a question about going off BCPs

triquetra3509 · 12-11-2004, 08:51 PM

i am considering not taking my bcps anymore. i'm really sick of the side effects that they give me and i might be better off without. but i'm just wandering that since my body is used to being given hormones for over a year, would there be any side effects to ceasing this? i've been to a couple of websites but didn't find anything.

heatherdl · 12-11-2004, 09:12 PM

I just went off of BCP's after reading "The Swarzbein Principle II : The Transition". This book is written by endocrinologist Diana Scwarzbein. You can learn more about Dr. Schwarzbein and the book at http://www.scwarzbeinprinciple.com She basically says that BCP's are poison and contribute to women having such problems as obesity, infertility, high blood pressure and diabetes to name a few. After going off of them I've experienced fatigue, painful periods, longer periods and weight gain. However after adopting the eating plan that she illustrates in her book along with starting to take Metaformin I have lost the 10 pounds I gained and I feel better. My advice is to be extemely careful about what you eat after going off of BCP's. Be sure to eat a lot of good proteins & fats, complex carbs, and veggies. It will allow your hormones to adjust better. Hope this helps.

RunnerDuck · 12-13-2004, 04:48 PM

I actually just read a good argument FOR taking BCPs in "It's my ovaries, stupid!" by Elizabeth Vliet, MD (very good book BTW... I found it at my library...)... she argues that they help preserve fertility (by saving your egg reserves... the less you ovulate the longer you have eggs and the further off menopause is, in theory...) and can help with weight loss... you need a pill that is higher in estrogen and lower in progestins because the progestin is what causers IR and weight gain... estrogen is supposed to help with that... I always thought estrogen = weight gain but her arguments made sense. 1. think about when in your cycle you put on weight - it's when progesterone is high and 2. think about how a woman's body changes to more flabby and apple-like with menopause, when estrogen drops...

I have also read the Schwarzbein Principle, the first book though, not the second... and other similar arguments against BCPs.

Both sides have good arguments, but I think the bottom line is, there is no one true answer. Every woman is different. There are women who do much better on BCPs - their moods are good, they can lose weight... and there are women who do terrible on BCPs - they get depressed, gain weight, other side effects...

There are many pills out there you can try... Ovcon 35 and Yasmin are two in the US that are supposed to be good for PCOS...

You might consider trying a different pill, but if you want to go off and see what happens, of course you can try that, too.

It's hard to say how your body will react. If you are also taking glucophage or controlling your PCOS through some other fashion, you might be fine. But if not, you may have a month or two of normal cycles... and then go all screwey again. You may find your symptoms worsen. This is NOT neccassarily caused by the pill - a lot of people blame the pill for worsening their symptoms but sometime the worsening is due to the disease not being treated and getting worse with time.

Personally, I think BCPs are wonderful for PCOS, for controlling the hormones, for preserving the ovaries... but I haven't yet found a pill that doesn't cause intolerable side effects, so I am off them. Glucophage and diet don't work to give me normal cycles, unfortanately. There are many women in this camp, which is why I dislike the pat "BCPs are bad, this diet will fix you" argument. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. You have to take everything with a grain of salt and realize that A. everyone has an ax to grind and B. it may not apply to your body.

My next step to try to regulate my cycles will (hopefully) be Avandia. I see a new doc in January...