6 Side Effects of Stopping Birth Control Use
Hormonal birth control methods include the oral pill, ring, birth control implant, hormonal IUD, skin patch, and injections. Hormonal birth control is a means of protecting against pregnancy by administering artificial forms of estrogen and progesterone or just progesterone in the body to elicit a false sense of pregnancy. This will cause the cervical mucus to thicken so sperm have a harder time getting through to the uterus, and additionally you will not ovulate so no egg is released. Your body learns to trust this administration of the artificial hormones and it will close off your body’s natural brain-ovary communication to produce hormones. After using birth control long-term, you become dependent on not being able to regulate your hormones naturally. When you stop using birth control, the body goes through a tough transition when your ovaries learn to produce their own hormones. For some women, this transition to regulating hormones naturally may only take a few weeks, and for others, it’ll take a few months. Due to this, there are some risks and side effects of stopping birth control use. Here we will discuss them.
Source: Birth Control Book, 19268187
1. Irregular or Missing Period
Irregular or missing periods is one of the side effects of stopping birth control use. A regular period falls anywhere between 21 to 35 days (28 is the average), anything outside of this time frame is irregular. In the case of stopping birth control, irregular periods are caused by not ovulating because your hormones are still so imbalanced right when you stop taking birth control. Lack of ovulation, where the egg is not released from the ovary is a product of low progesterone because the body is not preparing for pregnancy.
Source: 25681845, Book on the Menstrual Cycle
2. Hair Loss
You might be noticing unusually large amounts of hair coming from your head in the shower as one of the side effects of stopping birth control. Female hair loss after stopping birth control use is due to the miniaturization of the hair follicle, and increasing terminal follicles. When the follicle gets too small, it can not hold the hair strand and therefore it falls out. This effect is caused by a rebound of androgen (male-like hormone) levels after getting off birth control. This is because birth control naturally lowers testosterone levels because of increased estrogen administration. When you stop using birth control, your ovaries can respond with androgen rebound where a surge of testosterone (an androgen) will be produced to overcompensate. In this transition period, your body may produce more testosterone than estrogen and progesterone. When you have higher testosterone it will react with DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) to convert into DHT (dihydrotestosterone). This DHT at high levels promotes the miniaturization of the hair follicles causing hair loss as one of the side effects of stopping birth control use.
Source: 18044135, American Hair Loss, 28492055
3. Gut Issues
Gut issues are another one of the side effects of stopping birth control use. The gut plays an important role in hormone detoxification. Oral contraceptives have been shown to increase the risk of developing Crohn's disease, which is a type of inflammatory bowel disorder that leads to lots of inflammation in the gut. Birth control can also decrease the biodiversity of the gut microbiome resulting in leaky gut (pathogens entering the bloodstream) and poor absorption leading to nutrient deficiencies. We need a broad diversity of gut bacteria to have good defenses against pathogens and to be able to pass bowel movements efficiently.
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4. Acne
Acne is another one of the side effects of stopping birth control use, and this is also due to androgen rebound similar to hair loss. As DHT promotes hair loss, it also promotes acne, unfortunately. DHT causes an increase of sebum in the sebaceous glands in the skin. When levels of sebum get too high, bacteria can get trapped in the glands and result in pimples or acne production.
Gut issues are another reason for acne after stopping birth control. Studies have found that the gut microbiota or bacteria have a connection to acne production due to the inflammatory response it results in. In addition, studies have shown that gut flora can transport excess microbiota to the skin directly. This is because when the intestinal wall becomes permeable, the bacteria can enter the bloodstream and collect in the skin which can clog the pores to create acne.
Acne is also a side effect of stopping birth control because of zinc deficiency. Since birth control affects gut health and absorption, you can become deficient in some nutrients, zinc being a common one. A mechanism for this is that zinc has anti-inflammatory properties and it can effectively reduce cutibacterium acnes which is a bacteria linked to acne production in the skin. Additionally, zinc can inhibit sebum secretion and production by its antiandrogenic property. This is why zinc is a nutrient to help decrease post-birth control acne.
Source: European Journal, 20725580, 25120566, 31284694
5. Fatigue
Fatigue is another one of the side effects of stopping birth control use. Fatigue is defined as having low energy, tiredness, and weak muscles. This can occur when stopping birth control because your body is not used to producing hormones itself and at the high rate that it needs to. This process can create a large stress response which can negatively affect energy levels. We often hear the term ‘adrenal fatigue’ but the clinical term is HPA axis dysfunction. HPA stands for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal. This is the communication system between your brain (hypothalamus and pituitary) and adrenal glands to regulate the stress response and cortisol output.
This communication can be affected by birth control use. Birth control works by suppressing the communication between your HPO axis - hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis or the communication between your brain and ovaries so that you don’t ovulate and therefore can not get pregnant. Since both HPO and HPA come from the hypothalamus, many hormones are controlled by this region of the brain, and therefore birth control can affect these systems to cause fatigue.
6. Pre-Birth Control Symptoms Returning
Many women start birth control to regulate symptoms other than pregnancy. Because our hormones are all connected in the body, suppressing estrogen and progesterone impacts a whole host of other factors. Due to this many physicians will prescribe birth control to regulate acne, painful periods, PCOS, irregular periods, and PMS. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of stopping birth control is that these symptoms can reappear and possibly get worse during the transition phase of stopping birth control. This is why birth control is not a total fix to your symptoms. Luckily there are ways to regulate these symptoms without using birth control.
