BIRTH CONTROL

Symptoms Stopping Birth Control

Symptoms Stopping Birth Control

Birth control works by administering artificial forms of estrogen and progesterone in the body to make it think that you are pregnant and will therefore not ovulate. 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 lots of time of using birth control, you become dependent on not being able to regulate your hormones naturally, so when you stop using birth control you’ll find hormonal imbalances to be common. For some women, this transition to regulating hormones naturally may only take a few weeks, and for others, it’ll take a few months.

11 Reasons for a Short Period

11 Reasons for a Short Period

Your period is a vital sign of what is going on with your overall health & hormones. Let’s talk about short periods. A short period is one that lasts for less than 3 days. You could also be experiencing a short cycle (time from your period until your next period). A short cycle would be less than 21 days. You could also see light pink blood instead of bright or dark red. A normal period is 3-7 days and a normal cycle is 21-35 days (although I prefer to see it around 24-25 days). So why could you be experiencing a short period?

9 Causes of a Long Menstrual Cycle

9 Causes of a Long Menstrual Cycle

A long menstrual cycle is characterized by being longer than 35 days or more. Day 1 counts as the first day of a full bleed and the cycle are counted up until the day before your next period. A healthy cycle is reliant on stable hormone levels. If one hormone is elevated or low, this will send a cascade of off levels for the rest of the cycle. If you are not getting a period for three months or more, then it’s important to start digging a little deeper because this is characterized as amenorrhea and can have detrimental long term health problems. Here are 9 possible causes of a long menstrual cycle - and you could have more than one!

Heavy Period After Stopping Birth Control

Heavy Period After Stopping Birth Control

A heavy period after stopping birth control is something that you could experience. Hormonal birth control works by administering synthetic forms of estrogen and/or progesterone in the body to make it think that you are pregnant and will therefore not ovulate. Your body learns to trust this administration of the synthetic hormones and it will close off your body’s natural brain-ovary communication to produce hormones. When you stop using birth control you’ll find hormonal imbalances to be common because your body’s hormonal communication system is ‘waking up’ again. For some, this transition to regulating hormones naturally may only take a few cycle, and for others, it’ll take a a bit long. One of the side effects of taking longer to adapt after stopping birth control is a heavy period.

How Do I Know if I Have Post Birth Control Syndrome?

How Do I Know if I Have Post Birth Control Syndrome?

Post birth control syndrome is a collection of possible symptoms that can occur for about 4-6 months after cessation of birth control. The reason for the symptoms is because your body is attempting to restore its natural ability to produce hormones. The hormones affect so many different things around the body other than just your cycle. Birth control actually disengages the ovaries from doing their job in hormone production and regulation so this is why when you stop using it you can get post birth control syndrome. Many of the signs of post birth control syndrome can be due to imbalances involving androgens, estrogen/progesterone, and cortisol.

How Long for Hormones to Balance After Stopping Birth Control?

How Long for Hormones to Balance After Stopping Birth Control?

A common question is how long will it take for your hormones to balance after stopping birth control? The answer: it depends. For some, your period may return normally your next cycle. For others, it may take some time before your hormones feel balanced. When working with clients transitioning off of birth control I recommend giving your body at least three months before completing hormone testing to give your hormonal system a chance to wake back up and to get a better picture of how your body is producing hormones without birth control.

Why You're Getting Post Birth Control Acne and What to Do

Why You're Getting Post Birth Control Acne and What to Do

In each pore of our skin, we have sebaceous glands that produce sebum, an oil-like liquid, which helps to moisturize and protect our skin. When too many dead skin cells collect on the top of the skin in conjunction with high amounts of sebum, this can create a clog in our sebaceous glands and will result in inflammation. Our body will respond to this inflammation by sending white blood cells to the site of the clog which forms the white-headed pimples called acne. Hormones can have a strong effect on the amount of sebum is produced and our inflammatory response.