other poster, I thought it you were actually healthier on the pill than off it (in terms of preventing ovarian cancer, fibroids, endo, etc). I don't know what to think now....

I was on birth control pills for 5 years and I did take a little time between when I stopped taking the pill and getting pregnant, not that I was trying the whole time. When we did try I got pregnant the first month we tried and now I have a beautiful 5 month daughter. But I was 25 almost 26 when I had her and I had never been pregnant before and took birth control for a very long time and I was CONVINCED I would not beable to concieve. my body proved me wrong. I am getting an IUD (paragard) in a couple of days. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply :) !! It does give me a bit of confidence when I start to try! The other reason I worry is because I am 27 and we haven't even started trying yet! We have only been married for 1 1/2 yrs. and we will probably wait for another year or so! So by then I will be 28 going on 29!! And my thought is that the older you get the harder it is to get pregnant!? I'm not sure if I'm right or not :confused: ! My best friend had a lot of problems getting pregnant and she was about my age when she started trying and it took her and her husband 5yrs. to get pregnant!! They finanally now have a beautiful son :angel: who will be 2 in May, but she still had to have a d/c because the first baby died in the 2nd month :( . That is why I am so worried! (and I haven't even started yet, yoy!)

Thanks for all of your help mandymama!! :wave: