Weight gain and seasonale
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| Tue, 04-18-2006 - 12:56pm |
I don't know if anyone on here is taking seasonale for birth control but wanted to let you know that it can make you gain a lot of weight.
I went to my GYN for a check up and asked him about gaining soo much weight in the last 6-7 months (17 lbs) He told me that it just came out 1 1/2 months ago that it will make you gain over 5lbs or more. He said his wife gained 12lbs when she was on it. He said other patients have gained more then 10lbs from being on it and changed BC because of it. I have always had a high metabolism and then all of a sudden it stopped. I have been eating right and exercising but it didn't help at all. Each month I kept gaining a pound or 2. So nothing was helping.
I just wanted to post this info if you are on it and noticed unexpected weight gain. I liked seasonale, I never had any problems with break thru bleeding.
Take Care
Candice
Proud Marine wife to Gary
SAHM to Trystan & Blake

Hi Candice, welcome!
I’m sorry you have had such a bad experience with Seasonale. It is the same formulation as the well accepted 21/7 regimen pill Nordette which has been around for years. Some women may gain and others lose weight on the same pill. There is only one hormonal method, Depo-Provera, that has been proven in clinical trials to cause a significant percentage of its users to gain weight. For more about weight gain and the pill see a recent study: Contraceptive pills do not lead to major weight gain http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bhcontracept/?msg=18451.1
Have you tried increasing your exercise and keeping a diet log to see if your calorie count may be inadvertently edging up?
Thanks for posting and sharing your experience with Seasonale. What are you using for contraception now?
Take care,
Jill
When I spoke to my GYN about it he said that Seasonale released a report about the weight gain issue. He read the information they released he told me about it last week. I have always excercised and I eat a good diet. I weigh a lot more now then right after giving birth to my second child. The most you are suppose to gain off of BC is around 5lbs. Not more then 10. Gaining 17lbs from a BC is ridiculous. He told me that no matter what I did I wouldn't be able to lose the weight because of taking seasonale. I have been off of it for a week now and have lost 3lbs. I am a very active person and all of a sudden started gaining all this weight. The reason I have to take bc is because I have PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) Now I'm on Yasmin and thinking about changing to Yaz. It just came out and is directly for PMDD.
Candice
Hi again Candice,
>>I spoke to my GYN about it he said that Seasonale released a report about the weight gain issue. He read the information they released he told me about it last week.<<
Thanks Candice… I haven’t been able to find anything about Seasonale and weight gain on PubMed or in the Seasonale prescribing information. The FAQs on the Seasonale website at: http://www.seasonale.com/TakingSeasonale/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.aspx have this to say about Seasonale and weight gain:
“5. Will I gain weight with SEASONALE®?
Change in weight with SEASONALE® is similar to what you would experience on a traditional birth control pill. A recent review of clinical studies involving different birth control pills showed no proof that birth control pills actually cause an increase in weight. Remember, every woman is different. Change in weight usually depends on eating and exercise habits.”
So Barr/Duramed doesn’t seem to have updated their Seasonale information yet. Thanks for the heads-up. If you ever come across the exact citation we would appreciate your sharing it with us.
If you do start taking YAZ let us know how you like it. You may be the first member to try it and we would love for you to share your experiences with us. Because of the diuretic properties of the unique progestin in Yasmin and YAZ it can be especially useful for relieving water retention, bloating and body pain which may explain why you have already lost 3 pounds since you began Yasmin. For more about YAZ and PMDD see: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bhcontracept/?msg=17341.1
Keep in touch and let us know how you’re doing, ok?
Good luck,
Jill
Thank you Jill. When I spoke with my GYN he said it was just released a month ago. I also remember him making a comment about what the Seasonale drug rep said to him about it.
I have an appointment for Friday to speak with my GYN about switching to YAZ. When I went last week I couldn't remember the name of it so thats why he put me on Yasmin. After taking it for awhile I will post my experience that I'm having. It is new and just released for this month so I just hope it works and helps the PMDD.
Candice
Just wanted to bump this up and add my 2 cents to it. I sought out this board to post about this and was glad to find someone in a similar situation. If anyone would still like to comment, please feel free.
I started Seasonale at the end of December. The first week of December I weighed 121. Now this past week I have hit 139. I will admit that I have had some stress over the past six months (contemplating separating from my DH and his subsequent diagnosis of Clinical Depression and GAD), but overall I don't feel that my life has been MORE stressful in the past four months than it has been for the past year.
Since last May I had steadily been losing weight (134-121 from May 'til Dec.), but ever since starting Seasonale I have been steadily gaining it all back. Now that I've hit an all-time weight high, nothing I do seems to help take the weight off and my sciatica is killing me! I've been following the Abs diet, drinking 75oz. of water a day, working out 3-5 times a week and not losing a pound. I feel so bloated and PMS-y lately like I miss my period (which I don't, but I want to relieve the bloat!).
I'm thinking of going back to the patch to see if any of the weight comes off. I was on the patch for about a year and a half before switching BC in Dec. I never had any side-effects, I was just bad at remembering to switch my patch. If I can lose a few pounds though, I'll step up my patch-reminder skills and see what happens.
Lee
Finally someone else that has a similar situation. I have never had a problem with weight gain until I was on seasonale. People tell me that BC can't do that or not that much weight. I have been off of it for 2 weeks now and notice the bloating is gone. I feel a lot better. Also my life is extremely stressful and has been for awhile and I know that the 17lbs didn't come from stress!!!
Take Care
Candice