Stopping the pill: what you really need to know

The list of possible side effects of the pill is long and you should be aware of them if you want to stop taking the pill. Not every woman has them, but many have at least some of them:

- Headache

- Nausea

- Weight gain

- Cycle irregularities

- Intermediate bleeding

- Psychological changes

- Mood swings

- less Desire for sex

- Increase in blood pressure

The pill can not only cause direct side effects, but also harbours risks. It increases the risk of thrombosis and can also trigger strokes or heart attacks. This risk is particularly high in the first year of taking the pill.

The pill is not possible from a medical point of view

There are situations in which you should not take the pill for medical reasons. If you have to take medication for a long period of time, for example, you may no longer have sufficient protection against pregnancy, which is why you should stop taking the pill.

But even if you have or have had certain pre-existing conditions, the hormone exposure triggered by the pill is risky. These include, for example, liver disease, high blood pressure, which cannot be well balanced, and diabetes.

Reduce hormone exposure

The pill is practical because it is a safe method of contraception, but of course it also has its downsides. One major criticism is that the pill interferes greatly with a woman's hormonal balance. Many women do not feel comfortable with this and would like to return to their natural cycle and stop taking the pill for this reason.

You have a desire to have children

Is now the perfect time for you to get pregnant? If you want to have children, you must of course stop using contraception. This is probably one of the most common reasons why women stop taking the pill.

What you should look out for if you want to stop taking the pill

Discuss with your doctor

If you are planning to stop taking the pill, be sure to inform your doctor. This can be important information, especially if you have a pre-existing condition or need to take medication. Your doctor can also advise you if you have any specific questions.

Think about alternative contraceptives

If you don't currently want to have children, you must of course continue to use contraception to avoid getting pregnant unintentionally. There is a large selection of hormone-free contraceptives and it's best to familiarise yourself with the alternatives before you stop taking the pill so that you have already chosen a suitable contraceptive when the time comes.

Take the pill to the end of the current cycle

You should only stop taking the pill when there are no more pills in the blister strip, i.e. the tablet packaging for the current cycle. This is because most pills contain the hormone oestrogen, which simulates a natural cycle and you should not interrupt it in the middle. This is also when the risk of unexpected bleeding is lowest. You will also know right from the start which phase of your cycle you are in.

You should be sure that you really want to stop taking the pill

Not sure if you want to stop taking the pill? You should! Not only is it a big strain on your body, but it also increases the risks if you stop taking the pill and then start taking it again shortly afterwards. For example, you unnecessarily expose yourself to a higher risk of thrombosis, which is highest in the first year of taking the pill.

The cycle may be irregular after stopping the pill

If you take hormones over a longer period of time, it is very likely that your body will need some time until everything has stabilised and you have a regular cycle again. For some women, it can even take up to six months before they start ovulating regularly again.

Although you may not be able to recognise any regularities at the beginning, it makes sense to track your cycle. For example, you can use our femSense App Use it. You can easily enter all your symptoms and even view them in the statistics over a longer period of time. This allows you to recognise at a glance when certain symptoms occur regularly and to better assess which phase of your cycle you are in.

What happens after you stop taking the pill

You have no hormonal weight gain

The myth persists: if you stop taking the pill, you will put on weight. But this is not true and the opposite is actually the case!

The hormones contained in the pill can cause the body to retain water. This naturally causes you to gain weight. However, when you stop taking the pill, your body no longer receives the hormones and the water retention disappears again. As a result, you lose some weight.

Skin and hair can change (in the short term)

Unfortunately, if you stop taking the pill, you can get blemished skin. This mainly affects women who were already suffering from spots. This is because taking the pill does not cure the skin of the causes of blemishes, but the pimples are only suppressed by the hormones. If you then stop taking the pill, it can happen that your skin becomes blemished again than when you were taking the pill.

Nobody really wants to hear this, but it is possible that you will experience hair loss in the first few months after stopping the pill. The good news is that although this is unpleasant, it will soon subside and your hair growth will return to normal!

You have more desire for sex

Many women have a reduced libido while taking the pill. This is because the hormones in the pill trick the body into thinking it is in the second phase of the cycle. In other words, the phase after ovulation when you can no longer get pregnant. When you stop taking the pill, you have a natural cycle again and this can Increase libidoespecially in the first half of the cycle before ovulation.

You have a natural cycle again and can get pregnant

Good news for women who want to have children: you can get pregnantas soon as you stop taking the pill regularly. However, it is quite possible that you will not get pregnant in the first few months, even though you want to and are not using contraception. As your natural cycle has to stabilise and ovulation is irregular, it is more difficult to estimate when your fertile days are. This also makes it difficult for you to predict when the perfect time is to have sex in the bedroom in order to get pregnant.