Ask Lemon8: Birth Control and My Experience💊

hey everyone! this was actually inspired by a comment i got on my alani and acne post. someone mentioned that her birth control was very helpful with clearing acne, so thank you to that user for inspiring this conversation! i want to ask my fellow women how they feel about birth control. i stopped talking it a few months ago because of the effects, and i was on a low dose.

✨my experience, no filter, for the girls✨

i started it as a treatment for suspected endometriosis. i have always stayed away from birth control because i was scared of the effects, but my gyno told me that i was not allowed to do further testing unless i went on birth control. i just wanted something to help my symptoms so i agreed. and it DID help. i went from debilitating pain and countless level 5 pads everyday to super light, painless periods. she put me on a low dose that was supposed to not have any side effects because i told her i was hesitant. i noticed that i gained a little bit of weight and bloating while on it. the worst symptom was my mood. i was genuinely not myself. about a month and a half after starting, i became depressed. i was just laying and staring at the ceiling for hours. i lacked motivation to do anything. i stopped socializing. i just felt horrible. i didn't know what it was. then, i would get anxiety attacks. i have struggled with mental health in the past so these were not new experiences, but they seemingly came out of nowhere. it would be fight or flight feeling before my period and anxiety attacks, then depression worse than what i was experiencing everyday. i could not control my emotions. it was a constant back and forth of negative emotions. i would lash out, then start crying, then feel like i was about to have a heart attack because i couldn't calm down. it wasn't right. i opened up to my best friend and sister, and they both told me that this started when i started birth control. and i realized that they were right. i decided to stop taking it after about 5 months because things were just getting worse. 5 months later, im still not my normal self. things are much better than before and my emotions started regulating after i stopped taking it, but i can tell that im not 100% back to myself.

i hear one of two things. "this was the best thing ever" or "birth control was actual hell". my experience was definitely not a positive one, and my pill was rated fairly well. i have people in my personal life that tell me about their experiences and they were either amazing or horrible.

what was your experience?

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