Why Do I Have Irregular Periods After Stopping Birth Control Pills?
The hormonal birth control pills work by administering artificial hormones to your body to mimic a perfect 28day menstrual cycle. Since your body receives hormones from the oral pill, this will shut off your natural hormone production in the body, and you will not ovulate. With perfect use, the pills decrease the chances of pregnancy by not allowing ovulation to occur. Issues can arise when you stop using birth control pills because your body must relearn how to produce the optimal amount of hormones every day to ovulate. When coming off the birth control pill, the goal is to restore ovulation every month to have a regular period. If you have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills, you are not ovulating, so you won’t have a period that month.
Things that can affect how long it takes for your cycle to regulate after stopping birth control pills
1. Hormones and symptoms before going on birth control
Birth control pills have many other functions in addition to protecting pregnancy. Many women start the pill to regulate their period, balance hormones, or because they have acne. These symptoms can resurface after stopping birth control use and can possibly become worse.
2. How long you were on birth control
The longer you were on the pill, the longer it will take for hormones to balance and restore a normal cycle.
3. Underlying medical conditions
Rule out other medical conditions you may have from before birth control use. Medical conditions that impact your hormones will determine how long for hormones to balance after stopping birth control. Examples of conditions to be mindful of are endometriosis, hypothyroidism, and anemia.
Source:20573783
4. Nutrition and lifestyle
Nutrition, sleep, and stress are all factors that influence our hormone levels. If you struggle in these areas, this will delay the process of restoring your hormones when you stop birth control.
Here are 8 reasons you could have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills:
1. Androgen Rebound
Androgen rebound is one of the reasons for irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. Testosterone and DHEA are our two main androgens in the body. These androgens are hormones that are usually high in men, but low in women though their levels should not be too low or too high. Androgen rebound is when the androgens rise way higher than they should. After stopping birth control, your body can fall into a state of stress which raises DHEA levels because cortisol is a precursor for DHEA. Androgen rebound can cause irregular periods after stopping birth control pills high androgens inhibit our estrogen and progesterone levels leading to impaired ovulation. Signs that you have androgen rebound can be hair loss, acne, imbalanced blood sugar, and hirsutism (unwanted facial hair growth).
Source: European Journal, 20725580
2. Low Estrogen
Low estrogen levels are another sign that you will have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. Estrogen is a growth hormone responsible for the development and maintenance of the female reproductive system. It is produced from the ovaries, fat tissue, and adrenal glands. The main functions include building up the uterine wall for the menstrual cycle, stimulating the growth of the egg follicle, developing breast tissue, stabilizing bone density, and controlling the metabolism of glucose and lipids. It is released in high amounts during the menstrual cycle's follicular phase, which is the first two weeks leading up to ovulation. If it is not released in enough amounts, then ovulation will not occur.
Source: Estrogen Book
3. Not Ovulating
Not ovulating or anovulation is another sign that you will have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. As mentioned, a regular ovulation each month will lead to a regular period. Ovulation occurs when the egg is released from the follicle, and the remaining sac, called the corpus luteum, will release a hormone called progesterone. This hormone is very important for ovulation to occur and to keep the cycle going. After stopping birth control, the body can struggle to produce optimal progesterone levels, resulting in no ovulation and irregular periods.
4. Low Thyroid Function
The thyroid is a gland in our throat that needs to release hormones to maintain a stable metabolism among other things. Ovulation can be impaired when these hormones aren’t produced enough resulting in irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. When the hormones are not produced enough, this is called a low or an underperforming thyroid. To combat a low thyroid, our body will try to stimulate more thyroid output, so additional hormones in the brain, specifically the hypothalamus, will be released to try to generate more thyroid hormones. Unfortunately, these hormones can also decrease estrogen and progesterone, which can cause androgens to be higher by default. Evidence shows that birth control use can downregulate the thyroid, causing this to occur. Low thyroid symptoms include fatigue, hair thinning, weight gain, constipation, enlarged goiter, dry skin, depression, and joint pain.
Source: 32219692
5. Stress
Stress is another reason for irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. When stress levels are high, you will produce more circulating cortisol levels, our stress hormone. As mentioned, high cortisol levels can increase DHEA production leading to androgen rebound which can impair ovulation. This stress can occur internally because your body is under stress trying to learn to produce the reproductive hormones again, but the stress may also occur because of failed pregnancy attempts right after stopping the pill.
Source: NIH
6. Overexercising
It is important to not go overboard with intense exercise after stopping the birth control pill because this can actually keep your hormone levels too low for healthy ovulation. Over-exercising puts high stress on the body, which signifies that you will have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. The body is already under a great deal of stress internally when going off the pill, so adding extra stress like intense exercise is not the best idea when recovering ovulation. You are most likely over-exercising if you are exercising too many times a week without clear rest days, if you are constantly sore or fatigued, or if your exercise sessions go way too long. Gentle exercise like going on a walk, a bike ride, or a swim at a moderate intensity would be a perfect way to move your body and still allow for hormones to restore. If you can hold a conversation while completing your exercise activity without needing to catch your breath, then this is moderate intensity. In addition. gentle exercise will help you to maintain a comfortable body fat percentage which can improve hormone balance. As a rule of thumb, most females need at least 17% body fat to maintain a normal hormone function for a healthy and regular menstrual cycle.
Source: 21467231
7. Undereating
In addition to over-exercising, undereating can put a similar level of stress on the body when stopping the birth control pill. Undereating is when you eat less calories than you burn in a day. If undereating is a constant habit, this can further lead to irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. This is because when you undereat, your body will think it is in a famine, even if the deficit is small. As a result, all less important functions in the body that do not contribute to survival will end up declining; reproductive hormone production is one of them.
Source: 7021778
8. Nutrient Deficiencies
Lastly, nutrient deficiencies are another sign that you will have irregular periods after stopping birth control pills. This is similar to undereating, though this time you may be eating enough calories during the day, but you may not be consuming enough of certain nutrients leading to nutrient deficiencies. Birth control has been shown to deplete your body’s ability to store and absorb B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc, selenium, and magnesium. Notice that both vitamin B and vitamin C are water-soluble vitamins, meaning that they do not need a lipid or fat to bind to it to be absorbed and utilized. Typically, water-soluble vitamins are the ones to not worry about supplementing for this reason, but unfortunately, evidence shows that birth control can inhibit our processing of these vitamins.
These nutrients are actually hormone promoters. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant, it can reduce inflammation, promote immunity, wound healing, collagen synthesis, and is needed for hormone production. The B vitamins help to support hormone detoxification in the liver, hormone metabolism and support mood neurotransmitter processes.
Even after stopping birth control, there will be a transition phase where your body may not be fully absorbing these nutrients. This is why it’s important that you must make sure to eat enough of these nutrients after stopping birth control and supplement if necessary.
