Stopping combined pills (Mirvala) because of new aura migraine (and maybe more brain stuff?)
I’ve been on the pill since October 2025. I’m 28 and for the first time ever in 2026 I’ve experienced what seems to be silent migraines with aura (the visual interruptions like with zigzag lines, slowly progressing tunnel vision, blind spots and shimmering etc). I was pretty scared by one of these episodes at work the other day because I felt like I was slowly going blind lowkey and was having mild cognitive problems like feeling a bit confused, needing more effort to find words, struggling to read. It passed after 15 minutes or so the first time, came back worse after a break and lasted 20 minutes.
This was 2 days ago and it hasn’t happened again. I experienced something similar (but milder) a few months ago and I remember finding out that it was really similar to the “aura” some people get as a migraine comes on. Both times though I didn’t have a migraine after, or at least no pain or nausea so I didn’t think it was really a migraine. It felt super random and short-lived so I didn’t look into it any further (rip).
Anyway, this time I was pretty concerned about why I seemed to suddenly start having migraines without a history (despite migraine running in the family on my mom’s side) so I started plugging in different seemingly unrelated symptoms and the medications that I’m taking (just Mirvala and Adderall for ADHD) into Google to see if there was any correlation.
Lo and behold, I see some very urgent warnings to stop taking the pill immediately and consult a doctor. I guess it’s strongly recommended for people with migraine-with-aura to not touch estrogen basically because of the extra risk of clotting from the estrogen and whatever is going on with an aura being related to the brain and basically it spells out higher risk of STROKE. What!!!
If I suddenly started to get migraine with aura for the first time after being on the pill for a few months, does that imply the estrogen caused them? or maybe hormone fuckery triggered an underlying migraine condition I hadn’t discovered yet? What if I was having vision disturbances because I was close to a stroke??
I stopped taking it because duh, and I’m seeing my dr on Friday. Definitely thinking of asking about a copper IUD now bc this scared me off of hormonal bc pretty good. I was reading that I might need a neurologist now too? To look at the new migraine stuff.
OH also I’ve been trying desperately to diagnose my increased brain fog, excessive fatigue/daytime sleepiness and restless sleep, general cognitive problems and suddenly for “no reason” really struggling with a physical job I used to find easy, and basically no ability to cope with my chronic stress anymore. I have felt like I’m declining over the course of a few months. I kept complaining to my bf that I was never this bad at life before I feel 10x stupider than I used to be and I can’t figure out what’s going so wrong with me. Genuinely I was considering getting my brain scanned. I did test low for B12 and iron levels but treating that for a while hasn’t made a difference
Guys,….. don’t tell me, could it have been the got damn birth control the whole time……. I feel simultaneously really foolish AND actually pretty hopeful because stopping bc could maybe make me feel better?