Be honest – When you open up a new pack of birth control each month, do you read the warning and side effects label? I think I may have glanced at it the first time, but when I read the long list of side effects and dangers I didn’t bat an eye. There were so many and they were all so common. What was the chance that any of them would actually happen to ME? Well, it turns out it is pretty likely.
I first started taking the pill about five years ago. I started with a pretty expensive prescription and soon after I began experiencing symptoms of mild depression and anxiety. I would come straight home from college classes as a freshman and just lay in bed for the second half of the day. I became very dependent on my boyfriend and my anxiety and mild depression stemmed from being apart from him. Very soon after these symptoms started, I switched to a different prescription in hopes to get back to feeling like myself. This new prescription seemed to work well and didn’t cause any crazy symptoms. I was on this new prescription for the next few years.
At the end of 2018, my prescription ran out and I was then living in a different state. Due to frequent travel, I go back home to the same doctor whenever I can. She renewed my prescription, but this time it was a new generic. I had tried this brand before (because it is a common generic with the same active ingredient) and it immediately caused nausea, so I would return it and get a different brand. But, month after month the pharmacy kept filling it, so one day I finally succumbed and just made sure to take it with food. About 3-4 months into taking this new brand, I was experiencing random spurts of nausea and vomiting in the morning with no other symptoms, but would be fine by the evening. About 5-6 months in, I was experiencing insomnia and extreme fatigue and both continued to worsen week by week. I increased my caffeine intake (not usually a coffee drinker), tried every energy pill and gummy on the market, tried sleeping medicine, etc. and nothing was helping. It got to the point where I couldn’t make it to the gym in the evenings and I was half awake throughout the day at work, literally. One day, Dr. Wendy (my mom who is not actually a doctor, but might as well be) researched the brand of birth control I was taking and found that so many other women were experiencing these symptoms and so much more. After being off of the pill for about a month, my skin even cleared up, which I didn’t even notice was a side effect that I was experiencing. I stopped taking it just to see if I would get my energy back and within days I felt better. I cannot believe that one little pill can impact my body this much, but at the same time it is completely believable when you think about its purpose.
It seems that there is a mix of women who experience side effects from hormonal contraception and those who do not. Unfortunately, it really is just dependent on the person and it is impossible to predict until actually using it.
So, my advice is: read the information that comes with your prescription and pay close attention to your body. I thought I was just really tired and let it go for months. Thank goodness Dr. Wendy figured it out before it affected my health any further. This form of birth control is responsible for making your body do the opposite of what is natural. It took all of this for me to second guess this method of birth control and start paying attention to what I was putting in my body.
If you are on the pill, quitting the pill, or just want more information, I highly recommend reading Dr. Jolene Brighten’s Beyond the Pill.
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