Why hormonal birth control wasn't for me

When I was 18 I started getting terrible cramps. I would have to get up and leave class because I couldn't concentrate or even sit up straight. After about 6 months of this, I finally went to see my gynecologist. The solution? She put me on birth control.

For about 3 months, everything worked out great. My periods came regularly, the cramps subsided, and my small chest actually filled out a little bit. But then the headaches started. At first they were just a minor annoyance--a general ache every night. I would either ignore it or take some Tylenol and it would eventually go away.

The first time I had a more serious headache was that August. I experienced a pounding on one side of my head that made me think I was getting the flu. But, my boyfriend convinced me me that a little exercise would make it go away, so, I went and swam a mile. It didn't go away. It wasn't until I slept it off that night that I found some relief. It was painful, but not completely debiliatating.

A couple months later it happened again. This time it was different, though. My boyfriend and I had walked up to the office of our apartment complex to pay our respective rent payments. While we were waiting we decided to take a look at the movies they had available to check out. The problem was, I couldn't read the titles. It happened suddenly, I started seeing spots in one of my eyes, then it was complete blindness.

"Lance, I can't read those titles."

"What? Come on."

"No, really. I can't read those titles. I CAN'T SEE THEM."

It was one of the scariest moments in my life. Lance had to lead me back to my apartment because I couldn't see the steps. When I arrived, that's when the headache started. It pounded, pulsed, exploded. The only benefit was that when the headache started, my eyesight returned.

I curled in a ball in my room for hours, unable to move, completely debilitated. After about four hours of this, the pain was so bad that my body revolted and I vomited, which gave me some relief. Most of the pain was gone, but it continued to ache for hours.

I scheduled an appointment with my Doctor, and was seen a couple days later. After looking at my chart he asked me about my family history of stroke (which was high), my history of headache (which was relatively nonexistant prior to this), and why I was on birth control (not for sexual reasons). Then he looked at me and said, "You have to get off birth control now. You are experiencing a Complicated Migraine. The blindness you experienced, that's referred to as an aura. Luckily, you haven't experienced temporary paralysis like some of my patients have. But, the fact is, if your family has a history of stroke, you're on birth control, and you start experiencing migraines, your chances of experiencing a stroke go up drastically. You need to get off birth control."

I was happy to oblige, and I never experienced another migraine again.

Several years later, when I was getting married, I decided to take my chances with birth control. I spoke to a Doctor who agreed to put me on a very low-dose variety. He said to make sure to come back if my headaches returned. After about 3 months, the minor aches came back, so I went to my doctor and he switched my medication. Every three months I ended up having to change brands because every three months my headaches would return. I also started noticing my emotions getting out of control at about the same time I started experiencing the headaches. These pills were messing with my body.

One day, when I knew I was going to have to change my pill for the sixth time, I looked at my husband and said, "Enough is enough. It can't be good to put my body through these ups and downs. If I'm being affected enough to get headaches and have crazy mood swings, I don't want want to do this anymore." Lance agreed.

That was my last experience with birth control, about three years ago. Ditching the pill (or the patch or the ring) was worth it to me. It gave me my sanity back and allowed me to lead a (relatively) headache free life. I know the pill is a good choice for some people...I just know I'm not one of them.