Junel 1/20 and Weight

I took hormonal bc most of my adult life. You might retain a little water at first, but that should level out. Just make sure you drink plenty of water. Some people have increased appetite, but if you don't eat more you will not gain weight. I never had weight issues when on bc pills. I gained weight and lost weight. The weight gain was due to eating more and being less active not the pills.

My sister is on a different brand, but she had nausea for the first month on hers. It faded in a couple of weeks though. I agree with the poster suggesting drinking enough water if you're retaining it. Drinking more often gets rid of that issue.

If the appetite and nausea issues continue, don't hesitate to get your doc to recommend another type. Being on hormonal bc with bad side effects for years is absolutely not necessary. There are many pill options that may work better for you. Some people react very differently to each type. Don't forget to read the package warnings for the warnings about rare complications to keep an eye out for. My sister was on one that gave her severe high blood pressure.

I love how WebMD lists the common side effects of yours as "less severe" - acne, breast tenderness, nausea, dizziness, stomach cramps, abdominal swelling, water retention. Consistently suffering a handful of those would get most people to a doc ASAP to find a way to fix it.

Meghanebk wrote: »

I agree with the poster suggesting drinking enough water if you're retaining it. Drinking more often gets rid of that issue.

This is silliness. Drinking more water does not get rid of a retention issue. Once your body reaches its new fluid regulation level resulting from the medication, your fluid intake and output will also regulate. You will, at that point, see a marked increase in water elimination if you 'fix' the retention problem by pounding down additional fluids.


That said, it's important to separate out the various impacts of the medication as they relate to weight management. You may well retain some amount of fluid; again, once this equilibrates (a week or two, usually, for most medications) you'll know what your water gain was. After that, weight changes while continuing on the medication would primarily be due to caloric deficit [loss] or caloric excess [gain].

There is no doubt that some medications also impact appetite, sometimes slightly and sometimes dramatically. While this may make managing caloric intake more challenging, it doesn't alter the underlying biology of CICO.