What is up with the young women of today? My own daughters included? My generation relied on the diaphragm to prevent pregnancy. No hormones, no side effects. Easy cheap and it works.
I would never have even thought about a diaphragm. I forgot they existed. I think they scare a lot of women and the having to use spermicide is definitely not a plus for a lot of people.
Mine was originally to control my periods. When I'm not on birth control my periods are completely debilitating. I vomit constantly, my cramps feel like I'm giving birth and I have lumbar fusion in my spine so that make me want to curl up and die. My doctor put me on lortab at one point to control the pain during periods. I felt like I was dying. I take it for pregnancy prevention now though.
It's a new generation and things are always going to change.
I told my boyfriend last night that we'll be that 90 year old couple irritating some young kid about teaching us how to use a hovercraft. hahahah
Last edited by tessendicott; 03-07-2012 at 11:45 AM.
I didn't gain any weight when I first started the pill. At the time I was very active though. I was on Yaz and now I take the generic for it. I've been on t for about 5 years because it keeps me regulated.
What is up with the young women of today? My own daughters included? My generation relied on the diaphragm to prevent pregnancy. No hormones, no side effects. Easy cheap and it works.
It IS a side affect that is well-known. However, I have been on 2 different types of the birth control pill and never gained weight. Or if I did, it wasn't more than 5 pounds. I now have an IUD and did not notice weight gain with that hormone-based birth control, either. From what I've heard, the Depo shot is the most notorious for weight gain.
Since my first period when I was 9 or 10 (4th grade), I've had very heavy, extremely painful and long periods, accompanied by insane moodswings, and intense cravings and hunger.
Early in my teens my doctor suggested birth control (to regulate the periods, not because I was sexually active), but my mother and I refused it because of the risk of weight gain (I was already morbidly obese by then).
My pms/pmdd finally got bad enough in my late 20's that I was desperate. I was missing too much work, and the heavy bleeding, cramps and mood swings were getting worse. Finally, I was desperate enough to try bc, because weight gain seemed the least of my problems.
It was an amazing godsend. The "rabid" hunger was much less intense and I stopped gaining weight. Many of the PMS/PMDD symptoms were still present, but they were much less severe. When I met hubby at 35 he called me werewolf because of the monthly mood swings and the beef and chocolate cravings (If he'd known me in my pre-bc days he probably would have run for the hills).
I didn't lose much weight with this style of bc, but I stopped gaining, and I had more success with weight loss. The real improvement came when I was put on birth control that reduced the frequency of periods. Then my insurance stopped covering that bc and I had to be put on one that is less effective for the mood swing and hunger control (and back to a monthly period).
Well, depends on what type of birth control you are going on. Every method and even every PILL itself is different.
I have been on Loestrin 24 Fe which has the least amount of side effects of any pills. I have not gained any weight from this.
Another thing, I read that pills do not actually cause weight gain - they work on a psychological basis. You THINK They will make you gain weight and you know this so you subconsciously compensate by eating more to make it come true. You say "oh i'm supposed to gain weight, it's fine". Well you don't actually say this but your subconcious does.
Every time I've gone on a b/c pill I've lost weight because of this exact thing except I'd do the exact opposite - I'd say NO I'm NOT going to gain weight bcuz I know I'm supposed to and I WILL fight it and usually end up losing weight instead of gaining.
I have mirena and you aren't supposed to gain weight it but since I got it (August of 2011) I have gained 20 lbs and my cravings were through the roof. Now I'm not sure if it was the mirena or if it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I've known a lot of girls who have lost weight and I know a lot of girls who have gained weight. It's all about your body and how it takes to it.
I'm going on birth control on Friday..but I don't want all of my work to be in vein from trying to lose weight? Is it the meds or do you get hungry when you take it?
I used to take the pill, and I didn't gain any weight. I asked my doctor about it and she told me it makes you more hungry so you just have to watch your cravings.
So often people will say (of not just birth control, but of other medications that can increase hunger such as prednisone), "the medicine makes you hungry, but it doesn't make you eat.
That may or may not be true (there's some evidence that some of these drugs do not just cause extra hunger, they can also cause actual metabolic declines). Of course, the same people will just say "well then you just have to make sure you eat less - and keep eating less until you find the calorie level you need to maintain a healthy weight on the medication.
It all sounds so simple, but often hunger isn't so easily managed. Often the only way to experience success is to find ways to battle that hunger itself. Just learning to deal with it, isn't always a very helpful solution (although it is the most likely one you're going to be offered).
There is another solution and that's battle the hunger itself.
Birth control actually reduces my hunger, so I'm not just talking about birth control. I'm on periodic courses of prednisone and other steroids for autoimmune disease. Prednisone causes weight gain by water retention, increased hunger (often to frightening proportions - you can stuff yourself all day and still feel like you're literally going to starve to death if you don't keep eating) and possibly metabolic changes.
"Just dealing with it" is extremely difficult. Not impossible, but damned difficult, but there are strategies that help. And they help with birth control as well, and even with the no-drug hormonal effects of pms/tom hunger also.
For hunger control
drink a little more water than your normal (but don't go nutty, there's no need to drink more than 3 liters of liquids daily - and that's all beverages even the caffeinated ones. If you already drink that much, you don't need to add more).
use the principles of Volumetrics. Eat foods that provide the most volume for the calorie, so that you're eating more food (volume wise) for fewer calories.
As an example 10 raisins have the same calorie count as 10 grapes, but grapes take longer to eat and take up more space so they're more filling. Eat a 90 calorie apple rather than 90 calories if apple juice (from which the fiber has been removed).
Consider low-carb (or at least low-glycemic). I find that whether or not I'm on medications, I'm less hungry on low-carb (and this appears to be a common experience), but the difference is even more dramatic on the medications. There's a significant difference in hunger even when I'm med-free, but on prednisone or during my pms/tom (whether or not I'm on birth control) low-carb helps tremendously in controlling hunger. The difference is so astonishing that I try to eat very low-carb when I'm on prednisone or during pms/tom week. Even when I'm not following a low-carb diet, I still eat low-carb when I'm on prednisone and during "that week."
And using a food journal of course. It is important, but it can't be my only strategy, because (at least for me) hunger is stronger than the food journal. I can have the best intentions, but if I feel starved because of my hormones, or because of the medication I'm taking, I will be successful for a while, but eventually medication-hunger or hormone-hunger will win.
I can tolerate ordinary hunger (even eating nothing at all for three or four days as I did in highschool - not that I'm endorsing it at all), but I can't tolerate the "rabid hunger" that hormones and medications can cause. Low-carb (and for me the right birth control) completely eliminates "rabid hunger."
One of the best ways to make sure that you're always stronger than your hunger, is by attacking the hunger directly. Make the hunger disappear (or at least shrink to manageable size) and your battle is easier.
Another thing, I read that pills do not actually cause weight gain - they work on a psychological basis. You THINK They will make you gain weight and you know this so you subconsciously compensate by eating more to make it come true. You say "oh i'm supposed to gain weight, it's fine". Well you don't actually say this but your subconcious does.
Every time I've gone on a b/c pill I've lost weight because of this exact thing except I'd do the exact opposite - I'd say NO I'm NOT going to gain weight bcuz I know I'm supposed to and I WILL fight it and usually end up losing weight instead of gaining.
This wasn't true in my experience, at least not completely. I went on and off different birth control pills a few times over the last 7-8 months (often mid-cycle; and none of this was by choice) while I was actively trying to lose weight and was logging my food and exercise just as I had always done. I did not eat any more or less, and while I did not gain any weight, my weight loss did stall for ~4-6 weeks each time I went on the pill. The hormones definitely had an impact, and until my body adjusted to them I was unable to lose despite consistently maintaining a calorie deficit.
Amped up a number of degrees were the hormones I've been on while going through IVF cycles. Those DID make the scale go up, sometimes by 5-6 pounds in the space of a week. Again, I was still actively trying to lose, still logging my food, still maintaining a calorie deficit at the time. The weight has always come off after I've stopped the treatments, but make no mistake - hormones can definitely impact weight. It may not be fat gain (I am fairly certain that in my case it was always water retention), but there can be an unpleasant impact on the scale.
