Effect of contraceptives?

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Nimbus5000
Nimbus5000 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It can be hard to pinpoint the reasons why weight fluctuates, especially when there are so many potential factors. I wondered if anyone else has experienced weight loss or gain after starting any form of contraceptive?

Although what you put into your body and the level of exercise will have a larger overall effect, I know fully well that hormones can make you feel bloated, increase water retention and so on.
Having had an implant put in 3 months ago, I am certain that maintaining my weight, let alone losing any, is becoming more difficult. Six days out of seven I meet or am below my recommended calorie intake and I also exercise, going to the gym at least twice a week and walking at speed carrying heavy bags for 45-60 mins daily. As the implant releases a synthetic form of progesterone, the hormone mainly responsible for maintaining gestation, I'm not surprised it's making me feel in some ways pregnant! There are other side effects but they're irrelevant here!

Of course, I will gladly accept that I will need to put in extra effort as opposed to using it as an excuse (as tempting as it is at times!) but it is still a matter of curiosity.

What are other people's experiences?

Replies

  • Nimbus5000
    Nimbus5000 Posts: 15 Member
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    Bump?
  • yumesoraki
    yumesoraki Posts: 4,859 Member
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    From what I've noticed, (I'm on 28Day Pill) I had a bit of a gain when I started taking them several years ago. I was at a normal weight and had ended up 10-ish pounds heavier within several months which could be the medicine or it could have been other things as there were some major changes going on at the time. *shrugs*
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
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    I'm on the Mirena, and since I've had it, I've noticed that I've had a much harder time losing weight. Not that I've really gained or it fluctuates overly much (also hard to say what the cause of that is because I'm under a lot of stress being a single mom in nursing school, too), but it's a lot harder to lose it then it was when I wasn't on it.
  • xoeva
    xoeva Posts: 209 Member
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    Hi, I teach sex ed and this question is a very common one. About a third of women on hormonal contraceptives gain weight, a third stay the same and a third lose! The first three months are always the toughest. You are just there, so I would recommend you wait for one more month before you switch to another form (unless you are experiencing terrible side effects, of course). Also, some research shows that it is not the hormones necessarily that make women gain weight, but the hormones triggers appetite and what we do with the appetite is what will affect our weight. If you have other questions don't hesitate to send me a private message.
  • xoeva
    xoeva Posts: 209 Member
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    I have a horror story with birth control. I was on when I was younger just tricyclin low dose. I did notice a slight weight gain but nothing too bad. This was when I was still a teen and using it for acne.

    I went off for years...then in my mid twenties when back on, I told the dr I wan't the best!! lol...he put me on Diane 35. Which I know lots of women use, but it did not like me! I gained 9 lbs the first month. Nothing in my lifestyle had changed. Then the next month 10lbs...next 8, next 10. so on and so on...At about the 2.5 month mark being on it, I started getting panic attacks, they were scary. But in my foggyness as I was feeling quite emotional too...I just didn't put two and two together...(It was really messing with my mind) then by the 5 month I was 100% convinced my hubby had hired a hit man, I remember sitting in bed looking towards the laundry room convinced someone was in there with a gun

    ( I was at the time working in the type of industry that could have played a role in why my mind went that way, was in a high security job, etc and there were alot of armed people I worked with)

    Anyways I knew something was wrong, so I asked my parents to get ahold of my old dr back home. They told him what medicines I was on. And he flipped, he said DIANE 35! its generally for pre-menopausal women, (hence the 35) I was low 20's and it apparently has a much higher estrogen level which a young 20 something does not need.

    As well after starting that birth control (which lots of women of all ages do use, but really shouldn't if they are younger) I started getting stomach pain, but again shrugged it off, I trusted my doctor. Well when I went back home for a visit my dr told me to drip in , he sent me in for a ultrasound sure enough....I had 3 big cysts that were all 4cm in diameter or bigger...and a fibriod. I am sure I did not have these before.

    Needless to say, I gained close to 50lbs in 6months, lost my mind while on, and developed stomach pain which after getting a ultrasound revealed big cysts and a fibriod which can be linked to excessive estrogen.

    Since I have tried lower dose ...and gone off for a long time and re tried to go on a milder pill...I am super senstive now and can't be on anything!

    So in my experience messing with hormones are Bad bad! :(

    I should say as soon as I stopped, or at least a few weeks or so after going off, panic attacks stopped, and my mind wasn't paranoid thinking crazy things...It was very scary I felt like I was not drving the ship lol...
    Yes, hormones don't work for everyone.... thank goodness there are barrier methods which have no hormones ( copper iud and condoms) so really no side effects. Except I need to add that the copper iud isn't for everyone either.
  • SuperSexyDork
    SuperSexyDork Posts: 1,669 Member
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    The progesterone in Mirena acts locally in your uterus. It's not distributed through your entire system like a pill would be. I doubt it would be stalling your weight loss.

    Are you weighing/measuring your food accurately. Are you using the correct food items in the database? I would look into these before I blamed it on my birth control.
  • Nimbus5000
    Nimbus5000 Posts: 15 Member
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    You're right about not blaming it, although I did indeed say that I would simply try harder rather than use it as an excuse. I am very careful with selecting the right foods and quantities.

    I actually have an implant, Nexplanon, the functioning of which must be different to Mirena so whether it can be so localised when it is in my arm I am less convinced.
  • Nimbus5000
    Nimbus5000 Posts: 15 Member
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    I had a feeling that many other women would have experienced side effects similar to mine. Let's give three cheers for being a woman!

    Of course, it's only correlational and we cannot say that hormonal contraceptives cause weight gain/stall weight loss per se. That said, an increase in appetite coupled with emotional instability (hello comfort eating) and a loss in energy (maybe due to loss of iron through increased bleeding?) is still a tangible effect though which can be difficult to prevent it affecting you :-(
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    Pretty much all of the hormone based contraceptives make it much harder for me to lose weight or manage my weight in general. The worst was depo provera, followed by oral contraceptives. When I am in need of contraceptives again, I will probably get an IUD - so sick of synthetic hormones.
  • runitskat
    runitskat Posts: 30
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    I'm on Depo and have lost 80lbs. I don't recall if I gained weight when I started taking it because I was also getting steroid injections around the same time, which did make me gain a whole lot of weight. Besides no period at all I have no other side effects from it and love it. It's the only birth control method I've tried so I can't really say if the hormones effect me more than another method.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I was on a low dose pill for 7 years in my 20s. I actually lost weight, and then maintained that weight loss over that time frame. I lost about 15 lbs (diet and exercise related, not pill related) and kept off about 10 the remaining time I was on the pill. I I stopped taking the pill, so that I could become pregnant.

    I was off the pill for less than a year and did not gain any weight in that time frame. I became pregnant about 8 months after going off the pill.

    After having my first child, I got the Paraguard IUD (which is non-hormonal) about 3 months postpartum. At 1 year postpartum, I had lost all of the baby weight (37lbs) plus another 7 lbs.

    I haven't had any weight issues while on hormonal or non-hormonal birth control. I'm a pretty consistent exerciser and have been since my early 20s.

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