I first went on birth control when I was 14 years old. It was in March of 2020.
I had always had discomfort during my period and I need pain relief. The option that my doctor gave me, which seemed like the best option at the time, was to start taking ‘the pill’. Starting a new medicine during a global pandemic was never ideal. The first couple of months hit me like a semi-truck. I have never felt this way before in my entire life. It absolutely changed my emotional wellbeing. I have never been more sad in my entire life. Except I had no idea if it came from quarantine or from starting birth control. It was probably a couple of the hardest months of my entire life.
After the first year, my body started to even out more. I had come to peace with my new emotions. I realized the odds of me crying were going to be higher due to the immense amount of hormones I was putting into my body. It started to help the cramps that came with my period which made it all worth it in the end. Finally, I had the ability to get through my days without almost breaking out into tears about anything. To this day, I am still on the pill. However, there are many challenges that come with this experience.
The hardest part for me was understanding the changes in my body. As someone who had never been too emotional, I was now a train wreck. I had never felt this way before in my entire life. I started to cry at movies or TV shows. I had never been that girl before, but now I was. Coming to terms with this was so hard because I felt weaker now than before. I felt more sensitive which I ended up coming to terms with. It taught me a lot about my body and who I was. I needed to have this experience to find a deeper connection with myself.
I know this a topic that many girls my age have different opinions on. College is the time when many people decide if birth control is something they want to pursue or not. At the end of the day, it comes down to who the person is and what the best choice is. In my case, it was the best choice and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Because of the pill, I was able to ease my discomfort during my period. However, this is a hard decision to make because for some people less pain is not worth completely changing their body.