My Experience with Combination Birth Control Pills

Just a little disclaimer before I begin discussing my birth control journey: I am sharing my subjective experiences of using birth control here—as well as my reasoning behind switching to natural birth control methods—but I want to encourage all individuals who are considering implementing/switching birth control methods to do their own research and listen to their own bodies. Literature—not medication—is my area of expertise. 

So, I started using Alysena—a combination birth control pill—about ten years ago when I was seventeen years old. The reasons I started using combination birth control pills are pretty common to most teenage girls: I wanted to experience shorter and more regulated periods; I wanted to minimize any PMS-related symptoms I was experiencing every month; and I wanted to have sex without worrying about pregnancy because who knows how long that guy has been carrying around that brittle old condom in his wallet.

And I’m very grateful that I had the option to utilize combination birth control pills during my teenage years and early twenties because they provided me with the sort of sexual liberation that I needed at that time. Overall—other than the little bit of weight I gained during the first couple months of taking them—I had a positive experience.

However, I’ve reached a point in my life where they’re no longer serving me in a positive manner.

My Reasons for Switching to Natural Birth Control Methods

One of the main reasons I’m deciding to switch to natural birth control methods is because I’ve been with my current partner for over two years, and I’m absolutely sure that he is the person I want to marry and have children with at some point. I’m also now twenty-seven years old, so the thought of becoming pregnant does not terrify me the same way it did when I was in my early twenties and dating the wrong person. This is somewhat important because natural birth control methods are not as foolproof as something like combination birth control pills.

The other main reason I’m deciding to switch to natural birth control methods is because I haven’t actually experienced my normal menstrual cycle in ten years, which sounds kind of insane now that I’m writing this out. Because I haven’t experienced my natural menstrual cycle in such a long time, I’m feeling disconnected from my body to a certain extent. Combination birth control pills basically stop the body from ovulating, so my cycle has been incomplete for the last ten years. 

I’m just ready and excited to reconnect with the rest of my cycle now.

To be honest, I’m also deciding to switch to natural birth control methods because I only recently learned about the negative hormonal effects of combination birth control pills. I didn’t realize they had the ability to create hormonal imbalances that could ultimately affect an individual’s mental health.

I’m talking about the “big sad”: Depression.

Prior to a few months ago when I started reading Bruce Lipton’s The Biology of Belief—highly recommend, by the way—I didn’t realize the overall effects that a medication could have on the body. Just because a medication is intended to heal a certain part of your body doesn’t mean it can’t negatively impact some other part of the body or the mind.

My Natural Birth Control Methods

You may be wondering what I mean when I say “natural birth control methods.” Well, I am simply referring to methods of birth control that do not involve medications or any sort of physical devices such as a copper intrauterine device (IUD).

When I first told my partner I wanted to switch to natural birth control methods, he asked me why I don’t just use an IUD. I was tempted to ask him how he would like it if someone stuck a copper device up his penis, but I didn’t.

Anyhow, the natural birth control methods I will now be relying upon include tracking my cycle on a calendar, using a basal body thermometer to identify when I’m most likely ovulating, and abstaining from sex based on my ovulation date. 

Apparently, an individual’s body temperature changes just a smidge around ovulation every month, so taking your basal body temperature in the morning every day can give you a good idea of when you should be ovulating each month. When you have a good idea of your ovulation day during each cycle, you can then abstain from having sex for about five days before that ovulation date, on that ovulation date, and at least two days after that ovulation date.

It’s worth noting that these methods are some of the most unreliable when it comes to birth control, which is why I took combination birth control pills up until this point in time.

But—like I said—pregnancy is no longer a fear of mine. I am now more concerned with reconnecting with my natural cycle and seeing if the combination birth control pills were, in fact, affecting my mental health.

If you see me making a pregnancy announcement in the next few months, just know that I tried my best.

Again, literature—not data analysis and simple math equations—is my expertise.