If you have not gotten periods after stopping the birth control pill, do not worry because you may not be the only one! Late period after stopping the birth control pill, or no period after stopping the birth control pill, is a common side effect of this form of contraception. Although it is always a good idea to take a pregnancy test if you suspect so, but pregnancy may not be the only reason for delayed periods after stopping birth control pills!
In many cases, your regular cycle will resume almost immediately, and you can get pregnant normally.1 However, it is common to experience a temporary delay of 2-3 months for your periods to return. In some cases, it can even take up to 6 months. Usually, the irregular menstrual cycles do not continue to a more long-term timeline.2
Periods can take a while to arrive because you are not ovulating or getting your periods the entire time you are using birth control pills. This is because of how birth control pills work! Birth control pills prevent pregnancy by preventing ovulation – the process by which an egg is released into the fallopian tube every month for fertilisation. Since ovulation does not happen – a pregnancy cannot occur, and the menstrual cycle also changes.3
How soon after quitting birth control will your period return to normal?
After stopping a course of birth control pills, the body takes time to kick-start itself and start ovulating, producing adequate hormones and causing the menstrual cycle to resume normally.
The amount of time it takes to get regular periods back after stopping the birth control pills is a little variable and depends on person to person. Several healthcare factors influence how quickly your body resets. These factors include diet, exercise, whether your periods were regular before the pill, and if you have certain hormonal conditions like PCOS.4 In the meanwhile, you may see yourself getting no periods or having irregular/delayed periods.
A note of caution: Even if you are not getting periods after stopping the birth control pill, there are chances that you can get pregnant soon after coming off the pill. So remember to test for a pregnancy or use other forms of birth control, like condoms to prevent pregnancy!
What is the first period like after stopping the birth control pill?
After stopping the pill, it can take some time for your periods to return. Usually, after stopping the pill, your period is most likely to start in the next month. Although, this will depend on how your cycle typically behaves. Your menstrual cycle can be affected by factors like weight, health, stress, exercise, and conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
When you initially stop taking the pill, your periods could be irregular; it could take up to 3 months for your regular menstrual cycle to entirely return. This is so because hormones in the pill prevent ovulation.5
What happens to your body after stopping birth control?
When you initially started using birth control pills, you are likely to notice some changes, such as nausea or sore breasts. Therefore, it makes sense that if you stop taking them, you will feel different once again. Here are some common changes that you may experience after stopping birth control pills:
- Heavier or painful periods – Your monthly cycle can be more painful and crampy. Your heavy flow may resume if you experienced significant bleeding and pain before beginning the pill.
- Premenstrual syndrome or PMS – PMS might return as well. The pill, particularly some formulas, aids in balancing out the hormonal chaos that can cause you to feel stressed, depressed, and irritated. In the absence of that equilibrium, you might feel moody once more.
- Pregnancy – One of the most common misunderstandings about contraception is that it takes some time to get pregnant after discontinuing the pill. The speed at which one becomes pregnant varies from person to person. However, it is crucial to use protection if you are not planning on becoming pregnant anytime soon. Take a pregnancy test immediately if you have unprotected sex and notice menstruation irregularities.
- Relief from headaches – If taking the pills caused you a headache as one of its side effects, you are likely not to experience that after you stop taking the pills.
- Weight fluctuations – You might lose weight. In case you used a progestin-only pill, you may have gained a few kilograms. So it is possible that your weight may fall when you stop taking the pills. If you want to reduce weight, improving your diet and exercising will likely yield greater benefits than stopping your birth control.
- Unwanted hair and acne – The pill can fix hormonal imbalances that cause breakouts on your skin and undesired hair growth. However, this is only a short-term solution. Since after you stop using birth control, your hormone levels may return to normal, causing the problems to reappear.6
What happens when you come off the pill?
After stopping the pill, the majority of women’s bodies will resume producing hormones normally. In fact, a few days after stopping the use of oral contraceptives, you could become pregnant. On the other hand, it could take a few months for your body to start ovulating and menstruating on its schedule again. In particular, women who had irregular periods before using oral contraceptives may face a delay before their regular menstrual cycles resume.
Your menstrual cycle may temporarily fluctuate if you stop using the pill, but this is not the only factor that can delay your period. Your menstrual cycle may resume its irregular behaviour if you had started taking the birth control pill to help control your period, or it may now follow a more predictable pattern. If you still don’t want to get pregnant while you’re waiting for your cycle to return to normal, you’ll need to be cautious about using another method of contraception, such as condoms.7
Consult your doctor if things have not returned to normal in three months or if you’re showing other symptoms. They will investigate the exact cause of your period problem and get you back on track with a more regular menstrual cycle.
What are the benefits of coming off the pill?
Going off birth control pill may be beneficial in some of the following ways, though the advantages vary depending on the individual:
- Increase in libido – Going off birth control might help you have more sex desire/libido if it has been affected by it. A small percentage of women discover that taking the pill lowers their libido, especially if they take some pills at extremely low doses. Therefore, if you stop taking it, you might discover an increase in your libido.
- Mood changes – Birth control pills may or may not affect your mood. In case it caused alterations in your mood (like depression and anxiety), you may notice an improvement.8
What happens next if your periods didn’t go back to normal?
First step is to check for pregnancy, your doctor will test your hormone levels, including human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), if your menstrual cycle hasn’t returned to normal after a few months. If there is a problem with another endocrine gland, the pituitary gland, for instance, it can be determined by testing other hormone levels.
In addition to pregnancy, other circumstances that could prevent the return of regular menstruation include ovarian malfunction, which includes early menopause, high-stress levels, chronic anxiety and extreme weight fluctuations.
When to consult a doctor?
Talk to your doctor before discontinuing the pill for any reason, including wanting to get pregnant or selecting another method of birth control. Different brands, dosages, and types of birth control pills have various effects. Any questions or worries you have regarding what may happen to your body, particularly your reproductive system, can be addressed by consulting your doctor. If you don’t want to get pregnant, you can also talk about different methods of contraception during this visit.9
Now, you can also consult a friendly gynaecologist on the Pinky Promise app for Rs. 50 only. Download the app now!
