Has anyone else stopped the pill and then not gotten their period the next month? Is that normal? I know that I am not pregnant. Thanks so much!!
Disclaimer: I have no professional medical knowledge whatsoever.
That said, I think it’s pretty likely that when I got off the pill I ovulated around day 30 of the ‘cycle’, and that’s why my period didn’t come around day 28 as I expected. Now I am pregnant, but I didn’t get a positive test until day 44 (which is when I would have revised my expectations for my period to turn up if I did ovulate when I think I did) - kept getting negatives before that. So, I know this is not very useful since there could be another explanation, but basically I’m pretty confident you can have a longer-than-normal cycle right off bc. I’ve definitely read a ton of anecdotal evidence suggesting that things can take a while to get back to normal, even though I don’t understand the science behind why it would given that the hormones are out of your system in a few days. I’d give it a few weeks at least and if it doesn’t show up by then, talk to a doctor. What were your cycles like before you went on the pill?
I stopped the pill last [name_u]August[/name_u] and my periods were never the same length (the shortest cycle was 27 days and the longest 31 days) even until I got pregnant in [name_u]January[/name_u]. I read quite a lot that said it can take a little while for the hormones to leave your system and so it can disrupt your periods. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] that helps
Yes! It took over a year for my cycles to normalize. They were all over the place for many months. I was on the pill for several years before quitting it. I know that doctors say that the hormones leave your body quickly and that you can get pregnant the very next month after quitting the pill. I don’t know why it took so long for my body to even things out, but I do know many women who had the same issue. I could easily have some underlying issues that the pill effectively masked, I suppose.
I think that the best thing to do is to make sure to track your cycles now. You might even want to start charting your temperature and/or taking ovulation tests (even if you are not TTC) just so that you know what is going on.
Definitely see a doctor about this if things are concerning in any way. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t just assume that things are weird b.c of quitting the pill. I did that and I wish I had sought medical help earlier.
[name_f]Every[/name_f] woman is different. The party line is that it can take up to twelve months for your cycles to normalize after stopping. Meaning no workup is warranted until a year has passed. However as others note your fertility could return immediately, too.
So, is it possible for me to ovulate without having a period?
Out of curiosity, [name_m]Blade[/name_m], can you explain why your periods wouldn’t come back immediately, assuming they would have continued as normal if you had never started taking the pill (i.e. the pill wasn’t masking an underlying problem)? I have read a whole load of “it takes a while to adjust / to get everything out of your system” or “your body ‘forgets’ how to do things” from laymen, but these lines don’t really make much sense to me from what I understand about how the pill works
I went off the pill in February after on it for six years. I am one of the lucky ones whose period came right on schedule the first month off the pill. It has continued to stay on schedule and now 4 months off the pill I have a consistent 29 day cycle. However I did make a big effort to pay attention to my cm and I believe it took me two months to start ovulating again. So [name_f]May[/name_f] I think was my first month ovulating. I don’t really know, it’s all speculation, but in the grand scheme of things two months is very quick to get your body back on track!
Sure-- the pill is a big healthy dose of exogenous hormones. Taking hormones suppresses endogenous production (your hypothalamus sense the hormone in the bloodstream and does not make the pre-hormones necessary for in-house production). The whole estrogen-progesterone-withdrawal-bleeding cycle when you’re on the pill is 100% synthetic, and your hypothalamus is kind of sleeping through it all. Once the exogenous “brakes” are withdrawn you have to begin manufacturing your own gonadotropins again, and it’s a variable amount of time until that begins happening in the proper sequence and at physiologic levels which allow both a menstrual cycle and follicle recruitment, ripening and ovulation.
If you are not menstruating the chance of you ovulating is vanishingly small. Not zero, but vanishingly small.