Ditching the Pill

Hormonal birth control options have a lot of side effects that don’t get talked about often. No, I’m not even talking about the unwanted weight gain that comes with getting on the pill, but some much more serious with lasting side effects.

I’ve personally been on birth control pills for over 10 years, and I’m ditching them for a handful of reason I’ll share below. While nobody needs to wean off of birth control, there are some steps you can take to help prevent the side effects that come with getting off the pill and back to your hormones functioning on their own.

First, here’s why I’m getting off the pill:

• The pill (and other hormonal birth controls) don’t allow your body to release your own hormones. You’re taking artificial hormones that don’t function the same way your real ones do. What they do well is turn your hormones completely off, which prevents pregnancy. It also prevents your body from telling you if/when anything is wrong hormonally.

• The artificial hormones in birth control don’t contain progesterone (an essential female hormone) and often more closely resemble male hormones like testosterone. The result, as many people know, is coming off of birth control in an attempt to have children leads to the discovery that hormones are out of whack and conception is difficult.

• Pill periods aren’t real periods. A period is your body’s way of telling how it’s doing. Without a real period, we aren’t basically left in the dark.

• It’s widely accepted that the pill causes vitamin B deficiencies, which can lead to a lot of problems including liver and adrenal dysfunction, your body’s inability to regulate cortisol, leading to gut health issues, and the enlargement of almost every organ and gland in your body. Remember that enlargement = inflammation = disease.

• If you have a family history of gallbladder disease, birth control can exacerbate the problem leading to gallstones or gallbladder removal.

If you’re ready to get off birth control, you can do a few things before taking it out of your routine to prevent some symptoms of Post Birth Control Syndrome, which can be severe acne, weight gain, and hormone imbalances for up to 9 months after you quit taking the pill. You can do this for anywhere from one to three months before getting off the pill to give your body a chance to detox and reset in preparation for those hormonal changes.

1. Supplement vitamin B. You can do this regardless of getting off the pill or not and should to help ensure that you aren’t deficient in vitamin B, but especially important as you come off. Look for a vitamin B complex as opposed to just a vitamin B-12 supplement.

2. Support a healthy microbiome in your gut. First make sure you are getting plenty of vegetables in the form of leafy greens and

3. Support liver detoxification by eating plenty of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels), beets, burdock root, complete protein sources, dandelion root, garlic, grapefruit, green tea, and turmeric before introducing fermented foods and probiotics to your diet regularly. The liver produces a gene called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) which binds to excess hormones in your body. When on the pill and testosterone is one of the only hormones left to its own devices, it is bound up and can decrease libido. Eat some of these foods every day to help with this detox process to consume around 3-6 cups of total vegetables daily.

4. Increase your healthy fat intake. Not only will this help regulate your blood sugar, but will supply your body with the right components to build healthy hormones. This avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, and olives here.

5. Consider reducing or eliminating a few things from your diet that cause inflammation: sugar, alcohol, inflammatory fats (vegetable and canola oil) and hormone disrupting foods such as gains, dairy, soy, and caffeine.

These certainly won’t guarantee the disappearance of those negative side effects from coming back to your own hormones (and issues they may reveal about your health), but it will set you up for the best possible outcome as you learn to listen to your body and the cues your hormones are providing you.