Stopping the pill??!! - Birth Control Message Board

whisperton · 08-05-2006, 05:38 PM

Does anyone have any info on when the best time to stop taking the pill is? should i wait until i finish a pack or can i just stop cold? i really cant wait to stop taking them, i want to be a natural woman again, but i have a week and a half left on this pack and am just curious if stopping now would cause any harm. i know there would be withdrawl bleeding but i can deal with that. if anyone has any advice, thank you!

livinTX · 08-05-2006, 07:37 PM

I stopped mid-pack about 2 months ago and was fine. No matter where in the pack you stop, your 1st period off the pill after the withdrawal bleed will likely be delayed. Mine was at 5 weeks. Others wait longer (months in some case). Some get a period again right at 28 days. Side effects I've had were liveable--cramps throughout my cycles (on 2nd cycle so far), backaches, nausea off & on, lost 10 lb in 2 months (YAY!). Much better than the insane mood swings and crying I had on the pill as well as the horrid water retention. Also, if you have the discipline to look into fertility awareness, it is great just for understanding your cycle. I chart basal body temperatures and cervical mucus and it is so cool--you can pinpoint when you ovulate--then you know when to expect your period. Some people use this as a birth control method, but I'm not, I'm just using it to understand my cycles. You can do a search online to find more info about it if you're interested.

Bracelet · 08-06-2006, 09:36 AM

Or just pick up the book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility", which tells you in detail how you can chart your cycles using the Fertility Awareness Method. It's the greatest book ever written for women to understand what their body is going through during a cycle. Definitely pick it up at your local bookstore, it's worth every penny!

whisperton · 08-06-2006, 03:50 PM

thank you for your help! i reserved a copy of the book at the library, im so excited to start having a normal cycle! its such a relief

Bracelet · 08-07-2006, 03:14 PM

As for WHEN you should quit, it's true that you don't necessarily have to wait until the end of the pack. However, that being said, I DID wait until the end of my pack and had my regular withdrawal period, and then exactly 28 days later had my first real period.

If you do any kind of research on the net, you'll see that a ton of women (and I mean a very large number of them) are constantly complaining that it's been months and months and months and they haven't seen any signs of their period. I don't know why that is and I don't know when they quit the BCP in the first place. But I DO know that for me, it helped my cycle get back on track to quit at the end of the pack.

Whether or not you choose to do so is your choice. I was sick of taking them when i had 2 active weeks left and it was excruciating to have to keep taking them once I made up my mind to quit, so I understand where you're coming from. All I'm saying is that for me, it was best for me to quit at the end of the pill because it worked out just fine for me. But who knows how it will happen for you? No one knows until you quit and see what happens.