[yossarianlives]

Thanks for all your input, girls! I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about it all now. We'll see what happens

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by alexshoe

Pills aren't for me.. I eat less and exercise more.

How does that prevent conception? Sorry, couldn't resist. I don't think anyone is suggesting that you take birth control primarily to lose weight, we're just discussing experience with weight loss while on birth control (has it made weight loss easier or harder).

Even though I found that birth control did reduce premenstrual hunger (as an unintended, but happy side effect), I didn't mean to suggest that I'm on birth control to lose weight. The primary reason is to treat my PMDD. When I'm not on birth control, I have 9 days of heavy bleeding, a 25 day cycle, and 3 days of intensely severe "wish-for-death" worse-than-flu-or-food-poisoning menstrual cramps.

And the secondary reason (which is important enough to be a primary reason) is that I'm on medications that would cause severe birth defects to an unborn child (I don't want mutant babies if I can help it).

[Shmead]

The pill makes me gain weight. It also completely destroys my libido. Depo, in particular, was a disaster. But everyone is different, and it's worth experimenting.

If I were headed overseas, I'd definitely look into an IUD: no worries about refills or even just forgetting since you life is likely to lack routine.

[smisen]

I was on the pill for about 10 years before it completely destroyed my sex drive - I went off it about 8 months ago, and just got the Paraguard IUD put in about 2 months ago.

So far I love it, but I'm definitely finding it harder to lose weight since it's been in. After doing some research, I guess it's something that a lot of women experience, but that doctors aren't too familiar with. Some theories are that a) it's tricking your body into thinking it's pregnant, so it holds on to excess weight, or b) because it's a constant stressor on the body, it leads to stress hormone production, which again leads to the body retaining fat reserves.

But even with that, I love it. Maybe it's tacky to say, but I'd rather be this weight and love sex than down 30 pounds and unhappy!

[smisen]

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's caused me to gain weight yet, but it does seem to be making it harder for me to lose weight. Like, I'm doing the same things I was last year when I lost the first 20-25 pounds, but the scale isn't budging.

Oh well - I'm going to give my body a bit longer to adjust before I make any decisions about keeping it or not. DH and I have tried just about every other form of birth control, and this looks like the best option so far. Trying to outsmart Mother Nature is sooooo frustrating!

[kathrynk]

Originally Posted by Wild Vulpix

I started losing weight in January, then got really serious about it once summer started... at the end of summer, my doctor put me on the NuvaRing. I've been on it for four or five months now and...

The rate of my weight loss hasn't changed at all. It hasn't been harder, or easier.

I use NuvaRing as well, and have found the same to be true! It is by far my favorite birth control, and I've pretty much tried them all!