I know this post is old, and I'm not sure whether or not the user is still active, but I did a search for "birth control" and ran across this post. This article was intriguing to me having just come off the pill for several of these reasons. I found the following paragraph particularly interesting due to having experienced MANY of these side-effects, myself:

"Information emerging about the female brain reveals that estrogen is an essential hormone for healthy brain functioning. It enhances the connections between neurons, resulting in improved memory and prevention of dementia. Mood, smell, self-esteem, and even the ability of a woman to choose a healthy partner to father her child depend on estrogen. It stimulates the production of serotonin, which is one of the “feel-good” hormones in the brain. When estrogen is low, serotonin levels become low, resulting in depression, OCD, paranoia and ADD. This is why so many women, who have low estrogen due to the birth control pill, end up on antidepressants and other medications. Surprise! These problems happen to the menopausal brain as well, due to loss of estrogen."

Highlighting mood, OCD, and ADD-- while these are things that I have to keep an eye out for as is (anxiety disorders run in both sides of my family) I found that these conditions were particularly increasing as my 2 year birth control endeavor went on. The OCD especially had taken a huge toll on my life, and it seemed to appear almost out of thin air maybe about a year and a half ago. It caused me a great deal of stress and I was frequenting my therapist, grasping at straws, trying to find a solution that didn't involve anxiety medications.

At any rate, over the past few months I started reading more about the Pill, and the ex-users who swore that they found themselves again after stopping the Pill. I read such comments that some women even re-connected with their creative energy again. This hit home for me, because I used to write in my journal religiously... in fact, I even freelanced for a few sites. I was always painting, drawing, etc. And I had noticed over the past two years that it was just becoming impossible for me to do. I simply did not have the "flow"-- or even more so, the mental functioning to put together intelligent sentences of any sort. It was odd because in the past, no matter what I was going through in life, journal-writing always came easily and was therapeutic for me, and I could no longer rely on this when I was troubled.

Besides that I read a lot about women who complained of constantly being bloated on the pill, and losing that water retention almost immediately after coming off of the pill.

That being said...
I went off the pill recently. I was due to start a new pack last Sunday, so I've been pill free almost two weeks (including the normal week-off when I menstruated) and I have to say I'm already noticing drastic chances. Obviously, I'm already able to write again... which makes me really happy! I was gushing to my boyfriend last night about how wonderful I felt, because there's no more mental "haze". I feel more like myself again.

It's also nice knowing that I'm not putting any kind of crap in my body anymore. When I began my journey to raw, I gave up coffee, chewing gum, pain relievers (though I had already pretty much done that in the past), hydrogenated oils, HFCS, etc. And I knew that taking that tiny little pill everyday...no matter how small it was, was having a huge affect on me, and it was hindering me from feeling the full benefits of raw (or my otherwise over-all healthier lifestyle).

Anyway... Thanks for posting this (if you're still around)-- I'd be interested to hear if anyone shared a similar experience to mine, and for those who have been on the pill and went off of it... what was your experience, and how long did it take for you to feel the benefits? what were the benefits for you, personally?

kudos.