“I kind of felt like this is it, this is my person. We had done all the STD testing. We had gone through all of the steps and I felt like one of the benefits of being in a committed relationship was to be able to have sex without a condom.”
This was Ragnar’s rationale for taking birth control pills. She was 26 and wanted sexual freedom.
It wouldn’t come without a price.
Duration: 3 mins, 36 secs
SOCIALLICKS.COM: What side effects did you experience on the pill?
Janna (age 29): Most people who go on the pill experience weight gain. This was a time I was really active. I was dancing and stepping – doing heavy physical activity 6 days a week for at least 3 hours a day. I didn’t gain a lot of weight, but I didn’t lose any weight either. I should have been in a lot better shape than I was. And when I stopped doing [my activities] I gained weight really quickly.
More of the problems that I had when I was on the pill, I was very emotional. It was weird. It was almost clockwork. I could feel myself trippin’. I’m like, ‘Ok, it’s week 3. I’m on this different set of pills, now I’m a complete maniac.’ And it wasn’t just me [thinking this]. My boyfriend at the time was even concerned. He was like, “Yo, what’s wrong with you?” And I couldn’t even be mad at him, because I knew I was trippin’ off of [the pills].
Lisa (age 39): I’ve heard of people’s periods that have stopped when they started taking the pill. What I’ve heard most often is the experience I had more recently. Last year I went on the pill and had a massive headache for 2 weeks.
My head felt like it was in a vice. I used to take [the pill] everyday at noon. About 10 days into it, I was like ‘By noon everyday my headache is almost gone.’ And then I would take that next pill and the vice would return. A friend of mine was like “Do you think your headache is related to taking the pill?” and I was like, ‘Of course it is!’ And I stopped and my headache was gone.
If any doctor knew what that headache felt like they would not so easily say, “Take this.” I literally couldn’t concentrate. I felt like you could see my head throbbing. It really was the worst headache I’ve had in my life.
Ragnar (age 28): I was determined to keep trying, you know, because they always say that you have to give [the pills] 3 months to settle in and allow your body to adjust to this new situation. And I was determined to really give it a good try. And I think I went to see [my doctor] maybe 2 or 3 months after I had been on it and I was just feeling like the pits. Just really feeling sad and I was crying a lot, not feeling like myself. And I’m a pretty emotional person in general. I wouldn’t say these episodes were totally unusual, but it felt like a deeper depression than the mild depression that I would experience from time to time.
So, I talked to her about it and she admitted that [the pills] could definitely be apart of it, but she encouraged me to stick with it and to keep trying for another 3 months and then eventually a lot of those symptoms of feeling very bloated and uncomfortable subsided.
Then a new thing started happening… I felt very mellow. I wouldn’t be as ecstatic. And maybe this was just my own mental health issues, but I would feel less happy and less sad. I was more in this mellow emotional space while I was on it. And I can say that with some certitude now having been off of [the pill] for 3 months. I feel very differently.
Watch the Previous and Next Episode:
- When did you start taking birth control pills and why? (Part 1 of 3)
- Why Men Should Swallow The Pill (Part 3 of 3)
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