5 Common Fears When Breaking Up With Birth Control, Debunked And Remedied

Millions of women have been gaslit for years on what they should do for their feminine health, but no more! Technology and a wealth of research have given us options and resources to best support our bodies’ health. We now know better, and we can take our hormonal health into our own hands and throw the toxic birth control out of our lives, along with the anxiety, depression, bloating, and acne.

Going off birth control should relieve your stress level, not add to it, but there is bound to be some fear when breaking up with something you relied on for so long. So, let's get into the top 5 concerns we hear most often from our Evie readers and debunk them, one by one.

5 Concerns Debunked

It's time to get to the truth of the 5 most common fears when breaking up with birth control.

#1. “I had such painful periods, and taking birth control supposedly helps with that, so I don’t want that pain to come back if I stop BC…”

First of all, the pill doesn’t give you a real period; birth control tricks your body into thinking it’s pregnant, then pumps it full of synthetic, artificial hormones and chemicals. Secondly, painful periods are not normal and are a sign of nutritional deficiency, hormonal imbalance, or a reproductive disorder, so one remedy for that is to up those foods that boost fertility and hormonal function (more on this later). Once you fix the root problem, the symptoms will ease up, and your periods will return to normal post-BC. 

#2. “What if my hormones go crazy and mess up my fertility?”

Yes, your hormones might be somewhat off balance at first because they’re trying to adjust back to normality, but being on birth control means they were off balance already! Hormonal birth control suppresses ovulation by overriding your natural hormones. Your cycle will probably be somewhat irregular at first, which is why it’s important to properly aid your system’s detoxification process with adequate nutrition and medicinal remedies. And the pill could hurt your fertility (and overall health) much more than the detox period getting off. The pill could be masking underlying problems that will resurface when you get off to get pregnant; issues like PCOS, endometriosis, and anovulation are commonly covered up with hormonal birth control usage.

#3. “Would I have withdrawals, like with other medication?”

Birth control has multiple concerning side effects, but it’s not like an anti-anxiety medication that has to be carefully tapered off and it does not have addictive substances like narcotic drug medication, so you shouldn’t worry about any noticeable withdrawal as you would with other medications. Again, your cycle will probably be somewhat irregular, but supporting your body in this process will minimize any irregularities. If anything, you should feel better because your hormonal functions will no longer be inhibited from processing normally, and the birth control side effects will be bygones. 

#4. “If my hormones do go crazy, will it impact my mental health/make me anxious and/or depressed?”

Refer to answer #2, but the side effect results you should notice are feeling happier, mentally clearer, and less bloated! Again, properly detoxing with supplemental vitamins and a supportive, healthy diet of hormone-balancing foods should help your body adjust in the best way. Countless women who have “broken up” with birth control say they feel better, lighter, happier, and more positive since they stopped taking the pill; whereas when they were on the pill, they felt anxious, depressed, swollen, fat, angry, and foggy-brained. 

#5. “I’m not ready to get pregnant, physically and emotionally. What if I go off BC and get pregnant?”

If you’re an unmarried woman who isn’t ready to get pregnant, then the safest option all around – practically, emotionally, and economically – is to abstain from sex and wait until you’re ready to start a family with your husband. Sex is, by its very nature, a procreative act, so abstinence is the easiest, healthiest way to avoid getting pregnant. 

If you’re married and waiting to get pregnant, then fertility awareness-based methods (FAM) are an effective and all-natural way of avoiding pregnancy by tracking your cycle’s fertility window. There are only approximately five days of the month when a woman can conceive, and fertility awareness methods rotate around this concept. When you approach ovulation, you simply avoid sex until the fertile window has passed. You can use a cycle tracking app such as 28 Wellness, which highlights your fertile window to let you know when you’re approaching the time to abstain (or practice alternatives)! This way, you avoid any type of chemicals that might harm your hormones and fertility, so your body is ready and charged for when you are ready to make your baby! Additionally, practicing fertility awareness will help you grow in self-awareness and education on your body’s physiology. 

Detox Remedies

When you wean off birth control, you need to support your body and detox your system from the synthetic hormones and chemicals that have manipulated your health for so long. Nature is its own pharmacy, and there is a rescue remedy for everything, including our feminine homeostasis. Some natural remedies (several you could even incorporate into your diet) that help detox include:

• Dandelion extract – often in tea or tincture form, dandelion is one of the top liver purifiers in nature’s pharmacy.

• Yarrow – an effective herbal remedy for inflammation.

• Milk Thistle – an excellent liver detox with multiple health benefits!

• Burdock Root – a blood purifier and detox for the lymphatic system and skin.

• Fatty acids (DHA) – your body needs a certain amount of healthy fats, and DHA/omega-3 fish oils are the best way to consume them.

• Turmeric – the ultimate health substance for fighting inflammation.

• Toxic Breakup – this is the ultimate birth control detox, the only one on the market, and it includes several of the above ingredients, so there is no need to scour the vitamin aisle for all the different bottles! The ingredients are all natural and doctor-researched/formulated. You can order one or two boxes (recommended) or more, depending on how long you’ve been taking birth control. Simply take one packet a day, or (if you want to detox more quickly and a bit more intensely) take a pack in the morning and a pack at night. You can order it here and use code Anna28 for free shipping.

Food Aids

Who doesn’t just love food? It’s a joy of life, and nutrition is conveniently also a medicinal means of balancing our internal health. Our diet plays an essential role in our healing and daily wellness. Some natural foods can actually help stabilize hormones, support fertility, and boost mood and energy (see here for the ultimate hormonal shopping list).

• Fatty fish (salmon) – helps boost mood, supplements vitamin D, boosts metabolism, provides lean protein with essential fatty acids and omega-3s.

• Eggs – lean (inexpensive) protein, a fertility superfood (and what makes fertility happy makes hormones happy) that is high in healthy fats. 

• Leafy greens – especially spinach, greens contain essential minerals and vitamins that support hormone balance, such as magnesium, folate, and B6.

• Root veggies – sweet potatoes provide good levels of iron, antioxidants, B vitamins, fiber, and potassium; beets provide iron and folate, which boosts reproductive health and helps general hormonal balance. 

• Nuts – walnuts and almonds especially provide B vitamins and healthy fats (but limit portions since nuts are a high calorie food). 

• Olive oil – best as extra virgin, olive oil is a good natural fat for hormonal balance.

• Antioxidant fruits (lemons, limes, berries, pomegranate seeds, grapes) – antioxidants help reduce inflammation and support hormone health and egg quality, and vitamin C helps stabilize progesterone levels and blood glucose. 

• Yogurt – probiotic-rich foods help support gut health which is linked to hormonal balance and vaginal health.

Certain eating habits also do wonders to boost your mood and energy and stabilize your hormones and blood glucose (which, if imbalanced, can really throw a wrench in your mood, brain focus, and hormones).

• Protein intake – try to get around 30 grams of protein each morning; eat at least 20-30 of protein per meal.

• Avoid breaking your fast with carbs (sugar, starchy breads).

• Consistent and sufficient vitamin C intake (you can keep electrolyte-vitamin C packets, like Emergen-C, on hand to drink daily, especially during ovulation and luteal phases).

• Drink herbal teas – lemon ginger, ginger turmeric, chamomile, hibiscus teas.

• Sit down for meals – eating rushed on the go raises your cortisol and stress levels, upsetting hormonal function in the process; it also inhibits proper digestion because your body is not able to switch from the active sympathetic mode to the “rest and digest” parasympathetic mode. 

• Chew well and slowly – chowing your food down causes indigestion because your body has to work harder to break down the food molecules. This may result in inflammation and malabsorption. If you don’t absorb your nutrients well, you become deficient, and those dependent hormones suffer.

Lifestyle Tips

How you live your external life impacts the internal life of your body’s physiology, whether we like it or not. As Hippocrates said, if you don’t make time for your wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness. Here’s a friendly reminder to get all those daily essentials in to keep stress levels low and hormones happy!

• Sunshine exposure daily, at least 15-30 minutes.

• Minimize (or eliminate) alcohol consumption.

• Aromatherapy – buy a diffuser and an assortment of essential oils and some beeswax candles.

• Music therapy – this is actually a thing! Music has a very powerful influence on our mentality and our mood tone, so be sure to choose wisely. Ditch the obnoxious rap or rock and queue a peaceful playlist of relaxing, soothing songs and spa music (maybe some water sounds too).

• Quality sleep – use aids like mouth tape, cold A/C, weighted blanket, and supplements like magnesium, skullcap, and valerian extract to ensure deep slumber. 

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