Hello Everyone!

I'm new to this site, in fact, this is my very first post. I have searched the web for information on women like me who have been on BCP for all of their adult life. Yes, since I was 20 years old. I'm now 52. I began using the pill due to days of violent vomiting, diarrhea, etc which occured throughout my teenage menstrual periods. The BCP solved all my misery instantly. Because I didn't want children, I stayed on it until now. Now, I'm having symptoms of menopause; and my gyno tells me that I am now at the age where I should consider stopping the pill. Not for any reason personal to my individual health, but just because this is the industry-wide accepted time for women to go through menopause, and the pill masks the symptoms...to some extent.

I haven't found any books, articles, etc. dealing with women like me. We have to glean what info we can from the advice given to women who are not on the pill, which is not always easy. I went off the pill for 2 months last year and had two mildly-warm flashes...no sweating or heart palpitations, just warmth. My main symptoms of menopause (despite being on BCP) are overwhelming fatigue, deep depression, insomnia, and terrible IBS (including random bouts of bloat, digestive problems, constipation, diarrhea, etc) for the last couple of years. Nevertheless, I've always been (and remain) athletic (weight training competitively and elliptical everyday) and eat healthly. So I'm not having a weight problem, but I have noticed that although my weight remains the same, it is trying to redistribute itself around my waist. I'm surprised to find that your weight can stay the same, but the waist area gain! One day I looked down at my tummy and said, "What the heck is this?" (My tummy said, "Hi!, I'm menopause!)

During my early peri-menopausal days, (35-45) I experienced sporadic night sweats, and began regular menstrual migraines. Those were my only symptoms. The migraines continued until a month ago when I began using Pro-Gest. It also drastically improved my insomnia. I'm taking St. John's Wort and 5-HTP for my depression (6 months now); and I felt relief within 3 weeks of starting to take it. My insomnia (I awoke last night at 2:00am; at 4:00am I just got up and stayed up) is cyclical. I've used melatonin and valarian root for years with success. My biggest problem is the unrelenting IBS. I've tried many things, but it continues to come and go, unexpectedly triggered by who knows what. Sometimes, anything I eat causes probems. The only thing that helps is fasting. I've always been a healthy eater (due to the body building background), but I've found out that high fiber food, vegetables, and even fruit can cause an irritable digestive tract to rebel! (Revival Soy caused such terrible bloating and constipation, I had to quit after 3 weeks!) Oh! One more symptom of menpause: my hair is beginning to thin in the crown! I've always had soft, fine hair, so I don't have any room for this bloody thinning!

Anway, even though the BCP is keeping away the more typical signs of menopause (hot flashes and night sweats), I guess at 52, I'm smack in the middle of the experience. I'm afraid to go off BCP. I'm afraid of my symptoms getting worse. Is there anyone who can share what their experience has been when coming off the pill after decades of use? Anyone who is willing to share what menopausal symptoms they are experiencing despite being on the BCP? I sure could use some company!

Hi URCYN

I have found your post really interesting - thanks
YES I was on BCP from 24 to 44!!!!! Here is potted story for you – hope it helps…..

I came off BCP in Jan last year. Funnily enough it was cos I had a tummy upset (IBS getting worse…) and felt really crud and had been dizzy and hadn’t bled between packs properly - so thought I would have a few months break – trouble was I didn’t bleed again – so never restarted!!!

For 3 months I was fine apart from very slight vertigo on lying down – which at the time I put down to moving too fast and being tired from work or having too hot a bath…… Then in May2005 - BAM - it hit me like a whirlwind - vertigo, GERD, palps, depression, anxiety, exhaustion…Drs would NOT link this to lack of periods however hard I tried to tell them – eventually in July I forced Drs to do blood test which confirmed ovarian failure – or at least grossly raised LH/FSH (they use the word grossly which I don’t like – makes it sound unnatural???). Because of medical uncertainty and complete lack of info about peri/meno – I was terrified and this was not helped by the increasingly huge list of potential illnesses that medics were testing me for or postulating that I had……I was a mess by July I can tell you……

I was barely able to cope socially – became withdrawn and insomniac and anxiety ridden – I though I was dying. My digestive system went nuts – from being an IBS sufferer I became unable to eat without pain – I had GERD/acid stomach – awful

(As I read your post I noted that you said you had increasing IBS over a number of years - I have had this for last couple of years and anxiety - I did not equate with approaching peri - but perhaps it could have been........)

I was shipped onto HRT after 6 months no period and this was awful to – I couldn’t stand the whoozy head and the progesterone made my guts feel like they were crawling out of my body. I started getting worse insomnia and sleep starts – palps got worse – BP went up – I was more of a mess – moved from pills to patches but with little effect

In these few months I had nearly every medical test known to men it seemed to me – and they found nothing but still would not say it was peri – I was labelled as anxious and depressed. Great!

My periods limped on till Jan this year - i.e. for a few months after I took the HRT for 3 month – I guess it had given my ovaries a last little push – but after a long heavy period in Jan – I have had nothing since

My body has been trying to cycle – and my symptoms come and go – but I am not taking any hormones – I am feeding and exercising my body and mind as best I can in the circumstances and awaiting balance and harmony to restore. It has been a very tough journey and I am saddened when I look back how medics have tried to treat all my body sensations individually but failed totally to accept the cause – I wish I had not taken the HRT last year – it increased my fear at the time cos I was so info poor – and because it made me feel WORSE – so for a while I doubted if I was right about the hormones. It has taken and is taking months to get my body off the horrible agitated high I was on in the new year – I still go up and down terribly but at least I now know what is going on

I have failed to find any Drs who are conducting research on long term BCP use and menopause - cos I am sure my sudden oestrogen withdrawal (and I was on high strength pill as I had bad acne) exacerbated my peri symptoms – like a surgical menopause I guess but with the additional problem that I had been used to excessive levels of oestrogen so the fall was further. If I had known what I know now – I don’t think I would never have taken the pill all those years

I lost my job in this time- and one of the most irritating things I remember from work was that the Drs kept writing anxiety or depression on my sick note – this drove me nuts cos I kept saying to them it was hormonal – so why not say Ovarian Failure – cos that is what it is….dont label me as anxious when one of the key hormones I have had around for 30 years has gone away virtually completely…..

Oh its good to vent!!

Mele

Hi Mele!

Thank you sooooo much for replying! I don't feel so alone now. So, 24 years on high dose BCP, huh? Well, I'm 32 years of BCP, but low dose...I believe. For the last 10 years I've been on Ortho Tri-Cyclen--cycling from 180/215/250mg norgestimate; and a steady .035mg ethinyl/estradiol throughout the month.
I was told that is a low dose by my Dr. I only hope he was not misleading me, because your analogy of your being on a high dosage pill and suddenly stopping it causing a big crash sounds quite logical! Maybe I only had a mild warm flush when I stopped for a couple of months because the pills really are low dose. Oh God(dess), I hope so!

From all my reading in books, and everywhere else, digestive problems are definitely a common symptom of peri/meno. In fact, pre-existing problems seem to re-activate at meno. As a child, I had IBS, and suffered with it off and on all my life. However, I could isolate the offending food and solve my problem. Now, there is no way to determine what is going to set it off. When I bloat, nothing fits! I find myself selecting clothes for the day based on whether I'm having digestive problems! I'm willing to bet that your IBS was directly related to peri/meno...especially if you could find no way to solve it.

I thought I was starting to develop anxiety attacks. I had one small episode as I was climbing on my ellpitical one day. My heart began to race and I felt panicky. However, this was about the time I began taking St. John's Wort and 5-HTP for my dark depression. That was 6 months ago, and I've never had a panicky moment again. If you're still having problems, I can surely recommend SJW/5-HTP! I was so lethargic and depressed, I thought I might just die! For the first time in my life, I didn't even put up my Christmas tree! I feel so much better emotionally and physically now.

I'm curious...what made you think you tummy upset (IBS) was caused by your BCP? Or, what made you think going off would make your digestive problems go away?

Your re-telling of what the Dr. put you through is horrific! It makes me so mad that we have to educate the Dr.s and then PAY THEM for letting us do it! I've heard that in China, if the Dr. doesn't solve your medical problem, you don't pay. I like that.

So from May to July, you were miserable and being prodded and poked and tested? You lost your job?! As I read your story, I wondered how on earth you went to work every day. Now I see that you couldn't.

I use enteric coated peppermint pills and ginger tea (by Traditional Medicine) for my IBS. They help me if I take them right away as a preventative. There is nothing better on this earth than the ginger tea. You've got to try it. You'll be amazed! Drink it before you eat and you will have few if any problems. I make some up every day and keep it in the fridge. Then zap it for 1 min. in the microwave to drink before eating. I don't have GERD. Thank God.

I've had some success with Pro-gest, but from what I've read, it's really meant for women in early menopause. At 52, I'm not in early, so I don't expect it will be much help once I stop BCP. I been thinking I should try bioidenticals. Is that what you did? Or was your HRT synthetic?

Isn't it amazing that we can't find ANY info on long term use of BCP and meno? There are a ga-zillion women on some form of synthetic BC and they are all going to have to deal with meno. Why aren't studies being done on us? How are we supposed to know what will happen when we just stop cold turkey? I'm sure you would've done things differently if you had known how stopping suddenly would have impacted your day-to day functioning. I'm functioning right now. I don't want to make things worse by stopping the pill, but from what I'm reading, at my age that is what I'm being told to do! Arrrrrgggghhhhh!

I suppose no one believed you could possibly be menopausal at 44,huh? Actually, I guess you were 43 when this all happened, weren't you? How old was your Mom when she hit meno?

Good chatting with you!
Urcyn

urcyn, I was on bcp for a long time. started when I was 18, went off when I was 20, went back on at 21, off again at 23, on again after I had kids (when everyone said having kids would help my heavy periods get lighter). I'd say all in all I spent 20 years on them. I tried to go off last year in March and immediately got hot flashes. Went on bioidentical hrt. Got horrible periods back, to the point where I could not leave the house due to heavy bleeding. Went back on bcp.

Well, I decided to give it a try again this past March and went off again. Immediate hot flashes. Very annoying. Now I'm playing around with Estrogel and Prometrium again. I want to get the right amount so I don't start up with periods again that are heavy. I have to work full time and just can't be worrying about that. I've been doing a bit less estrogel and only doing prometrium every few nights. I know this probably isn't a good thing to do--my NP doesn't know I'm trying this and would probably say I'm risking endometrium buildup or whatever it's called.

I have the name of a different NP who does hormone testing and prescribes compounded natural hrt. I just have to wait for my new job to start where I get insurance before I can make an appointment. I do think being on the Pill just puts off major symptoms of meno, and maybe even makes it worse when you go off it, but I really had no choice with the horrible periods I experienced from the day I got my first one. Now I have a couple fibroids too, so that doesn't help.

I'm in a wait and see mode, but I will definitely work with bioidentical hrt. My brain fog, hot flashes, lack of motivation, depression (I'm on lexapro for that) are just too much to try to go without any help.

I think you should give bioidenticals a chance and get off the synthetics.

Good luck!

Shel

oh boy am i glad someone started this post.... i am 32 years old and have been experincing peri symptoms since jan. this year...... i started my period when i was almost 18 years old... i had my one and only daughter at 21 and immedialtley started taking the depo provera injections..................i took the injections for almost 9 years never having a cycle at all....never... it took about 4-5 months for my period to come back and when it did,,,,,,,,oh my was it bad....bleeding and cramps severly. then it straightened itself out about 3 months later... not really but better..it did come every month but i never knew what to expect with it...then in jan this year i have been having horrible symptoms of peri... i begged to be tested but of course i was told you are too young... someone did test me and it was a randome test at no time of the month it should have been taken so it came up normal..... but i was told that i was not ovulating... so they threw bcp at me and sent me on my way... i have had extensive heart work blood work and ct scan to check for other things.... all normal...i even had a vaginal ultra sound...normal too...huh? well i have self diagnosed myself as peri and i have changed my diet etc. i pretty much know when the worst symptoms are going to occur...usually from the 22-30 of each month..about 8 days. then my period comes on the 6 or 8 or 11... whenever around there. sometimes its heavy..sometimes light. so if peri is started early from long term bc use...i dont think any dr. will admit it.... but i do think that it has put me where i am.. i hope this eases some and gets others to thinkling...love yas....denise

I have taken bcp most of my life, combined pill from about age 20 with a couple of breaks when I had children. Last year I started experiencing hot flashes and night sweats and really bad headaches. My dr wasn't really interested but when he retired and a new younger dr took over he immediately put me onto the mini pill (pregesterone only). Apparantly they don't like to prescribe the previous pill to women over 35, I am 47!! My menopausal symptoms fluctuate and although they do get bad at times, for the most part they are bearable, presumably because of the pill. Like you ladies I haven't found much information on menopause and bcp especially about coming off the pill which I am thinking about more and more. I think the one thing about ps is that I now know an awful lot more than I did and am preparing a whole lot of questions for my next visit to the dr.

I am 55 and was on Ovcon most of my adult life. I went into menopause at 53, but stayed on the Ovcon for the first year. Since then I have been trying bioidenticals, with little success. I may actually go back on to the estrogen component of the pill(ethinyl estradiol--Estinyl in the US, I believe), since my SHBG level is so high it seems to bind up all the natural estrogen, so insufficient is bioavailable. And that in my opinion is the result of the long term pill use, and perhaps something genetic in me.

With my bioidenticals, in addition to the estradiol, I started with oral progesterone, and it gave me horrendous diarrhea, even at low doses. So every 3 months I use a natural progesterone pessary for 10 days so that I have a 'bleed'. This is a known protocol and although doctors won't suggest it, they agree that it's OK.

What's interesting about the previous posts in this thread is that all on BCP's still experienced symptoms. The only symptoms I ever had were the night sweats (since I was 48 or so) and on the bioidenticals they are much worse. Anxiety and insomnia are a real problem now and I have resorted to sleep medications.
I'm going to have one last shot at reducing the SHBG using Tibolone(Livial) and augmenting with an Estradiol patch, and if that doesn't work, I'm going back the pill estrogen.

Incidentally, someone mentioned SJW. I believe that it reduces estradiol levels, so that might be something to consider.

Sloane?

What the acroynm SHBG stand for? And, what is a progesterone "pessary?" Finally, is Ovcon a combo estrogen/progesterone pill?

Thanks for educating me!
Urcyn

SHBG stands for Sex Hormone Binding Globulin--a protein produced in the liver which binds testosterone and estrogen.

The Progesterone I use is inserted vaginally and is effective at targeting the endometrium, without having much effect on the rest of the system(since I don't tolerate natural progesterone taken orally well).

Ovcon is a combination of 35 mcg ethinyl estradiol and norethindrone(though I may be wrong on the type of progestin).

Sloane