deciding when to ditch the pill

[spicyorange]

So Iv been on the pill (cilest) for 8 years. My periods were fairly regular before that from what I remember. I'm planning on ttc at Christmas / Jan 14. I don't want to be under 12 weeks pregnant at Christmas because it would be hard to hide from family and I don't want to tell before Iv had a scan. Dh is highly unlikely to go for ttc earlier anyway.

So. I'm trying to decide when to ditch the pill, we both hate condoms and Iv never chatted our anything to use natural methods so part of me doesn't want to still taking it too soon ( dh is convinced it will happen first month if we don't want it to). Our sex life has gotten really good recently dtd much more than before and I don't want to ruin that but at the same time I want to be as ready as possible to get bfp early in the new year. So question is do I
a. Take the pill until end of December.
B, stop pill earlier (when?)
C. Something else.

When are you doing your bc? Iv heard loads of stories on Here from people who got bfp first month of bc and loads who took ages ago I know it's a guessing game as to what could happen.
I wish I could just move ttc to now!

 

[RandaPanda]

Hey Spicy,

Ya, it's a tough decision to make. I had been on the pill for about 15 years and finally ditched it in October. We are TTC in February, so will have given me almost 5 months to let things normalize. Honestly, I am so happy I didn't stay on it any longer. I lost weight, had increased sex drive, and just felt a lot better after the first few weeks off of it...although my face did break out a bit at first...

Even though my cycles have always been fairly normal, I didn't O the first cycle off the pill. And I've had cycles that were 32, 29, then 30 days so far. As my hormones level out a bit, my luteal phase is lengthening now, but it was short at first, which is not always conducive to a BFP or a healthy pregnancy.

There is a lot more info out there on the internet about people getting pregnant the first month off the pill, but I didn't know that it could take months to get things back to normal. If I had taken them all the way until February, I know I would have been devastated that we couldn't start TTC when we had planned.

Until Feb, we have just been using the pull out method during my fertile time. And we pulled out every time for the first cycle because I didn't know if and when I might O. Once I figured it out and got used to the symptoms of Oing, it was easy to know when we had to be extra careful. Btw, I had seriously awful O pain the first cycle it happened...I guess my body was a bit overwhelmed after 15 years of hormones!

All in all, you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. But if I had listened to my DH and his theory about his "super sperm" being able to get me pregnant the month I went off the pill, I would have been in for a rude awakening...lol

 

[MamaByrd]

I agree with PP about...well, everything. It really is different for every woman.. Some are super fertile after coming off BCP, some take years. For me personally, I went off four months ago, but we're not TTC for almost two years! It was a mixture of infertility worries & I hate having unnatural hormones in my system.

I'd say think it through, talk it through with your OH.. Have you thought about charting as a method of BC?

 

[spicyorange]

My concern about charting is it takes 3-6months to know your cycles so either no sex or condoms for that long and then it will be nearly time to ttc anyway.

 

[Eline]

I'll stop taking the pill a good 2 months in advance. I guess we will be using a condom afterwards: ok it's not so nice, but it's just for a short period. Or maybe I'll leave that choice up to my OH. I'll start charting too immediately after stopping the pill. Even though it takes some time to really know your cycle, it might give me an indication.
Anyway, at that point I really won't mind an oopsie either.

 

[Jenpops]

I'm ttc Nov/Dec 14....looking to come off the pill this August. This is purely because my pill runs out in August and I don't plan to renew it.
I cannot wait to be off the pill, I plan on using natural methods from Aug to Nov as I really want to get a feel of my cycles. Not planning to do full on charting (as I would do it for a week and then get bored) but will just lightly follow my periods to see when I'm ovulating.

 

[BumpySomeday]

Hi Spicy,

I called my doctor when I decided to stop taking my BC last August and she told me to wait 3 months before "trying" after stopping BC after being on it for 10 years.

She said because the amount of aluminum in your body that is formed from taking BC -who knew?- needs time to remove & just overall your body to regulate itself. My hair lady even told me she knew someone that had a foot detox done after getting off of BC and it was amazing as to the amount of black stuff (aluminum?) that was removed -gross right?!?!

Anyway, I've known people to get PG right after BC and even on BC and their babies turned out fine. But I guess everyone is different! And if you do decide to wait a few months to try after getting off.. I'll tell you the withdrawal method works well if used properly... I've been doing that for 6 months now & we aren't trying....

YET

 

[curiousowl]

Yeah, that's a hard decision. My doctor did tell me that your first month off the pill is a very fertile time. So who knows. You might get pregnant right away or it might take some time for your cycles to even out. I guess you just have to think about how important it would be for you to get pregnant right away and weigh that against the inconvenience of condoms (and trust me, I understand, I HATE them!) That said I still decided I was going to go off about 6 months early when we were very committed to getting pregnant this coming fall. We've since changed our plans but that was an annoyance I was willing to deal with.

 

[katherinegrey]

I'm hoping to ttc in June and I've come off my pill now, I have PCOS so was sure it'd take forever for me to get a cycle back, but on cd13 I just got a positive opk! So my af is due in around 14 days, so your cycle can regulate straight away as mine has, or when I came off the pill to conceive my son it took two months for me to get af back. It really can vary massively. I was also on cilest.

 

[michelle535]

There's no right or wrong time to come off the pill, it all comes down to personal choice. I read online that 3 months prior to TTC is advised but you are most fertile immediately after coming off the pill.

I was on the pill for 16 years and came off last August when my supply ran out. I won't be TTC until January 2015 but figured I would use this time to get to know my body again and give it a break. As it turns out I feel the best I ever have! I have more energy, losing weight and my sex drive has increased. Until TTC we're using a mixture of pull out and ultra thin condoms x

 

[Wnt2beAMom]

This question still keep going around in my head too! I have one more pack of pills in my medicine cabinet and I have 3 more packs left on my prescription to go buy when I need them. I just don't want to go buy them haha! We are TTC in April and DH would really like me to stay on the pills until then so we don't have to use another type of birth control method. I like the fact that you are more fertile just coming off the pills too....but I would also like to go off in February and start to learn my body and just use condoms/pull-out until April. I've brought it up a million times and DH says he would be a nervous wreck if I didn't stay on them until April. So it seems that is what we will do. I might bring it up one last time next month before I head to the pharmacy. Maybe I just need to show him that pulling out is an effective method, because I think he would be fine with that...sorry not much help here..

 

[Swinx]

I went off mine about a year ago, after being on it for about 7 years. Although its still a year or so from now until we are TTC, I stopped taking it because I was having problems with lack of libido, weight gain and moodiness. I also knew it couldn't be good for me to be pumping my body with artificial hormones every day. It took a few months for my libido to pick up, but these days it definitely has and that makes up for OH having to wear a condom. My cycles have gotten longer since stopping the pill too, around 45 days.

 

[dani_tinks]

We're looking to TTC towards the end of 2014 and I came off the pill a few weeks ago.
The pill didn't suit me at all so I was dying to get of it anyway. I have no idea what my cycles are like so I gathered I need time for my body to normalize aswell.
I've never been a fan of condoms either, they tend to irritate me, but we're using super thin ones and so far so good.

 

[mandaa1220]

This question still keep going around in my head too! I have one more pack of pills in my medicine cabinet and I have 3 more packs left on my prescription to go buy when I need them. I just don't want to go buy them haha! We are TTC in April and DH would really like me to stay on the pills until then so we don't have to use another type of birth control method. I like the fact that you are more fertile just coming off the pills too....but I would also like to go off in February and start to learn my body and just use condoms/pull-out until April. I've brought it up a million times and DH says he would be a nervous wreck if I didn't stay on them until April. So it seems that is what we will do. I might bring it up one last time next month before I head to the pharmacy. Maybe I just need to show him that pulling out is an effective method, because I think he would be fine with that...sorry not much help here..

We've been using the pull out method for probably like a year now. In order to convince OH, I printed out articles about its effectiveness. He knew I really wanted to get off and offered condoms, but I showed him the comparison of people who get pregnant on condoms and people who get pregnant using PO method and he was in!

 

[spicyorange]

t

We've been using the pull out method for probably like a year now. In order to convince OH, I printed out articles about its effectiveness

And he doesn't mind????? I feel like it would be a disappointment to dh make him pull out every time.

 

[Wnt2beAMom]

This question still keep going around in my head too! I have one more pack of pills in my medicine cabinet and I have 3 more packs left on my prescription to go buy when I need them. I just don't want to go buy them haha! We are TTC in April and DH would really like me to stay on the pills until then so we don't have to use another type of birth control method. I like the fact that you are more fertile just coming off the pills too....but I would also like to go off in February and start to learn my body and just use condoms/pull-out until April. I've brought it up a million times and DH says he would be a nervous wreck if I didn't stay on them until April. So it seems that is what we will do. I might bring it up one last time next month before I head to the pharmacy. Maybe I just need to show him that pulling out is an effective method, because I think he would be fine with that...sorry not much help here..

We've been using the pull out method for probably like a year now. In order to convince OH, I printed out articles about its effectiveness. He knew I really wanted to get off and offered condoms, but I showed him the comparison of people who get pregnant on condoms and people who get pregnant using PO method and he was in!

We've had some spans of time in our relationship where I wasn't on the pill or I had messed up taking a few pills so we used pull-out and DH always needed me to reassure him when AF came....so it did turn out that we were effective in preventing that way. Plus, we don't have sex "a lot" really right now so that is in a sense prevention as well lol.

 

[mandaa1220]

t

We've been using the pull out method for probably like a year now. In order to convince OH, I printed out articles about its effectiveness

And he doesn't mind????? I feel like it would be a disappointment to dh make him pull out every time.

He only usually pulls out in the 5 days leading up to O and 3 days after O, to be safe. He prefers pulling out and finishing on me, as opposed to wearing a condom. His choice.

 

[JT2013]

I came off the pill 2 months before starting TTC (so I finished it at the end of October) I had been on it for so long that I had no idea what my normal cycles were like, and the two I've had since haven't been the same length...so I don't think they've settled down yet and we've started trying now so will just have to see what happens.

We knew we wanted to start TTC in Jan for a while so I thought coming off the pill a bit before was a sensible idea.

 

[loeylo]

t

We've been using the pull out method for probably like a year now. In order to convince OH, I printed out articles about its effectiveness

And he doesn't mind????? I feel like it would be a disappointment to dh make him pull out every time.

He only usually pulls out in the 5 days leading up to O and 3 days after O, to be safe. He prefers pulling out and finishing on me, as opposed to wearing a condom. His choice.

My boyfriend is the same. We are pulling out every time just now until my cycles regulate after birth control, which they seem to be doing now. If my next bleed arrives as scheduled, I will start using a fertility monitor to detect ovulation and pull out up to ovulation. He obviously prefers finishing inside, but he prefers finishing outside with no condom to finishing inside with a condom.
In saying that, he had never had sex without a condom until he met me, so it is probably more that I don't like them than him!

 

[Mom2sam]

Hi i was on pill for 6 years & as it took me 5 years to conceive first had thought myt tke long again but nope! Stopped pill had one period & then bfp!! So yep i guess its true u r mor fertile after pill lol sadly lost at 8 wks so wil b trying again in couple month. Then again i think ttc is something we just cant predict when it will happen so i thnk planning just goes out of window.