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Effects of Stopping Birth Control Use in Your 40s

Women over age 40 share many of the same symptoms as younger women when they stop using birth control. The severity of symptoms depends on the birth control method, whether or not a woman is perimenopausal and her general health.

  1. Birth Control Choices

    • Contraceptive options include the NuvaRing, Depo-Provera shot, oral contraceptives, such as Yasmin, Seasonique and the Pill, Ortho Evra Patch, Mirena and copper IUD. Because it can regulate menstruation during perimenopause, "the pill," a combination of estrogen and progestogen, remains a popular choice among women over 40 says Planned Parenthood.

    Quitting Birth Control

    • According to the National Cancer Institute, after 5 years of combined hormone pill use, the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer reduces by up to 50 percent; these benefits last several years, even after cessation of use--a good thing to weigh against the return of PMS symptoms. Certified Menopause Clinicians encourage women over 40, who plan to stop using birth control, to begin a regime of nutritional supplements that promote hormonal balance before hand.

    Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

    • Female hormones can be injected, swallowed as capsules, worn as a patch or applied as gel, and may help with vaginal dryness, headaches and depression that some women 40 years old and older experience when they stop taking birth control. Your doctor will control the dosage and administer estrogen and progesterone according to a schedule.

    Symptoms Shared Among All Women

    • Women who had irregular periods before taking any form of birth control, albeit orally, via shot or wearing the patch, will probably have irregular periods again when they stop taking it; this is irregardless of age and includes the probability that, if your periods stopped while you took birth control, they may take a couple of months to return. Spermicide gels, diaphrams and condoms avoid hormonal shifts in your body.

    Warning

    • Combined hormone methods of birth control — the pill, the patch, and the ring — should not be used by women who have confirmed and untreated blood pressure over 140 systolic or 90 diastolic. If a woman develops hypertension prior to stopping these birth control methods, she should see her doctor.

    Don’t Assume It’s Menopause

    • If you stop taking birth control hormones and do not get a period, don’t assume it’s menopause. Ask your doctor for a Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) test; it will indicate whether menopause has actually begun to occur.

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