So hungry since starting birth control

abbynormalartist

I'm a little over a month into a basic birth control pill. I've been on them before, for years at a time in the past, but I was heavier and not tracking my food/weight back then. Now that I am tracking things, I've noticed that my appetite has gone through the roof! I'm fairly flexible with my diet and don't stress if I go over on my calories every now and then but lately I feel out of control. I'm not just hungry, I feel light headed, dizzy, or I get a headache if I don't eat. And of course I want "junk" food (i.e. chocolate, chocolate, chocolate). I was getting excited a few weeks ago because I was nearly at my goal weight but now I'm up almost 10lbs in a month. I know it's a ton of water weight but I'm still so uncomfortable. It had taken me from April 2017 to lose 10lbs before the pill.

Anyone else notice an appetite change after starting birth control? Did your appetite return to normal after a bit? Any suggestions?

ahoy_m8

I did, and it did return to normal during that second month, if I recall accurately. Is there someone (e.g. an experienced nurse) in your doctor's office that will talk with you over the phone about the discomfort?

abbynormalartist

Thanks! I'll call the doctors office to talk to them about this. If it's temporary, I'll deal, but if it's going to stay like this I may need to change things up.

Francl27

It's one of the reasons I gave up on it. Typically I have a week during which I'm not that hungry, on the pill that didn't happen (there were other issues too). I gave up after 6 months.

Thankfully I didn't need it for birth control (was hoping it would help with other things but made things worse) so it wasn't a big deal for me to stop.

The 'joys' of being female...

yirara

I tried different pills before I settled on the current one. One gave me massive hunger, another one lots of water weight gain, yet another one resulted in loss of libido. This one is brilliant, and I've been on long-term cycle (about 3 breaks per year) for 10 years now.

eptanubrata

I had a similar experience, I was on one particular pill for 4 years without issues, stopped for 3 years and when I got back on it gained a lot of weight and was constantly hungry. I've recently switched to a different pill with a lower hormonal dosage and so far so good. You should probably wait it out for a reasonable amount of time to see if your hunger/ body changes but if it doesn't, it may be worth looking into an alternative?

cheryldumais

I wonder about the chocolate craving. I know when I was craving chocolate I really needed magnesium. You might try a supplement to see if it helps. Be careful of taking too much though because it can have a laxitive effect.

shannonprovenzano2812

I can't take birth control without gaining weight like crazy. It's the hormones in the pills. I have an IUD now, and that's better for me. My doctor said that even though there are hormones in the IUD, they get released in the uterus instead of the bloodstream like the pill, so the effects are lessened.