4 Important Ways to Support the Body when Stopping Birth Control
Birth control comes in many methods and hormone ratio types. Its purpose is to artificially control your hormones to release on a schedule each month. The brain ovary connection is separated, and the body learns to trust the birth control’s administration of hormones. Birth control makes the body have a false sense of pregnancy to prevent ovulation. Many women who choose to partake in stopping birth control can often go through a difficult transition phase because now your body has to relearn how to secrete the proper hormones. Resuming normal hormone balance can become a difficult task for the body at first. When stopping birth control, there is potential for symptoms to reappear that originated before birth control or new symptoms can arise too (I know, it’s not fair!). The good news is that there are many ways to support this transition from stopping birth control by utilizing nutrition and lifestyle changes to aid your hormone regulation.
Source: Birth Control Book
1. Support your liver
The liver is where all of your hormone processing takes place. Birth control can cause many complications in the liver that you may not have been aware of because the birth control is processed through the liver as well. It has been shown to induce intrahepatic cholestasis which is when the liver is incapable or has issues producing a digestive fluid called bile. The bile is important to digest fats and other components in the intestine. Women who ended up stopping birth control were reported to improve this condition and produce bile again. Additionally, birth control can cause hepatic venous thrombosis which is when the liver has a blood clot in the veins causing a block in the drainage of fluid, stopping birth control has shown to improve this effect.
As you are stopping birth control your liver will need time to heal to operate more normally. The liver may be in a fragile state and will need to be supported. The residual birth control will be detoxified and the liver will relearn how to detoxify hormones as well. Some ways to support the liver include turmeric, microgreens, Epsom salt baths, colorful produce, sweating, cruciferous veggies
Source: LiverTox Book
2. Support your gut
The gut also needs to be well supported when stopping birth control use. The gut is where most of our digestion of nutrients occurs as well as the absorption of hormones. It has been shown that birth control has a negative effect on intestinal permeability, which is what causes leaky gut resulting in poor digestion. Additionally, there is a link between gut microbiome diversity and androgen levels, and birth control has affected the androgen levels in the body. Due to these reasons, after stopping birth control use, your gut will be transitioning and attempting to rebalance its gut microbiome. Ways to support your gut include increase fiber intake, stay hydrated, manage stress, as well as consuming probiotics, apple cider vinegar, and warm lemon water.
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3. Support your adrenal glands
The stress response secretes cortisol a stress hormone. This hormone, when secreted in high-stress circumstances over time will place a negative effect on your hormones. When stopping birth control use, you may experience a large shift in hormone and emotional levels. If in combination with stress and cortisol release, this will negatively shift your hormone levels even more. In addition, the stress response will slow down the metabolism and digestion causes an unsupportive effect on the gut. Ways to manage stress include lower caffeine intake, incorporate mindful movement, meditate, balance blood sugar, eat healthy fats, and try seed cycling.
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4. Replete nutrients
Birth control has been shown to deplete your body’s ability to store and absorb certain nutrients, specifically 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 and minerals. Even after stopping birth control, there will be a transition phase where your body may not be fully absorbing nutrients. This is why when stopping birth control, you must replete nutrients that were lost or depleted.
These nutrients do more than just aid our body’s in general because they are actually hormone promoters. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant, reduces inflammation, plays a role in immunity, wound healing, collagen synthesis, and needed for hormone production. The B vitamins help to support hormone detoxification in the liver, hormone metabolism and support mood neurotransmitter processes.
When stopping birth control, it is important to be mindful of these nutrients by eating a wide variety of foods and supplement if necessary.
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TAKE AWAY MESSAGE:
There are several important ways to support the body when stopping birth control. If you’re looking to understand the root causes of your hormones, check out my hormone testing packages HERE.
