Coming off the pill...

melaniejoy82

I'm getting married in 14 months, and at 30, am really thinking about babies. So, I've decided to come off the pill to get my body 'ready' and have either a diaphragm or coil fitted in the meantime. Since being diagnosed with PCOS five years ago, after not having a period for a year, I've been on dianette, then Yasmin (which hasn't really agreed with me and i've put on weight!) - i'm very nervous about coming off the pill, and if i'll be able to conceive.
My BMI is about 24.7 (I try VERY hard to keep it there too!). Has anyone else experienced anything like this? what would people advise? And also, have anyone else put on weight when on Yasmin?
Thanks everyone! :-)

Qfrump

Good luck! I hope you have regular cycles when you come off the pill. When I stopped, I didn't know anything about PCOS (or that I had it). I had one regularish period about 30 days after stopping the pill and then the cycles kept getting progressively longer (up to 60 something days). I also had some hair fall out and a resurgence of acne (teenage angst style) due to the high testosterone.

At least you know what could happen going in! Many women conceive just fine with PCOS, others (like me) needed a little bit of help to ovulate. You could buy cheap ovulation test strips from amazon to see if and when you ovulate, though they aren't always foolproof for us according to some other experienced ladies on here. And start taking prenatal vitamins!

Work it, ovaries!

miranda_mom

The first time I went off the pill, my cycles were about six to eight weeks long and I didn't have any other PCOS symptoms. I was tested for PCOS but was told that my levels were on the high/low end of normal (in other words, not enough to diagnose with PCOS). We conceived after a year.

This time around, I went off and had one normal cycle. Then nothing for seven months. I went on Metformin and my cycles are now normal (last one was 33 days). Still haven't conceived yet - it's been about 14 months. Also, when I went off the pill this time, I had obvious symptoms right away aside from the period thing. My hair was falling out, etc.

dab52776

I was told that pcos women are most likely to conceive the first three months after coming off the pill, because our body is still "tricked" into being regular. I don't know if its true for all pcos women, but for me it worked each and every time I tried to get pregnant.

CharRicho

I'm totally in this same position, I'm still on the pill atm but keep thinking this or next should be the last month. But I'm worried because before I went on it, I didn't get my period at all.

Did anyone try going on to metformin or something else before coming off the pill? I'm worried about being on nothing, and getting cysts.


BTW I am also on Yasmin, but I didn't gain any weight on it. I was already about 40-50 lbs overweight by the time I went on it, though, and have maintained that same level until the last few months when I finally got serious and started losing it, bit by bit.

pland54

My body went crazy after coming off the pill, which ultimately led to my diagnosis! You might want to talk to a doctor before going off it if your reason is to ttc. If it were me, I'd probably be inclined to try what someone else suggested about trying to conceive right after getting off it, while most of us are still semi-normal. I've always heard of women going off the pill for quite a while beforehand to get back to a natural state without any hormonal interference, but we're not normal women and you gotta do what you gotta do! You can still get your body 'ready' in other ways, nutrition-wise and with vitamins. In any case, I'd probably ask the doctor what he/she suggests because we really are all different.

BTW I was on Yasmin a few years ago and did gain a little bit of weight (maybe 10lbs), which at the time was fine. But my headaches got worse on it, so I ditched it.