Birth control pill - other uses
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ShanonVdM
Posts: 174 Member
hi!
I was wondering if you could enlighten me on your experience with the birth control pill.
I want to use it for clear skin but i heard the first month is the worst then it clears.. I'm 19 btw and wont take the pill for it's actual use.
I heard u can also gain wait as it plays with your appetite ? Please ladies ! I am so unsure if I should use it for my skin!
I was wondering if you could enlighten me on your experience with the birth control pill.
I want to use it for clear skin but i heard the first month is the worst then it clears.. I'm 19 btw and wont take the pill for it's actual use.
I heard u can also gain wait as it plays with your appetite ? Please ladies ! I am so unsure if I should use it for my skin!
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Replies
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It definitely can help with the skin.
There is no way to tell about other side effects, either positive or negative. I took it for years and I did not have a problem with it affecting weight either direction. After I quit taking it, I noticed that I felt a lot less anxiety/racing heart, shaky feeling. I have heard of others having lots of side effects. I think it is just trial and error.0 -
Hi pre-pill I was a very skinny minny ate whatever I wanted never put an ounce on could lose weight easily without consciously trying etc (life was a dream!) since the pill ive gained 2stone in weight and cannot shift it hence ive joined mfp!!! Ive had an implant since then weight has stabilised but cant shift it!!! It did help with my depression though which reared its ugly head everytime I had a period. Also since the implant I have had about 6 periods in 3years!!! Im sticking with the implant as Id rather be normal bmi (was skinny before) and have no periods!!! That said id give anything to lose about half a stone!!! Lx0
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I am just so scared to start it0
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My daughter uses it for her skin. It helps. It hasn't effected her weight but it may be doing other things.
I went on the full pill years ago and ended up with a blood clot so now I can't take hormonal birth control.0 -
I've been taking it since I was 12, for PCOS, it helped with that as my hair stopped falling out. I take Ocella, and I don't really see a difference in acne, but it might depend on the person. The thing about gaining weight really depends on the type. A lot of people I know who use Depo have gained A LOT of weight. I've heard about a lot of nausea associated with implants, not sure why. You may need to change your pill if you notice a large influx of weight gain.0
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Starting the pill (Tricyclen) made a huge difference in my skin (that's what I had initially started it for as well). I did have some side effects, but nothing major. The most noticeable was that my boobs grew a bit (my previously A-cup self wasn't upset about that!), but I also had some weight gain. Nothing major, but it happened (10-15lbs? I'll note that this also coincided with first year undergrad in residence when the meal plan was all-you-can-eat meals, so some of that weight gain was also on me...).
I've never had major cramping, but it made my periods lighter and more consistent, and that consistency was amazing! It's pretty wonderful knowing to the day when your period will start or end. I've heard of the pill depressing people's sex drives a bit, but since I was on it for years before I started having sex, I can't really speak to that aspect - I suppose we'll find out if that's true when the partner and I start trying for kids in a few years!
The one other thing I noticed is that if I take the pill too late at night, sometimes I'll wake up nauseated in the morning - I suppose I give myself mild morning sickness? Makes me nervous for actual pregnancy...
All that to say, overall the experience has been extremely positive, and from a skin perspective, I LOVE how clear my skin is now with minimal effort! It does take a month or two for your body to acclimatize to it and for you to notice any consistent changes, but I've been so happy with it, and I'm about a decade in!0 -
You ladies are really helpful !!0
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Hello! I'm much older than you (so I use it for its intended purpose) but I mainly use it to prevent periods completely. My gyno assured me it was safe. I get such crazy, horrible PMS I prefer to just not have periods.
Good luck to you and try not to be scared. I experience zero side effects. One word of advice: if the first pill isn't a good fit, move onto another. They're not all the same.0 -
the birth control pill really effects everyone so differently!
I was on the pill for 9 months, and it took me forever to realize just how much it was effecting my mood. I became depressed, dealt with anxieties, and i gained weight (gross).
On the positive side my periods were lessened, my face cleared up, and hey i didnt get pregnant.0 -
The only reason I might take it is for my skin ... I do not do "it" haha so I don't worry bout getting pregnant, but I won't trust it that much for preventing pregnancy because I in fact am a product of the pill haha didn't work on my mom.
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Didn't do anything for my skin.
Pill is definitely better than nothing, but it's HORRIBLE as the only source of birth-control for someone under 25 in terms of effectiveness. People like to blame the users, but the reality is that even IUDs have a 1% failure rate with really young women! If all girls used it for BC...and all girls became sexually active at 16...teen birth rates would actually double.
The average woman using oral contraceptives faithfully will end up with 2 kids in her lifetime if she has sex starting every month when she's a teen.
SO. If you're young and using it for BC (and you don't have PCOS), you NEED to be using a condom, too. Every. Time.
/off soapbox
If you want to clear your skin, get the skinlaboratories.com 20% salicylic acid pill and use it 2x per week. Works as well or better than Accutane.
(I've been on that, too.) 0 -
Birth control pills are classified as Group 1 carcinogens. That is the highest classification possible. Go to your dermatologist and try something other than the pill. It's just not worth the risks.0
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BTW, condoms are less effective than the Pill. Generally, they are half as effective. If you started with condoms-only and had regular sex starting at 16 and used nothing but condoms, on average, you'd end up with 3-4 kids by the time you hit 42.
So don't use just condoms, either, unless "oopses" are A-ok.
I did some failure-rate studies of various BC methods at different ages. The results were very sobering! There are ONLY three BC methods (aside from sterilization) that someone under 25 can do and have a 1% of less chance of getting pregnant: either the Pill/the patch/the ring/implant/shots AND a condom or diaphragm (both! consistently! every times!); an IUD; or abstinence.
Spermicides are complete jokes for this age group, as are other methods.0 -
Everyone is different. But my experience with the pill. I got on it for two reason, 1. My implanon was giving me issues on the second year. 2. I was breaking out like crazy. When I was a teen I got put on the pill because of skin and it cleared up. Same thing happened when I got on the pill. I'm 23 and I only get maybe one or two bumps around the time my AF visits. But my skin was pretty bad to begin with so as for it getting worse I didn't see it. I did see improvements after a few weeks. Everyone is different. Ask your doctor all the questions) 0
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I personally didn't care for the birth control pills. No longer taking them. I did go to the dermatologist who put me on two creams that cleared me up in an instant.0
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I was on the pill for decades and was fine. I liked the predictability of my periods. I stopped needed contraception as I got older, but returned to the pill to reduce premenopausal symptoms, and it was helpful.
There is too much unfounded fear about the pill. It is a very tiny dose of hormones now. Moreover, it it protective against ovarian cancer. Of course there are other side effects. (I'm a university professor in reproductive biology.)
I personally think that lots of young women are quick to blame lots of things on the pill, when the body change is unrelated. It's just easy to blame the pill.0 -
I took the pill for most of the first 20 years of my marriage. When I started taking it I noticed an immediate drop in sex drive. When I stopped taking it (my dr doesn't like women over 40 to take it), my face immediately started breaking out again (this did reverse itself with time) but I also noticed a marked decrease in anxiety, which had slowly become a problem for me through the years. I can't prove or document these changes, but I can definitely report the changes in the way I feel, and there is no doubt the pill changed some things. Weight was not one of them though.0
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OKAY STOOOOP with the pill preventing birth and using condoms .. So said in the title "other uses" i wanna know about skin !
To be clear: I am a virgin so I dont wanna hear about " oh u have a chance of becoming pregnant"
I just have heard it works to clear skin up ...0
