TE from birth control pills. When will it stop?!

by Sasha
(United States)

I’ve been suffering from hair loss that I think was caused by birth control pills. I had been taking Seasonale since March when my dermatologist put me on antibiotics for acne. While I was on antibiotics my boyfriend and I used condoms, since antibiotics can possibly interfere with the effectiveness of BC. There were two occasions where the condom broke. I took the Plan B pill both times as a precaution. The first dose was taken in the end of May, and the second in the middle of August. About 2.5-3 months after the first dose of Plan B was when I noticed my hair started falling out. This was around the end of August.

In the middle of October my doctor switched me to Loestrin 1/20, thinking that Seasonale may have been the cause. After doing research I discovered that Loestrin is one of the worst for hair loss. So I quit taking all BCPs about a month ago. It’s December and my hair is still coming out. I’m not sure if it’s from the Seasonale, Plan B, Loestrin, or a combination. I'm so worried that switching pills and then stopping may have each caused another round of shedding.

I did get my first period off the pill exactly on time so I’m hoping that’s an indication that my hormones are going back to normal. I keep reading stories about women who have hair loss after stopping the pills. I’ve been off of them for only a month, and I’m so worried that the hair loss will continue or get even worse. My hair loss isn’t noticeable yet as I started off with very thick hair, but I’m so scared that I will need to get some sort of hair piece if this doesn’t stop! I spend so much time worrying and feeling bad about this whole thing. It doesn’t help that I already had low self esteem and losing my hair is making me feel worse! I can only imagine how I’ll feel if I end up needing to get a wig.

I can see new growth coming in at the top of my head already, so I’m taking that as a good sign along with my period coming right on time. I just hope this stops soon so I can feel like myself again and focus on other things besides my hair. I hope the loss stops before it becomes noticeable.