Untold Stories: My Story

        I thought that I had a good sex education growing up. At a young age, I knew how things worked, what went were, and what to do to avoid certain outcomes. Pretty straightforward. Looking back, the simplicity should have been a tip-off that there was more I should have known. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I was missing pieces of a path until I was lost in the middle.

        I was prescribed the pill with the hopes that it would resolve other health problems that I was experiencing. While it did solve those issues, the pill also created new issues for my health that eventually outweighed the old issues. These issues are what led to my switch off of the pill, which was an experience I was wholly unprepared for. The months after I stopped taking the pill were filled with a variety of health issues, mood swings, and days when I felt like I was losing my mind, all from the transition off the hormones that the pill had been putting into my body. It wasn’t until I was in the middle of this war with my body that I started seeing information online about women saying what kinds of things happened to their bodies while on and getting off the pill. Ranging from wild mood swings to losing hair, these stories were honestly terrifying to hear, and they made me wonder why I, a 21-year-old woman, was only hearing them now.

        I began to make an effort to talk to my friends, classmates, and peers about the topic of birth control, and how individuals’ personal experiences seem to be largely undiscussed even amongst friends. While I could have been met with silence or indifference, I instead found the opposite. Almost every person I talked with was fascinated and wanted to discuss the topic more. Many also agreed that our own experiences aren’t discussed enough, but not because we don’t want to share. Almost everyone I talked to who had taken or was currently taking some kind of birth control had a story that they were happy to share. So why don’t we?

        Have we been conditioned to believe that birth control is a private matter that, like in the Middle Ages, we should not discuss openly? Is our current political climate scaring people into silence? Or do we simply not think to share? Whatever the reason may be, we are losing valuable community knowledge that we could all benefit from. Whether someone’s experience with something was good or bad, if they are willing to share it is important to know because it might help another person now or in the future.

        Let’s make these previously untold stories known and help each other out. This will also help us all feel less alone. All of the texts that you read on this site can be annotated anonymously, so please go through and add to them. Whether a part of your own story, a comment on something interesting, or a helpful tip to help others navigate our wild world, let us build up our community knowledge together.

We are all in this world together. We should help each other out!

Thank you!