John VorhausBirth Control Effects
Many women find themselves in this scenario: they have been using birth control for some time and they’ve finally decided that it’s the right time to have a baby. However, they are not sure how the long-term use of birth control might have affected their ability to conceive. Generally, there are no negative effects on your fertility after using birth control for a while. In some cases, where you’ve been using a method that has the hormones progestin and estrogen, it might take you a bit longer to conceive. However, you can still get pregnant after you’ve stopped using any Arlington contraception methods.
Stopping Birth Control
Until you’re ready to get pregnant, don’t stop using birth control methods. The body doesn’t need time to get back to its original patterns, and it’s very possible to conceive a month after stopping birth control. If you are not ready to get pregnant and you still want to stop using hormonal birth control, replace it with another method such as condoms.
Barrier methods like condoms or diaphragms are useful but as soon as you have sex without them, it’s possible to get pregnant. However, your health, especially your genes and lifestyle habits play a huge role in how long you’ll wait before getting pregnant. Additionally, some birth control methods have more impact than others do.
Birth Control Types
You are still able to get pregnant within one to three months after stopping hormonal birth control pills. A majority of women can get pregnant within a year. If you’ve been using a minipill, chances of getting pregnant a few days or weeks after stopping usage are high. The minipill doesn’t stop conception by stopping ovulation but by thinning out the uterine wall. As soon as you stop taking the minipill, the uterine wall thickens again, making pregnancy a possibility.
If you’ve been using an intrauterine device (IUD), and the doctor removes it, it’s possible to get pregnant right away. Although pregnancy happens within 6 months to a year after removal, women usually begin ovulating one month after removal. The same applies to an implant. Most women begin ovulating within the first month after the doctor removes an implant. If you’re using a birth control patch or vaginal ring, you’re likely to ovulate within one to three months after removal.
It may be harder to get pregnant after stopping injectable birth control. It usually takes more than ten months before you can start ovulating. Thus, if you want to use birth control but still have hopes of having children in the future, don’t consider this method.
Ovulating Again
If you’ve been using hormonal birth control methods, it might be a few months before you start ovulating, because this method affects your hormonal balance. It will take your body some time before it can adjust to its pre-birth control state. However, you can still get pregnant before having your periods. In fact, if you have sex immediately after you’ve stopped birth control, and it so happened that you were ovulating, you may get pregnant. If you recently stopped using birth control, had unprotected sex and you still haven’t seen your periods, get a pregnancy test. Getting a period is far less important than ovulating. You can only get pregnant when one of your ovaries releases an egg, and that’s all that matters.