Hi all. I'm 39 now and due to my PCOS I have been on BCPs for my whole adult life- other than the 4 years when I was TTC and had my 2 boys. My hormones are all over the board these days and I was considering experimenting with coming off the BCPs for a while. I am afraid of numerous things- not the least of which is weight gain or inabiity to lose weight (not that it's happening quickly while on the pills). Does anyone have experience/opinions on this? I just want to feel normal! These hormone induced headaches are a killer.

I stopped taking Yasmin a year and a half ago because BCP were causing problems with my gallbladder/digestive system and I could not lose weight on them.

I got off them and I've been able to lose 25 lbs since then.

I didn't have any problems at all and in fact, I felt great.

BCP don't treat PCOS. They can help balance your hormones, but it doesn't help everyone do that.

For me, BCP increased my IR (which is bad for us PCOS ladies), it hurt my gallbladder, limited my ability to lose weight, and it prevented me from really treating my PCOS because it was masked by the hormones.

It did help my skin, though! I now get acne around my period when I used to never get any.

I've been on BCP since I was 16.

For me it helps a lot with the hormone crazy. Though I've been off many times in the years to give the ol' kidneys a break, or to get pregnant, it was always a pause with the idea of eventually going back.

So I haven't been yet at the place of permanently going off and doing something else.

Which pill are you on? I do remember tri's killing me. I have to take monophasic. (ex: Orthocyclen and not Orthotricyclen) or it makes things crazy. I already have bopping around hormones. I don't been a bopping around pill. I do better on a steady dose to help me steady down.

I've lost weight both on and off pill.

I think it's different for all of us. Which one are you? Maybe that could give a clue as to what to do next? There's at least 5 types of pcos people. (I'm a syndrome X type. )

• traditional PCOS -- anovulatory, increased androgens, no insulin resistance
• syndrome X -- anovulatory, increased androgens, insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes
• non-traditional PCOS --anovulatory, normal androgens, obese, insulin resistant or type 2 diabetes
• non-traditional PCOS -- ovulatory, increased androgens, mild insulin resistance
• idiopathic hirsutism -- ovulatory, increased androgens, no insulin resistance

HTH!
A.

Thanks for the input!

Astrophe: To be honest, I can't tell you exactly what type of PCOS I have! Prior to the BCP I had a regular, but very long cycle (38/40 days) and I don't know about insulin resistance, but I was diagnosed hypoglycemic at age 16. I guess I would put myself in the non-traditional category.

I too have always been on a monophasic pill, anything else led to constant spotting. Right now I'm taking Seasonale because my old school ortho .5/35 monophasic pills are out of production. The last time I went off the pill I did not stop bleeding for 6 months (sorry way tmi), so I am a little afraid to try.

I'm just struggling with finding a way to manage the headaches that I've been having. I am considering that I may be in perimenopause. I hate the idea that comping off the pill might make it even harder for me to lose weight, so I'm unsure what to do.

Perimenopause is possible. What's your family history on that? And your doc's input?

A.