Reactions to taking the pill?

I started birth control (Levelen Ed). I seem to be experiencing more negative effects than positive. It's bearable but I do not want to go more than three months of bloating/headaches/etc. Not sure if I am posting this in the right place so sorry in advance and thanks for replying. :smile:

Females: Can you please share your bodily reactions to the pill, positive and negative? Did it affect your weightloss?
Did it make you gain weight?

Replies

  • bump?
  • jellybeansmamma
    jellybeansmamma Posts: 122 Member
    I didn't notice anything weight wise, but I would get an awful migraine within 45 mins of taking it. I out up with it for a month, but they never stopped, so I went off them.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    First, "the pill makes you gain weight" is a MYTH.

    I take Levelen. I love it. No bad side effects at all. In fact, I changed to a generic brand the last time I got my script refilled, and I'll never do that again. My face turned into a fricking oilfield.
  • Maaike84
    Maaike84 Posts: 211 Member
    How long have you been taking it? In my experience, your body needs time to adjust so you can experience some side effects like bloating or migraines or just a general pms feeling. I had that when i first started the pill. Those symptoms faded. If it's not the right pill, too strong for you, and the symptoms don't fade, talk to your doctor about alternatives. As for weight - I never really noticed any huge effect, but I have been on birth control for at least the past four years consistently, so i couldn't really tell you what would happen weight-wise if I stopped.

    ETA: just curious to see what "positive" effects did you expect? other than not getting knocked up? do you need it to regulate your cycle?
  • chadya07
    chadya07 Posts: 627 Member
    i took birth control pills once and they made me want to kill myself. seriously.

    i will never touch them again.

    love my iud.
  • leonakortessy
    leonakortessy Posts: 10 Member
    It's not a joke, it can mess up your whole hormone system and cause several health problems. I know a 21-year-old girl with insulin resistance and hypothyreosis. She's not overweight but takes the pills for years now. She's 21. I take them too but now I'm looking for another alternative. And misteriously getting fat is not the worst you can get from it, so please don't promote pills like something really good. It's not. You're messing with hormones.
  • For me, the Pill (all brands) cost my health BIG time! I had to take them because that's the only thing doctors prescribe here for hormonal imbalance and absence of menses, but not only they didn't work, these pills almost killed me.

    I'm talking weight gain, migraines, vomiting (sometimes blood too), severe depression and irritability, even gallstones! And because of the water retention etc, no matter how much I was exercising, I couldn't lose the weight!

    I had to stop listening to doctors, stop the pill, and find the cure myself. It took me 1,5 year, but now everything is perfect, and all because of improving my diet, increase exercise, and take some herbal stuff (Masturin syrup, ajwain tea etc).

    Not everybody reacts the same with the pill, and weight gain is NOT a myth, if it was, it wouldn't be included in the known side-effects on the pills' leaflet and I wouldn't have it. I was 55 kilos before I started taking the pill, just a few months later I was all the way up to 75 kilos, which I couldn't lose until I gave up the pill.

    Only believe half of what doctors tell you. If you just check the long list of side-effects on the leaflet (which includes the chance of blood clots and breast cancer if used for a long time), you would never dare to take another one of those.

    But I repeat, everybody reacts differently to the pill, for some women it's totally ok, for me, it was ruining my life!
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    so please don't promote pills like something really good. It's not. You're messing with hormones.

    The pill is flipping amazing. It allows me to actually be a productive member of society and feel like a human being every month, instead of a shambolic, sickly, agonised lump for five days out of 30!

    I also can't even begin to imagine the number of unwanted or dangerous pregnancies the pill has prevented. Please don't promote the pill like it's the most evil thing in the world. It's not.
  • Please don't promote the pill like it's the most evil thing in the world. It's not.

    Every person has a different reaction to the pill, and when it comes to negative side-effects (which are already written in leaflet), it's better to warn the OP who asked about it due to the side-effects she's having herself.

    Every pill has its' side-effects, whether it's hormonal/contraceptive or not. People just tend to react differently.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    Please don't promote the pill like it's the most evil thing in the world. It's not.

    Every person has a different reaction to the pill, and when it comes to negative side-effects (which are already written in leaflet), it's better to warn the OP who asked about it due to the side-effects she's having herself.

    Every pill has its' side-effects, whether it's hormonal/contraceptive or not. People just tend to react differently.

    I'm not denying that, but the poster whom I quoted seemed to be denying that were any benefits at all to the pill.

  • I'm not denying that, but the poster whom I quoted seemed to be denying that were any benefits at all to the pill.

    For me, only the pregnancy prevention was the benefit, and even then, I was single at the time and from so many delayed menses, doctors told me I couldn't have babies (another lie right there, I am a mother of 2 kids now).