Why I Said 'Adios' to My GP and Took Things Into my Own Hands, part 1

* I am not a doctor, or a medical professional. None of what is contained in this blog post is medical advice, but simply my personal experience.

If you've been following me on any platform, you likely already know that our family has been on a holistic health and wellness journey. I like to say we're going back to our roots so to speak, but always with 'balance' at the forefront. For example, just the other day I went to the store to get a couple ingredients to make some cough syrup for Bubs. On the way home we stopped for slushies. See what I mean? Balance!

Well, rewind about six-ish months, and we made the decision that I was going to stop taking my birth control pill. If we're cutting our use and consumption of toxins, artificial hormones definitely fall in that category.

The Downfall

Within a couple weeks I started feeling the effects of coming off the pill. My immediate symptoms included:

• Weight gain: Due to my ED past, I don't weigh myself, but my clothes stopped fitting like they had before. I had gained so much weight that I was fitting clothes like I had immediately post-partum.

• Acne: My face, specifically my jaw line and chin, was a landmine of blemishes that quickly spread to my neck, chest and back.

• Hair loss: This was something that really triggered me. I was losing literal handfuls of hair multiple times a day. I'll share some pics later in this post (trigger warning!). My hair was breaking off as well as coming out from the follicle, with the "bulb" on the end. I was losing handfuls of hair, multiple times a day.

• Abdominal pressure: I was having uncomfortable pressure periodically, with no rhyme or reason, and even more so during intercourse.

• Incontinence: I've always said I had a small bladder. This however, was next level. I would go from being totally fine to having to pee RIGHT NOW, in one second flat. TMI, I peed myself more in the last 6 months than some parents experience when potty-training their toddler. I'm not proud to admit that, but that's how bad it had gotten.

• Oily hair & flaky scalp: In the past, I was washing my hair twice a week without issue. As things progressed after stopping birth control, I was feeling the need to wash my hair in less than 18 hours post hair-wash. Additionally, my scalp was so flaky and nothing would help.

• Itchy skin & itchy ears: In the evenings, my shins would itch like crazy - to the point where I would sometimes break the skin. In addition, my ears were SO itchy. They were flaking and bleeding. It was absolutely awful.

This was my hair loss in one single day at the beginning of April, not including the many hairs that I find stuck to my clothes, that come out when I move my hair behind my ear, etc.

After doing extensive research and reading, I discovered this was more "normal" than expected. Referred to as PBCS (Post Birth Control Syndrome) there are a wide variety of symptoms that women experience after stopping birth control. Many of the symptoms are signs of deficiencies, dominance, and other problems in the body that should be addressed. Western Medicine says " let's put you back on birth control" (something my doctor has said many times over the last few months, even after knowing I don't want to be on the pill. The rest of the world says, "let's look for the root cause".

Naturopathic Doctor

Frustrated with Western Medicine and embracing our hollistic-ish lifestyle, I went to see a naturopathic doctor. She immediately knew we had some work to do. She put me on a couple gentle supplements and asked that I get some updated bloodwork done. If I got the bloodwork done through her, though, it would have cost me hundreds of dollars. Bloodwork through my GP is covered under our health insurance in Canada. So, off I went to my GP, anxious of what her reaction would be.

My GP

I should say, I do like our family doctor. I have had a few disagreements, but it's hard to find a family practice physician who is as open-minded as I would like. I knew I might strike a cord when I tell her I'm working with a ND.

She wasn't happy to see the list of bloodwork the naturopath had requested. She actually said, "They always ask for so much - Most of this is BS." 😬 I could see we were off to a great start.

Once again she suggested going back on birth control.

I received my bloodwork back and I immediately got a phone call from my GP's office asking me to come in for a follow-up. A little anxious, I was also a bit grateful because a follow-up likely means we'll get the ball rolling on figuring out what is going on. The anxious side of me emailed my ND asking her what may be the issue with my results. She said the only thing that stands out is that I am Estrogen Dominant, which she expected, but everything else was "normal".

I went in to see my GP and she simply wanted to know where in my cycle I had had the bloodwork done. Apparently everything looked good based on the info I shared with her.

Did I Mention I'm a Researcher?

In preparation for my appointment with my GP, I dove in. If you know me, this is not out of the ordinary.

I started by listing my symptoms. My symptoms had increased significantly since January, and had continued to get worse over the previous month.

My symptoms now included:

• Anxiety

• Difficulty concentrating

• Fatigue

• Acne on Face

• Frequent Bowel Movements

• Enlarged Lymph Nodes

• Hair Loss

• Dry, Brittle Hair

• Heat Intolerance

• Increased Appetite

• Weight Gain

• Increased Sweating, Hot Flashes, Night Sweats

• Heavy, Painful Periods

• Nail Changes (flaking, thickness)

• Nervousness

• Pounding or Racing Heartbeat, Palpitations

• Restlessness

• Sleep Problems

• Faintness When Raising Arms/Hands ( I can't French-braid my hair without taking multiple breaks)

• Itchy/Irritated Eyes

• Itchy Skin

• Itchy Ears

• Skin Rashes on Shins

• Weakness in Hips & Shoulders

• Oily Hair

• Flaky Scalp

• Low/No Libido

• Dryness & Pain/Pressure During Intercourse

• Atrophic Vaginitis (thinning, drying, inflammation of vaginal tissues & pubic area - yes, my skin would be ripped off during a waxing)

• Cherry Angiomas

• Low Blood Pressure

I was convinced this wasn't normal. So I said "Adios" to my GP and took things into my own hands. I'll continue this in a second post.