Birth Control agony!

I don't have experience with the depo shot as I've never taken it. I would imagine your body would react in sort of the same way it does with the pill.

The pill itself won't make you gain fat. It can make you hungrier causing you to eat more and therefore making you gain, it can mess up your hormones and therefore causing water weight gain, and it can make you feel more tired so you don't exercise as much and therefore lead to weight gain.

Can you give it some time to see how things may change? It takes 3-6 months for your body to get used to the pill but I'm not sure if that would be the same for the shot. If you don't like the shot change back to the pill when you can if you are ok with that.

Talk to your doctor and find out what option is best for you. Just because your insurance doesn't cover it doesn't mean you can't try another option. LOok around for the best price and pay out of pocket if you have to. You have to do what is best for your health, not what your insurance company will pay for. Depending on what you go for call around to various offices, clinics, etc and see what they charge for things. When I was in between benefits at work I found a walk in clinic that sold birth control pills for $3 a pack without any coverage. You had to go back every three months but it was much cheaper. If you are taking the pill or the depo shot for birth control alone there are a lot of other options out there.

I am on the Implanon for 3yrs and I get it taken out this November. It was very different from the Pill but I have a very bad habit of forgetting to take it. this is why I chose Implanon. I will admit just like a few ladies have mentioned I had my period every other week for like the first 6 months now its so spontanious it's hard to keep track of some times I can go 2 months without it others I get it twice in 1 month. I have gained between getting comfotrable in my relationship and getting this about 60lbs. I haven't tried to hard to lose weight until just recently and I am doing ok lost 11lbs so far. I been thinking about trying the shot so I guess I will find out soon.

I'm on Ortho Tri Lo and I'm losing fine.

I have been on tri-phasic, then used diaphragms and spermicide, then decided to have two kids, then used withdrawal (successfully for 7 years), then got tired of my period and my anemia, got Mirena almost 4 years ago. Mirena is wearing off and my doc won't order it thru her office anymore and it isn't covered via my pharmacy benefit, so now I am taking ortho tri cyclin lo.

Maybe I am lucky but I don't think any of these hormones every affected me with regard to my weight. However I know depo-provera causes side effects like acne and weight gain so have avoided that.

I would ask again about iud--reliable (more so than anything except sterilization), don't have to remember anything, and no planning required. If not, you can go back to the oral contraceptive and just get in the habit of taking it at the same time every day--use those electronic gizmos to set an alarm to remind you. You can also skip your periods for months if you want to, just talk to your doctor. You can skip placebo pills or get the newer birth control pills that only have placebo every 3 months or more.

But many people have to take meds at the same day, it just takes discipline, just like logging our food.



Edit: just read a second post that you don't need it for contraception just to regulate period: Mirena pretty much stopped my periods (YEA!!!!) until it wore off. FYI.

Currently using Implanon. I get my period every other week. Complete with cramps bloating and cravings. I am having no problems losing weight.

Wow !!!! if I got my period every other week, I would need a blood transfusion.

The reason for the following (which is true often) is that the cervical os is very small in the nulliparous (no kids) and inserting the iud is more uncomfortable. My ob never had kids and she had the Mirena IUD. My insertion was mildly uncomfortable, don't know what it would feel like if I used it before kids, but I am pretty certain it would be less painful than having the little darlings!

If you've had children, you may want to investigate an IUD. I was very interested, but my primary care phys. does not think it's a good idea for me because I've never given birth. Sigh.

The Pill reacts so drastically different for each woman that it's so hard to generalize. I'll give you my experience, though. I get way hungrier on the Pill. But I've learned to curb the hungry feeling through other means. I've lost the weight I have while being on the Pill, so it's definitely not impossible to do so.

I'm on the Pill and it didn't make me gain any weight and doesn't seem to be hindering any weight loss either. I have no side effects either

I take Marvalon. Its a little different than other pills by only having one level of hormone during the month as opposed to increasing the dosage each week like most other pills.

Through over 30 years of "dating" a wide variety of gentlemen, I found the diaphragm to be 100% effective. Sometimes, the oldies are indeed goodies. No systemic drug to take, no side effects, and some of the "scentless" spermicidal products are also tasteless. (My girlfriends and I taste tested a variety of them.) I know I was fertile for at least some of those 30 years because the one time I didn't bother with birth control, well, you can guess what happened.