I think I've finally made the choice to quit birth control pills. I think they are doing me more harm than good at this point. If the bleeding during sex I've been experiencing is due to birth control, then quitting is my only choice because it is really stressing me out and has been for a few years now and I'm sick of it.

My question is...I only have a few active pills left to take, so what kinds of things should I expect when I stop taking them? Will I have another period? Will it take a while to get back on track with my cycle? Please let me know the things you've experienced.

Also I'm curious to know what methods of preventing pregnancy do you use since you've quit the pill?

You should have a withdrawl bleed a few days after you stop taking the pill. This is not technically a period. It will most likely take you a while to get back on track. I just went off the pill last Oct. My periods have all been on time since. The first 2 were really light, but the last one was a bit heavier and I had some more cramps, but nothing real bad. You may not even get a period for months. It just depends on your body.
My fiance and I have since been using condoms for protection . They work fine for us.
Good luck!

I just quit too - after 5 years on the pill. I stopped taking the sugar pills over a week ago, and I was scheduled to start a new pack of pills this past Sunday. So far, I haven't experienced any bleeding or cramps or pain.

I have noticed a change in my mood - for the better!!! I don't get angry like I used to. I used to flip out for no reason, but that hasn't happened this week :) And, I think my sex drive is beginning to re-surface.

I'm wondering when I'll get my first period, and if I'll have any withdraw symptoms.

Thanks everyone!

Hopefully the side effects of quitting won't be too bad for me. Before I started birth control my periods were always regular...I hope it resumes that way! And really birth control never shortened my period...it's always been 6-7 days.

I'm not so much worried about side effects and all that, I'm more worried about another form of protection. I don't think I have the patience or self discipline to go the FAM route, and condoms are so annoying. But I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Yeah, I know how you feel! I'm happy to be off Pill but worried about how to protect myslef from getting pregnant, although I'm kind of ready but still a bit doubtful about babies. I bought a book on FAM but it just looks sooo complicated! I haven't been intimate with my hubby since gone off the Pill, just too scared!:confused:

FAM is not that hard. It's just time consuming. Taking your temp every day is easy. Checking your cervical mucous is also very easy. But checking your cervical position is a little harder. I wouldn't say that FAM is complicated at all, it's just time consuming. But it's an excellent tool for women to get to know their body and their cycle. All of the women who are using FAM have gotten to know the ins and outs of their cycles and literally know their body a hundred times more than women who are not on FAM. If you don't know what's going on in your cycle, then how can you possibly know much about your body?

And as for other forms of birth control, I really can't understand why everyone hates condoms so much. My bf and I have been using them the whole time and I have never had a problem, neither has he. I really believe that people just assume things about them because of what they have heard from other people, and it's not due to personal experience that they don't like them. They are not that bad! They work just fine and I think people who just dismiss them as if they're worthless haven't really given them a fair trial. I would personally use condoms every single day for the rest of my life than to ever subject myself to having to be on the pill again.

If you'd rather take fake hormones and screw up your body's chemistry down to the cellular level, then go for it. But as for me, I prefer to stay as natural as possible, and condoms really help me do that, while FAM helps me understand my body more than I ever realized I could. That' s the bottom line.

FAM was not complicated for me either, but then again, I'm a detail-oriented person, like to know and understand every little thing that is going on and this is especially true with my body. If you have a personality like mine, you will take to FAM quite quickly. It really is very liberating to understand so much about your cycle and notice changes that occur every month at a specific time--for example, I notice every month when I ovulate, I am SO tired, I could sleep the day away even with plenty of sleep the night before. I would have never connected this to my cycle if I hadn't been doing FAM. Now, it's a good secondary check when I'm figuring my ovulation date...I think you just have to try it a few cycles to see if it's for you or not.

I, too, never had a bad experience with condoms. I used them all throughout my first 4 cycles charting on FAM because I wasn't sure I trusted myself just then, and now I use them during my fertile phase (pretty much from when AF ends until I ovulate since I have ovulated as early as cycle day 11). Never once did I have a breakage. I have to think a lot of it may come down to user error. I figure if worse comes to worst and a condom breaks during my fertile time, I can always get Plan B, which I hope I won't need, but it's there just in case.