For the last two weeks I've been on a rollercoaster ride of random crying, fits of anger and a deep introspective depression.

I haven't been that depressed since I was a teenager. I am a generally optimistic and happy person, even when things are going wrong. I have my bad days just like anyone else, but usually I am fine.

I've even been on the Nuvaring before and never noticed it as badly as I did these past two weeks. I had to take it out and I doubt I'll ever go back. If I need birth control in the future I'll use something else.

Anyways, during the past couple weeks I had absolutely no desire to do anything healthy for myself, so now that it's out I'm quite ready to get back to trying to lose.

Have any of you had such a bad experience with birth control?

yes i did. I was never on it until after my first son, and I was severally depressed. I had actually lost all my baby weight, then regained a lot of it on the BC, but because when I get depressed i eat eat eat crap and don;t move from the couch. THen one day, it clicked..I stopped the BC and it was like the depression cloud lifted. I spent about 8 months several depressed, I feel like I lost that time with my son and my life! AfterI went off the BC I got back to normal and lost the weight of course, but also was able to be happy again. Scared the crap outpf me, I will never do BC again!! I'm married and we don't mind more children if it happens so if I do get pregnant, its ok. Well, I'm pregnant right now! lol

Birth control did a number on me. Constant bloating except for my placebo week, and it made me ravenous. Only fatty or sugary food would satisfy me. I could eat healthy, small portions all day but still obsess over getting a pizza or a cake. Natural sugar didn't abate it at all. I'd literally get depressed over not being able to eat and I've never been like that before. I've also gone through serious bouts of depression where I'd lie on the couch for hours on end just mentally berating myself.

I threw away my BC mid-pack last Saturday. I just can't put myself through that ****. I'm already feeling more like my old self.

Yes.

Which is why I don't use hormonal BC any more - there are so many other options out there!

Mhmm. No hormonal birth control. Copper IUD or condom would be a safer bet (less of a number on you). I actually use FAM (fertility awareness method) with great success and if we want to avoid babies we just either abstain or user a barrier when I'm fertile. It has worked very, very well for me, and I knew exactly when I conceived each child (intentional! It was no failure of the method!).

The hormones are just awful. It's one thing if the birth control is being used to treat a specific condition and the additional estrogen and progesterone is corrective and therapeutic, but in women with a normative androgen profile it causes little harm, at best, and significant harm at its worst. Bleck and blah!

I'm so sorry the Nuvaring did a number on you

Me too. Another alternative to condoms is using a diaphragm with spermacide (barrier method). It does require going to the doctor and getting a fitting, but it's less uncomfortable that a regular pap smear.

I don't use hormonal birth control any more. I experienced depression and weight gain while on it, but it was a gradual thing and it crept up on me. The reason I attribute the depression to it was because when I stopped taking it I felt a million times better.

Good luck!

Yup, we don't prevent frequently enough that I've bothered getting fitted, but that is definitely another barrier option.

On a random side note, my period already came back despite exclusively breast feeding on demand, cosleeping, and being only ten weeks postpartum. I could have cried I'm just really fertile, but I was so hoping my body would give me a bit of a break rather than making us choose to prevent (for my health, it is rough to get pregnant so quickly postpartum, otherwise my husband wouldn't mind ). I'm hoping this one was random and I'm not actually back to regular ovulation so quickly.

But no matter how much I don't want another baby in the next two or three months, I STILL wouldn't do hormonal birth control. I really wonder how many women have depressed libido, vaginal dryness, depression, weight fluctuations, skin disturbances, and other common side effects of BC and don't even realize that might be what is causing it. I haven't experienced most doctors being straightforward and forthcoming with the side effects, especially the long term ones like stroke/clotting issues/hormonal cancers - I think that is doing customers a great disservice. Women should be able to obtain these if they want, but the side effects should be made known to them before they begin so it is a calculated risk and not an inadvertent one!

Sorry to go off-topic but this made me smile! I would love to be that in-tune with my body.

It really can be pot luck. I love microgynon, and have been on it since I was 13. Started again a few weeks ago after a break of a few years. As for what happened during that time, I had ONE Depo shot, and after a few weeks started a period that lasted 9 MONTHS. It was awful. I was also severely depressed for a long time, but that could gave been circumstantial, i have a long history with depression, but i'm sure the Depo didn't help, even if it wasn't the direct cause. It took another year or so for my cycle to return to normal, and I started getting psycho PMS which I never experienced before. Apparently progesterone-only is NOT the way to go. My doc almost talked me into a Mirena coil until he heard that.

So sorry to hear you're having a bad experience with BC I hope you find something that agrees with you. Hopefully your symptoms should abate sooner if you change BC, given the pill is for 24 hours, and Depo's for 3 months

I am already feeling tons better.

I don't want to have children of my own but I'm not sexually active right now anyways. If I need to use protection someday there are condoms, spermicidal lubrication and making sure I'm not ovulating.

Besides, I'm actually bisexual so sometimes I date women and then it's a non-issue.

Someday I intend to adopt. I wish I could get my tubes tied, but it's kind of a hassle unless you're older and already have kids.

Hear hear!!!!!!