Quote:
Originally Posted by Dagny18
Really? I have always heard that the pill causes weight gain...so Ive been afraid of trying that...
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Some women do find it easier to gain weight on the pill - maybe even most women, but it's certainly not universal. Many women find the opposite (and I think it's often not listed as a side effect, only because it's usually complaints that are reported, not "perks").
I'm another person who found birth control helped me lose weight and control hunger. Withour birth control, I have severe cramping, extra heavy, extra long periods (up to nine days), a short cycle (23 to 25 days from period start to next period start), and severe mood swings, cravings, and out-of-control hunger.
You know that lapband commercial where the woman says lapbaqnd turns her hunger "lion" into a kitten - well my hunger "lion" wasn't calm like the one in the commercial. My hunger lion was rabid and raging during the days just before and during my period.
For most of my post-pubescent life, I would gain weight during my period and it would take consciencious dieting just to keep from gaining every month. At best, I'd have a 5 to 7 day "window" to lose weight, because I'd gain weight during my period, take two weeks to get the gain lost, and might be able to lose a little bit in the remainder of the month before the cycle would start all over again.
I complained to doctors, but none had a solution for me. Occasionally a doctor would suggest that birth control "might help," but that there was also a possibility I would gain wieght.
For a long time I wasn't willing to risk that possibility, but eventually got desperate enough to try birth control.
WOW, what a difference. It was astonishing. I no longer felt like I was going to go mad with hunger every month. I still had to be vigilant, but I didn't feel like a trapped, caged, wild animal with rabid hunger. It was manageable.
Unfortunately my medicare prescription drug coverage recently dropped coverage of the birth control that was the most effective. So I had to switch to another birth control - which is still better than being without bc, but isn't quite as effective as the previous pills.