A coach in our group mentorship brought us a case. Her client was 45, newly onboarded, and eager to come off hormonal birth control. She had been reading about hormone therapy online and wanted to know where she stood. Her coach wanted to know how to best support her body now for those future goals.
This scenario isn’t talk about enough especially considering how many women find themselves in midlife still on the pill, and bombarded with messages on social media about what they “should do.”
Problem- “shoulds” absolutely depends on the individual female. Her history, her reason for birth control in the first place, her goals and comfort level…
Coming off the pill at 25 and coming off the pill at 45 are two different conversations.
At 25 we are supporting a body that will most likely resume ovulatory cycles. At 45 we are supporting a body that may already be years into perimenopause, where those cycles may not come back at all. Both deserve prep, a plan for what happens if the hormones never return, and a plan for how to support her body knowing she may not have been exposed to those hormones endogenously for a decade or more on the pill.
This topic has a lot of grey in it. We want every woman to know her options and to understand what is happening in her body as she ages, so she can use that information going forward. And we want coaches to know they can guide this conversation, and not be left at the mercy of an Instagram reel spewing all or nothing recommendations...
So, we had a whole conversation about it which you can listen to HERE on Spotify, and for our Apple Podcast listeners:
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If you’re more of a reader, HERE is a NEW blog post where I walk through:
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The timeline and context questions to ask before anything else happens
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What to prepare for and why, including the possibility of pregnancy and the possibility of no ovulation at all
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The baseline labs I want before she stops
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3 real client cases where the right timeline looked completely different, because the women were
Transitioning Off Birth Control After 40
Have a question about your specific situation?
This topic is impossible to cover completely, because so much of the answer is "what is going on with you." If you are reading this thinking "but what about my case," ask us here. The form is anonymous and we answer questions on the blog, the podcast, and right here in this newsletter. Do not assume someone has already asked yours. We have answered the same topic three different ways for three different women.
For coaches
We have conversations like this one every month inside the Fortify Health Coaching Group Mentorship Program. This blog came directly out of one of them.
Go deeper
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Webinar: Birth Control Master Class, covering not just oral contraceptives but all birth controls and what nutrition and lifestyle support looks like for someone wanting to come off!
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Free resource: Improving your hormone therapy experience
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