How to Transition Off Birth Control Naturally and Balance Your Hormones

Over 58% of people take birth control for reasons other than contraception—often to manage acne, PMS, irregular cycles, painful periods, or chronic conditions like endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, and fibroids. But hormonal birth control doesn’t resolve the root of these issues—it pauses them. When it’s time to stop, the body must re-learn how to cycle on its own. This is when Post-Birth Control Syndrome (PBCS) can emerge, bringing symptoms like irregular periods, acne, and hormonal mood shifts. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) provides a supportive framework for this transition—restoring internal harmony, improving resilience, and helping you reconnect with your body’s natural rhythm.

How Hormonal Birth Control Works

When you're on hormonal birth control—whether it's the pill, patch, ring, or hormonal IUD—your body stops cycling through its natural hormone fluctuations. These methods work by supplying synthetic estrogen and/or progestin, which suppress signals from the brain's hypothalamus and pituitary gland—the very signals that would normally trigger ovulation.

• Your body stops producing its own natural estrogen and progesterone, hormones that play essential roles far beyond reproduction—impacting mood, metabolism, bone density, skin health, and more.
  
• The "period" you experience during the placebo week isn't a true menstrual cycle—it's a withdrawal bleed, triggered by the sudden drop in synthetic hormones.

While hormonal birth control can offer temporary symptom relief—like reduced acne, lighter periods, or fewer cramps—it doesn't regulate your cycle or resolve the root causes. Instead, it overrides your natural hormonal rhythm, putting symptoms on pause until the synthetic hormones are withdrawn.

What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Birth Control

Hormonal birth control suppresses ovulation and flattens your natural cycle, keeping your body in a hormonally static state. Once you stop, your body has to relearn how to produce and regulate its own hormones. For many, this transition can be rocky—leading to symptoms like acne, irregular cycles, mood swings, or fatigue. That’s why supportive care during this phase is so important to help your body reestablish its natural rhythm.

Common Symptoms After Stopping Birth Control

• Irregular or missing periods (post-pill amenorrhea)
• Acne and skin flare-ups
• Cramps and ovulation pain
• Mood swings or anxiety
• Hair loss or hirsutism
• Weight fluctuations
• Bloating and water retention
• Spotting or withdrawal bleeding

These symptoms reflect deeper imbalances that were never addressed while on hormonal contraception.

How TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Understands Hormonal Balance

In TCM, hormone health is rooted in the free flow and proper nourishment of:

• Qi (vital energy) – drives metabolic and cellular function
• Blood – nourishes reproductive organs and the skin
• Yin – cooling, moistening, restorative energy
• Yang – warming, activating energy for ovulation and metabolism

Birth control suppresses ovulation (a Yang function), which can cause Liver Qi Stagnation, deplete Blood, or weaken the Kidney system (the TCM foundation of reproductive health). The body needs to reestablish this balance—what we might call homeostasis—to resume a healthy menstrual cycle.

How to Prepare Your Body Before Stopping Birth Control

TCM Goal: Begin nourishing the organs responsible for hormonal detoxification, build up Blood and Yin, and support emotional balance before stopping.

Your Period On Birth Control, AKA Withdrawal Bleeding?

The "bleed" on the pill isn’t a real period—it’s withdrawal bleeding triggered by the absence of synthetic hormones during the placebo phase. Once you stop birth control, it may take weeks or months to see a true ovulatory period return.

What to Do Now:

1. Support Your Liver & Digestion 

• Eat bitter greens like arugula and dandelion
• Sip warm lemon water each morning
• Consider herbs like Bupleurum, Schisandra, and Licorice (found in Daily Harmony)

2. Nourish Blood and Yin

• Cooked dark leafy greens, bone broth, black sesame, beets, lentils
• Avoid cold/raw foods, dairy, and alcohol (which can block Qi)

3. Move Your Qi

• Gentle yoga, walking, qigong
• Acupressure or (acupuncture) on Liver 3 and Spleen 6

Start Elix Cycle Balance Now

Your personalized organic Cycle Balance formula can support your imbalances even while on birth control, laying the groundwork for a smoother off-ramp.

Take Your Personalized Cycle Balance Daily: Dose: 3 full droppers daily (½ tsp) 

Already Off Birth Control? Here’s What to Do Next

This is the recalibration phase—your body is trying to cycle again, but may need support to reestablish balance.

TCM Goal: Rebuild Yin and Blood, restore Qi flow, and ease symptoms as the body re-learns to cycle naturally.

What to Do Now:

1. Focus on Blood-Building Nutrition

• Black beans, red dates, molasses, cooked spinach, seaweed, ginger tea
• Eat warm meals and avoid cold smoothies or raw salads

1. Take Cycle Balance After Transitioning Off Birth Control 

• Take your personalized  Cycle Balance blend daily: Dose: 3–6 full droppers daily (½–1 tsp)

2. Track Your Cycle

• Monitor basal body temperature
• Observe cervical fluid changes
• Use ovulation strips if trying to conceive (TTC) 
• Incorporate diet changes such as Cycle Syncing 

3. Prioritize Rest + Nervous System Health

• Sleep by 11 PM
• Add Elix’s Yin Time
• Daily breathwork, acupuncture, or journaling for stress support

Clinically Backed: How Cycle Balance Supports Hormonal Health and PCOS 

Elix recently conducted an open-label clinical study on individuals with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)—a leading reason many go on birth control. 

The results were profound:

• 90% of participants not on hormonal birth control saw improved cycle regulation
• Over 70% reported reductions in symptoms like acne, cramps, and mood swings
• Participants who paired the formulas with healthy lifestyle habits experienced the most dramatic results
  → Read the full study

These findings suggest that Cycle Balance and Daily Harmony are effective tools not just for PCOS, but for anyone working to restore natural hormonal rhythms looking to transition off birth control .

Reclaim Your Cycle—Naturally

Take the Elix Health Assessment to get your personalized Cycle Balance herbal formula made just for your body’s root imbalances with triple tested, food-grade organic herbs. It’s the natural way to an easy, regulated, symptom free period. 

Sources

• https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/beyond-birth-control.pdf 
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091302222000541?via%3Dihub 
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797610368062 
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12313870/ 
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8178900/ 
• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/3977-birth-control-the-pill

This article was reviewed by Dr. Liem Le.

Dr. Liem Le is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Functional Medicine Practitioner, and Nutritionist in the Integrative Medicine Department at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. He is on the teaching staff for the Masters program for the Functional Medicine and Human Nutrition program at University of Western States. Dr. Le is currently working on his fellowship in Integrative Medicine with the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine via a scholarship from the White House.