common post-birth control hormone imbalances
Do you suspect your hormones are off, but feel lost in pinpointing the actual issue?
That's exactly how I felt after quitting birth control cold turkey.
I KNEW my hormones were in disarray, but I didn't know which hormones were to blame or how to address the issue from a root cause.
I spent hours googling, only to become more overwhelmed.
Hormone imbalance is intense! And the reason is because they're never the root cause. They're always responding to something else.
And there are a million “something elses” that can be throwing off your hormones…
Placing myself back in my 25 year old shoes, freshly off BC, feeling like garbage & seeking answers…. I wished there was a one-stop-shop resource for helping me identify which hormones were off and how to fix them.
So, here I’m sharing the 3 most common hormone imbalances I see post-birth control, why they happen, and the symptoms you might experience with each one.
Hormone imbalance is common post-birth control because hormonal BC shuts down your natural hormone production.
Once you stop taking it, the body has to clear the cobwebs & dust off the ol’ ovaries to begin making its own hormones again.
As your ovaries are booting up, ovulation can be sporadic, leading to low progesterone.
Meanwhile the liver is working overtime trying to deal with all the synthetic estrogen it’s been exposed to for years.
Put the two together & you’ve got estrogen dominance.
Low progesterone & high estrogen both present as very similar symptoms:
PMS
mood swings
heavy periods
painful periods
fibroids
migraines around your period
weight gain
tender breasts around your period
hot flashes
night sweats
While estrogen and progesterone are fighting for balance, you’ve also got testosterone going whack-a-doodle.
Birth control suppresses testosterone. So when you stop taking it, it’s no longer being suppressed, & rebounds up.
This androgen rebound causes:
hormonal acne
oily skin
hair loss
skin tags
abnormal hair growth on face, chest, & belly
anxiety, depression, mood swings
difficulty conceiving
A touch of hormone imbalance is to be expected for a few months post-birth control. But it shouldn't be severe. And it shouldn't drag on for months and months.
In order to lessen the severity of symptoms, it's so so 👏 SO 👏 important to prep your body for at least 3 months prior to quitting birth control!
Anddd the 3 biggest things you need to do before your birth control breakup:
Balance your blood sugars
Replenish nutrients depleted by birth control
Support your liver BIG time
I'll be teaching alllll of this and way more inside Breaking Up with Birth Control, coming January 2023! Make sure to join the waitlist to be notified as soon as it launches!
In the meantime, you can catch me on insta spillin’ all the tea on hormonal birth control, and you can grab my FREE guide here for tips to getcha started!
Psst… If this birth control chat doesn't apply to you, but you're still regularly experiencing these hormone imbalance symptoms, keep reading:
The above hormone imbalances can exist outside of post-birth control syndrome, too! (very common, actually)
If you didn't just come off birth control & are experiencing these symptoms of hormone imbalance, one-on-one work with deep live lab testing may just be what you need.
Regardless of where you are in life's journey, you shouldn't have to settle for feeling sh*tty.
You deserve to feel 30, flirty, & thriving no matter your age. 😘
Glowing skin, unwavering energy, & steadfast confidence: it's allll possible for you, my friend.
Always here to support you. 🧡
xo, jenny