Hi everyone! This sub has been great for me to hear about other people's experiences with getting off BC and see that I'm not alone, so I decided to share my experience since getting off Yaz in September 2024 (made a post a few months back, but a lot has changed since). 

First some background: I got on BC because I had very severe period cramps that would make me almost pass out. It was effective at first, but the cramps slowly got worse. I decided to get off BC when I discovered my cholesterol was super high and I had almost daily migraines. At the same time I started getting acupuncture to manage the cramps without the BC.

For the first few months I experienced minor side effects. My migraines got better very fast and I barely get them now. On the other hand my acne got worse around the 6 month mark and kept getting worse.

June was a very hard month for me in my personal life. My stress was through the roof. So much so that my eye was twitching for weeks straight. This led to the worst breakout I experienced until then in July. I started to realize just skincare wasn't going to work for me and so I did some research to find out what I could do. It was important for me to try to resolve this naturally, considering the side effects I got from BC.

In October I felt that I knew what I had to do, and how to implement it in my daily life. I'm a college student so I'm pretty busy but also have a flexible schedule which helped. 

Within a 1.5 months of starting my new routine I'm seeing major improvement!! This month I only got very mild breakouts, and the pimples actually dissappear within 2 DAYS!!

So, with these results, I felt I had to share what I did for others who might be struggling. Here are the most significant changes I made to my routine:

1. Eat meals in the order veggies/fruits -> protein -> carbs. This helps manage blood sugar even when the meal itself is not as healthy as possible.

2. Emphasize eating whole foods, and specifically avoid refined sugar as much as possible. It's important for me to say that I didn't eliminate refined sugar from my diet, I had pizza and desserts this month (especially since I had my birthday), I just made sure it was in moderation and to eat veggies or fruit and protein with it as much as possible.

3. Eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking up. This is to manage cortisol levels (the highest levels are in the morning). I couldn't manage to do it everyday because I didn't have time but I do it most days of the week.

4. Avoid screens 30 minutes after waking up. This was easy because I do my morning skincare routine and get ready for the day which takes up about 20 minutes. I just had to make sure I wasn't tempted to scroll my phone. I generally tried to reduce my screen time as much as I could, and began reading books for that.

5. Get 5-10 minutes of sunlight as soon as possible after waking up. Also to manage cortisol. It also feels so good to sit in the sun in the morning! Again, I don't do it every day, but I try to do it most days. Make sure to do it without sunglasses, it's best to get direct sunlight.

6. Prioritize sleep. I aim to sleep at least 8 hours, and not watch TV 30 minutes before going to sleep. At night I read, but I find it easier to do it on my tablet so I turn on the nightlight/eye comfort shield setting to reduce blue light. Avoiding TV helps me fall asleep faster and sleep better.

These changes to my routine helped me decrease my stress by a lot and I saw improvement in my skin soon after. I'm still working on managing cramps with my acupuncturist, but I did see major improvement thanks to her.

I will add that I focused on managing cortisol because I saw correlation between my stress levels and my skin condition. The cause of acne can be different for every person, but I think lower stress can definitely help a lot of people like me.

I added pictures of my progress for these past few months (last one with makeup because my scars might look like breakouts haha).

I'll be happy to answer any questions! This post is to remind you you are not alone and you can get better even months down the road!


14 months down the road, I think I figured it out!!