This may sound a bit too personal, but I was wondering if anyone post-op would be willing to share their experiences with birth control?

I'm nervous because in the past when I was taking the pill for acne, I gained A LOT of weight. Looking back, I'm pretty convinced it set the spark for my past obesity. I'm dead serious. So...yeah. I definitely don't trust that. But I know there's a lot of other options these days. I've never had to consider birth control for actual birth control until recently, so I thought I'd ask for other's thoughts on the subject.

I know this can be a sensitive topic, so I really appreciate anyone who is willing to share their experiences. I've come far on this journey and the last thing I want to do is worry about weight regain from my method of pregnancy prevention.

Mirena IUD. No weight gain. No painful periods (if any at all).

Needs to be changed in a few months.

I have a mirena IUD. No issues with it. I'm 40 and done having kids. my mom had a mirena during menopause to help with heavy bleeding and it helped a lot.

Hello to everyone and a very big thank you to all of you for taking the time to respond.

Unfortunately, the guy I was seeing broke it off with me and I never had to worry about bc in the first place (sorry if TMI). It was a pretty upsetting breakup. But at least thanks to all of your input, I have some ideas for the future, if anyone special ever does come along.

On 2/24/2021 at 12:09 PM, kristieshannon said:

I’ve had a Mirena IUD for over 10 years (on my third one). I LOVE it!! No period, and no problems dropping my weight after surgery. I highly recommend it. I’m near menopause age (51) and having no symptoms. My doc recommends me keeping it in until I’m assumed to be past menopause as she states it will prevent me from having most menopause symptoms. Yay for that!

You got me at prevents some menopausal symptoms. Sounds like I may be making a switch from the pill.

Mirena IUD here and I love it. Stopped periods (until hormone dump from 120 lb loss kinda threw that out the window) but now it’s evening back out to no periods again.

I’ll be up for a new one in a few years and I’ll def be getting it. I hated the daily pills so much and I was forever forgetting them.

Mirena IUD here too

I had the Mirena IUD for 5 years and it was great for the most part. I had no periods! I suffer from migraines though, and I felt like it was making them worse, so when it was time I had it taken out and my husband got a vasectomy. I'd still recommend Mirena though. It was great!

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

I think the type of pill makes a big difference in weight gain. Pills that have several different levels of hormones throughout the month may be worse, and are also worse if you have migraines or PMDD. At least that was what I was told. I've been taking birth control pills continuous cycling (I don't take the sugar pills) for more than a decade so I never get my period at all because I would get terrible mood issues (I have bipolar disorder), migraines, nausea, cramps, etc when I got my period. I am so terrified of having to stop the pill for surgery. I am considering getting an IUD when I stop the pill. I'm not at risk of pregnancy because I don't have sex, but I hate having my period.

Hey everyone!

Uff, what a crazy few months! So, even though I'm not in a relationship, it turns out I have to go on BC anyways because...tragedy struck. I'm down to only half of an ovary! I suffered TWO ovarian torsions due to enlarged, hemorrhagic cysts. I lost my right ovary completely (it died and had to be surgically removed) and the remaining half of an ovary, while it was able to be saved, had to be repositioned and reconstructed. So, needless to say, I have to take some kind of BC to control the cyst growth if I don't want to end up in premature surgical menopause. I'm only 31 so I definitely don't want that! Anyways, after trying the hormonal IUD and HATING it (TERRIBLE pain, excessive bleeding, etc), my gyno suggested a low-dose BC pill that instead of taking orally, I take vaginally. Apparently, this is something that women do if they want to help bypass the side-effects of the Pill. It's only suggested for cyst prevention however, as this method isn't super effective for preventing pregnancy.

Thank you all once again for all of your input!

I was on Deposit Provera from age 25-35. I’m now 39. I did good while on it. I did not gain weight. Yes, every 3 months when I was injected I noticed increased appetite but not an issue. The bad thing though and it took me a long time to realize the bad effect it had on me was it caused horrible depression. I stopped taking it I now I have the mire na IUD. No issues.

If you’re open to tracking, you could consider the sympto-thermal method. Totally natural but does involve daily tracking and abstaining sex on certain days.