Expert: Diane Cheryl - 10/23/2008

Question
I have been on the pill for 8 years and am considering going off it for several reasons: mainly because I feel as if it's decreased my sex drive but also because I don't want to have to take a pill every day and I feel as though my body needs a break from hormones. What side effects can I expect when I discontinue? I recently got married but we are not ready to have kids, so what suggestions would you have for other birth control options (besides condoms)?

Answer
Hello Kay,

I congratulate your decision on going off hormones by way of the pill. You must have done some research on this and that is great. One of the methods you could use would be Natural Family Planning. I don't have a link for that right now but you could probably do a search and find out more about it. It is a natural method of knowing your body and how it works.

About the side effects of going off hormonal birth control, women have testified:

emotional crying
cycle changing
gaining or losing weight
acne,
some said NO EFFECTS!

Let me know what happens. My email address is DCHERYL51@yahoo.com
hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Diane Cheryl