However, it wasn’t until a recent study revealed a correlation between contraceptives and a higher rate of depression that people realized it wasn’t just in their heads. The most recent study on male birth control drove this point home after multiple men experienced suicidal thoughts in trials. Revelist asked women to share their mental health experiences while on birth control to show that while protection and sexual health is vital to a woman’s healthcare and sexual autonomy, there are definitely risks to be considered. These are their stories. Then came freshman year of college, the worse year of my life. I got two underages the first two months, one of them was the second WEEK of school. I gained so much weight which I thought was because the “freshman 15” but being that I know how to commit to a workout and a diet I didn’t understand what was wrong. The acne got even worse than I thought it could get previously so I was just beside myself. All of this was consistent for the next couple years I was always depressed, always insecure, always hated myself but not just enough to want to harm myself yet. Then came three years, which is when I had to get the implant removed for the next three-year implant, which they also make the dose higher for every time you replace, and that’s when shit really hit the fan. I started getting suicidal thoughts and I became so worried about myself one morning. I woke up and started severely crying for about two hours before I went down to my mom and asked to take me anywhere, ANYWHERE because I’m scared about what I’m going to do. My panic attacks started getting even more severe and coming more frequently. I was in bed almost all day almost every day I called off of work most of the time. I’m surprised I didn’t get fired. I didn’t go to class and sometimes when I would drive to class I would turn my car off trying to pep talk myself into going and I would just sit and cry for hours in my car before i could pep talk myself into even turning it on to drive home. I would have thoughts that I wanted to crash my car into another person’s or drive it off a cliff, It was awful. I failed two classes and just barely passed the rest that semester which was last semester, then this past SUMMER came along. Again, didn’t leave my bed, didn’t work, didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere. My mom and I were fighting all the time really bad. I was still having thoughts that I wanted to hurt myself and had the urge to so bad but at the same time I was also telling myself like ‘wtf no I don’t I don’t want to hurt myself’ but have the urge to so bad. When I come back to school and everything just got even worse. I didn’t go to class once the first two weeks. I wanted to but didn’t. I cried more, had more panic attacks, worsened suicidal thoughts. I got it out a few days later, and now it’s been most two months and I am back to my happy hyper self. I literally could not be happier. I feel like myself. It’s really sucky sometimes when I think about how much I missed out on, but I’m just glad that I feel happy again." — Anonymous, PA I remember joking around with my dad or brother and then all of a sudden getting angry with them and yelling. I’d be up at night crying and I couldn’t figure out why. My boyfriend started pulling away because I was too hard to be around. It was not a good time. We realize all this had started when I started birth control. My pill was switched and it got better and then I stayed on it because I was trying to be responsible. I finally stopped taking it when I learned more about the IUD. The procedure was beyond painful but it is so much better than taking a pill everyday." — Anonymous, PA I just remember telling [my doctor] all my symptoms and saying you’re probably going to think I am crazy but… as she just smiled like what I was going through was normal or that every girl has been through this before. Right now I am on Yaz and at first I didn’t feel very good for about three days but after that I was fine." — Anonymous, PA Dance is my favorite thing and I didn’t even wanna go to that, I didn’t wanna hangout with my roommate or my friends. After like one day, they noticed I was off though and like came to check on me and I was just crying in bed. That was the first time I had overwhelming suicidal thoughts, too. I just kept thinking about how sad I was and what would happen if I wasn’t here anymore. It was scary, like I’ve had thoughts like that before but these were overwhelming. So I had to change my anxiety medicine and now I’m all good. Well as good as I can be." — Anonymous, PA The biggest problem is that I have cysts on my ovary’s so I have to take birth control. D said that birth-control with lower amounts of estrogen might help the depression but because of my cysts I have to take birth control that has a higher dosage. I originally talk to the doctor about getting a new birth control because I had lower libido. It is one of those situations where it is more important for me to not have cysts then to change the medication based on emotional health." — Anonymous, IL What’s your story?
title: “Birth Control Horror Stories That Will Make You Demand Change From The Contraceptive Industry” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-27” author: “Johnny Dotson”
However, it wasn’t until a recent study revealed a correlation between contraceptives and a higher rate of depression that people realized it wasn’t just in their heads. The most recent study on male birth control drove this point home after multiple men experienced suicidal thoughts in trials. Revelist asked women to share their mental health experiences while on birth control to show that while protection and sexual health is vital to a woman’s healthcare and sexual autonomy, there are definitely risks to be considered. These are their stories. Then came freshman year of college, the worse year of my life. I got two underages the first two months, one of them was the second WEEK of school. I gained so much weight which I thought was because the “freshman 15” but being that I know how to commit to a workout and a diet I didn’t understand what was wrong. The acne got even worse than I thought it could get previously so I was just beside myself. All of this was consistent for the next couple years I was always depressed, always insecure, always hated myself but not just enough to want to harm myself yet. Then came three years, which is when I had to get the implant removed for the next three-year implant, which they also make the dose higher for every time you replace, and that’s when shit really hit the fan. I started getting suicidal thoughts and I became so worried about myself one morning. I woke up and started severely crying for about two hours before I went down to my mom and asked to take me anywhere, ANYWHERE because I’m scared about what I’m going to do. My panic attacks started getting even more severe and coming more frequently. I was in bed almost all day almost every day I called off of work most of the time. I’m surprised I didn’t get fired. I didn’t go to class and sometimes when I would drive to class I would turn my car off trying to pep talk myself into going and I would just sit and cry for hours in my car before i could pep talk myself into even turning it on to drive home. I would have thoughts that I wanted to crash my car into another person’s or drive it off a cliff, It was awful. I failed two classes and just barely passed the rest that semester which was last semester, then this past SUMMER came along. Again, didn’t leave my bed, didn’t work, didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere. My mom and I were fighting all the time really bad. I was still having thoughts that I wanted to hurt myself and had the urge to so bad but at the same time I was also telling myself like ‘wtf no I don’t I don’t want to hurt myself’ but have the urge to so bad. When I come back to school and everything just got even worse. I didn’t go to class once the first two weeks. I wanted to but didn’t. I cried more, had more panic attacks, worsened suicidal thoughts. I got it out a few days later, and now it’s been most two months and I am back to my happy hyper self. I literally could not be happier. I feel like myself. It’s really sucky sometimes when I think about how much I missed out on, but I’m just glad that I feel happy again." — Anonymous, PA I remember joking around with my dad or brother and then all of a sudden getting angry with them and yelling. I’d be up at night crying and I couldn’t figure out why. My boyfriend started pulling away because I was too hard to be around. It was not a good time. We realize all this had started when I started birth control. My pill was switched and it got better and then I stayed on it because I was trying to be responsible. I finally stopped taking it when I learned more about the IUD. The procedure was beyond painful but it is so much better than taking a pill everyday." — Anonymous, PA I just remember telling [my doctor] all my symptoms and saying you’re probably going to think I am crazy but… as she just smiled like what I was going through was normal or that every girl has been through this before. Right now I am on Yaz and at first I didn’t feel very good for about three days but after that I was fine." — Anonymous, PA Dance is my favorite thing and I didn’t even wanna go to that, I didn’t wanna hangout with my roommate or my friends. After like one day, they noticed I was off though and like came to check on me and I was just crying in bed. That was the first time I had overwhelming suicidal thoughts, too. I just kept thinking about how sad I was and what would happen if I wasn’t here anymore. It was scary, like I’ve had thoughts like that before but these were overwhelming. So I had to change my anxiety medicine and now I’m all good. Well as good as I can be." — Anonymous, PA The biggest problem is that I have cysts on my ovary’s so I have to take birth control. D said that birth-control with lower amounts of estrogen might help the depression but because of my cysts I have to take birth control that has a higher dosage. I originally talk to the doctor about getting a new birth control because I had lower libido. It is one of those situations where it is more important for me to not have cysts then to change the medication based on emotional health." — Anonymous, IL What’s your story?
title: “Birth Control Horror Stories That Will Make You Demand Change From The Contraceptive Industry” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-11” author: “Louise Thomas”
However, it wasn’t until a recent study revealed a correlation between contraceptives and a higher rate of depression that people realized it wasn’t just in their heads. The most recent study on male birth control drove this point home after multiple men experienced suicidal thoughts in trials. Revelist asked women to share their mental health experiences while on birth control to show that while protection and sexual health is vital to a woman’s healthcare and sexual autonomy, there are definitely risks to be considered. These are their stories. Then came freshman year of college, the worse year of my life. I got two underages the first two months, one of them was the second WEEK of school. I gained so much weight which I thought was because the “freshman 15” but being that I know how to commit to a workout and a diet I didn’t understand what was wrong. The acne got even worse than I thought it could get previously so I was just beside myself. All of this was consistent for the next couple years I was always depressed, always insecure, always hated myself but not just enough to want to harm myself yet. Then came three years, which is when I had to get the implant removed for the next three-year implant, which they also make the dose higher for every time you replace, and that’s when shit really hit the fan. I started getting suicidal thoughts and I became so worried about myself one morning. I woke up and started severely crying for about two hours before I went down to my mom and asked to take me anywhere, ANYWHERE because I’m scared about what I’m going to do. My panic attacks started getting even more severe and coming more frequently. I was in bed almost all day almost every day I called off of work most of the time. I’m surprised I didn’t get fired. I didn’t go to class and sometimes when I would drive to class I would turn my car off trying to pep talk myself into going and I would just sit and cry for hours in my car before i could pep talk myself into even turning it on to drive home. I would have thoughts that I wanted to crash my car into another person’s or drive it off a cliff, It was awful. I failed two classes and just barely passed the rest that semester which was last semester, then this past SUMMER came along. Again, didn’t leave my bed, didn’t work, didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere. My mom and I were fighting all the time really bad. I was still having thoughts that I wanted to hurt myself and had the urge to so bad but at the same time I was also telling myself like ‘wtf no I don’t I don’t want to hurt myself’ but have the urge to so bad. When I come back to school and everything just got even worse. I didn’t go to class once the first two weeks. I wanted to but didn’t. I cried more, had more panic attacks, worsened suicidal thoughts. I got it out a few days later, and now it’s been most two months and I am back to my happy hyper self. I literally could not be happier. I feel like myself. It’s really sucky sometimes when I think about how much I missed out on, but I’m just glad that I feel happy again." — Anonymous, PA I remember joking around with my dad or brother and then all of a sudden getting angry with them and yelling. I’d be up at night crying and I couldn’t figure out why. My boyfriend started pulling away because I was too hard to be around. It was not a good time. We realize all this had started when I started birth control. My pill was switched and it got better and then I stayed on it because I was trying to be responsible. I finally stopped taking it when I learned more about the IUD. The procedure was beyond painful but it is so much better than taking a pill everyday." — Anonymous, PA I just remember telling [my doctor] all my symptoms and saying you’re probably going to think I am crazy but… as she just smiled like what I was going through was normal or that every girl has been through this before. Right now I am on Yaz and at first I didn’t feel very good for about three days but after that I was fine." — Anonymous, PA Dance is my favorite thing and I didn’t even wanna go to that, I didn’t wanna hangout with my roommate or my friends. After like one day, they noticed I was off though and like came to check on me and I was just crying in bed. That was the first time I had overwhelming suicidal thoughts, too. I just kept thinking about how sad I was and what would happen if I wasn’t here anymore. It was scary, like I’ve had thoughts like that before but these were overwhelming. So I had to change my anxiety medicine and now I’m all good. Well as good as I can be." — Anonymous, PA The biggest problem is that I have cysts on my ovary’s so I have to take birth control. D said that birth-control with lower amounts of estrogen might help the depression but because of my cysts I have to take birth control that has a higher dosage. I originally talk to the doctor about getting a new birth control because I had lower libido. It is one of those situations where it is more important for me to not have cysts then to change the medication based on emotional health." — Anonymous, IL What’s your story?
