Sudden weight gain after stopping birth control?!

I got Implanon out after using it for about 9 years (plus the pill for a few years before that). I'm 30. I wanted to give my body a break. The whole time I had the implant I rarely had any bleeding at all so I was worried that it would take my period a while to come back. It came back exactly when it was meant to and I've had two more since - both on time. I've gained about 4-5 kilos in three months, despite exercise and watching what I eat - when I was on Implanon I always lost weight this way. Now I'm stuck and seem to be going slowly up. I'm also really fatigued most if the time and feel bloated constantly. When I have my period the bloating is slightly less. All the extra weight has gone to my hips, waist and thighs. I hate it as I have always been fixated on my weight and clothes don't fit. I have been doing heaps of reading and I'm pretty convinced I have some sort of hormone or thyroid imbalance. I'm going to a naturopath next week to get some tests done. Will let you know how I go. Good luck all.

what did you do to " fix" the problem?

I stopped the pill end of august and have gained 10 pounds since and miserable! The last time i stopped BC, i didnt notice a difference because i was pregnant 2 weeks later after stopping it. I feel so bloated and weighed down and i couldnt figure it out so i started googling it and its amazing how many women this has happened to! I don't want to go back on the BCP since we are trying to get pregnant again but in the meantime i'm going crazy! I'm pretty fit and i'm a trainer/fitness instructor and all of a sudden i feel the tables have turned and i'm the one who can't achieve my goal!  

I even considered buying diet pills! (which is totally out of character for me).

help.

I'm awaiting results from a hormone saliva test. In the meantime i am my natropath has me taking probiotics and B6 and evening primrose. I'm also trying to eat more regularly to help with a possibly sluggish metabolism. None if this had any effect in my symptoms so I am hoping very much that the test result shows something and I can begin DIM or Vitex. Will let you know.

hi, ive been on Cerazette for 4 years came off 6 months ago and even taken up exercise and have a healthy diet anyway however gained nearly 2 stone and becoming really depressed about it, i feel sooo slugish and like u my boobs have grown and are soo sore too, did u go bk onit?

hi gorder1. i have had the same experience as you. i took pills for 2-3 months to regulate my period and then stopped. i have gone from 140lbs to 165lbs in 7 months and i have also got my thyroids checked and my doctor says everythign is fine and i just need t o diet. i eat healthy and work out and nothing seems to be working. i feel bloated all the time and look pregnant when im not. since your post, have you done anything that worked for you? i have friends that told me it should start getting better after a year of quitting the pills. please help as my doctor hasnt been able to help me.

I am going through the same thing that you experienced..I haven't been diagnosed with anything yet but, I am at my wits end. What did they treat you with after they found the cysts on your ovaries?? My gyno just put me on another hormone to induce a period since it has been 6 months since my last one..

I'm so glad I came across the forum. Now I know I'm not crazy! I stopped taking a generic form of yaz about 3 weeks ago and in the first week I gained 7 lbs!!! That's a little ridiculous. I work out with a trainer, I run , I juice every day and eat salads for dinner. I have struggled to lose about 4 lbs of the the 7. I was 132 and today I'm 136.6. I know this may not sound like much but to me it's a lot. Especially when you eat like I do and work out like I do! It makes no sense at all. My stomach is also huge and bloated - some days I look like I'm 4 months pregnant - and I'm not. I've taken several tests. I'm ready to get back on the pill. Eventually my husband and I do want to have kids but right now I feel like it's not worth the way I feel. Clearly nothing I'm doing is working , I have even tried diurex pills; they don't work! If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. I already take a probiotic, b12, b6 and d3 and I've tried evening primrose oil.

i have been going through this as well. I was in yaz and i felt awful and didnt feel like myself when i was on it. After 4 months i stopped the pill all together (been on bcp for 7 years). In 2 weeks after the pill i have climbed 10 lbs which is a lot on my small frame. i got all my hormones, thyroid, you name it checked out and it is all normal. I workout everyday and eat incredibly clean. I get my BMI tested and measurements done by a trainer every couple weeks and even though i gained weight, i lost body fat and measurements went down. i feel i look bigger but the tape measure doesnt lie. Its incredibly discouraging and i decided to get back on the pill (different one that i know works for me) and am hoping it will balance everything out again! Sucks putting in the effort and having things go negatively.

Ladies, I think everyone who posts here should say WHICH BC they took. For instance, I took a progesterone-only pill (POP). The withdrawal symptoms are going to be way different from those who took a combo pill.

I had the Mirena (progestin-laced IUD) as a teenager and loved it because I was very depressed after puberty and it helped my moods, but I have a theory that it caused some bone density issues.

Planned Parenthood installed my Mirena at 16 after I'd been on Depo for 9 months just previous. Depo has a BLACK BOX FDA WARNING about bone density. I now have sciatica because my sacrum never fully fused. I also grew a beard. I wish I was kidding.

When I had the Mirena out I switched to Loestrin combo pill for 9 months and had migraines and severe depression.

So I went on Micronor (norethindrone) from Nov-March. I gained 20 lbs and my acne went INSANE.

I quit Ortho Micronor (norethindrone) a week ago and switched to a copper IUD to give my body a rest. I'm experiencing whole-body water retention, like my tissues hurt and I'm puffy all over. My brain finally feels less foggy, but my sex drive has dropped from insatiable to indifferent. I'm less motivated and more introverted. I do yoga 3x/week and run 2x/week. Anyone else have pointers on dealing with POP withdrawals?

I feel for everyone here. Been off zovia/kelnor for 10 months after being on for 9 years. Stopped because I didn't want to pump my body with synthetic hormones anymore. I'm 28 now and at the heaviest I've ever been :( 120 all my life and in the past 10 months have gained 25-30 pounds. Workout weekly, active lifestyle, eat mainly whole unprocessed food, only drink water (no alcoho, soda, juice). This is just terrible... day after day I wonder when it's gonna end. Went on BC to regulate period and help with sickness ( which it did) ...NOW period is fairly regular, acne has subsided, period 4 days long with no throwing up anymore but sucky cramps, and I feel huge. Stomach is constantly distended. I take 2 promise a day for 15 days then 1 a day until 1st day of period, vitamin c supp, and olive leaf occasionally. Nothing I have tried diet wise has worked yet: water retention pills, gluten/dairy free, cleanses, eating less, eating more, etc. My face looks puffy!, thighs and butt got big, and stomach distended. I don't have insurance but I see who I can when I can afford to. I'm at a loss...praying for y'all. Thanks for everyone's stories, it may help someone out there...

I feel everybody's pain, but any time you mess with your hormones--whether going ON or OFF the pill or any other hormonal treatment--you are going to get some pretty noticeable side effects!  My experience has actually been the opposite of everybody's here when it comes to hormonal birth control pills, which means that whenever I've tried to go on them in the past I have rapidly gained weight (over the years I've tried the ring, Loestrin fe, microgestin, ortho lo, ortho the original, and this one called "brevicon"). But this means that I know exactly how you guys all feel cause it's like no matter what I did while I was on the pill I could not for the life of me get my horrible raging appetite and painful bloating under control! I won't even bother getting into the depression and anxiety the pill (any of them) seemed to cause me.  I have never understood how women could stay on them...

Anyways, I can tell you from past experience that it's actually not good for your body to go on and off bc, so you aren't giving your body a "break" when you suddenly quit taking bc after years of being on it; doing something like this just confuses your body and throws it out of whack.  it could take months for your hormones to readjust and compensate--if they ever will.  I hope people keep coming here to let us know how long it took for their body to adjust or whether it even did...

What brought me here was actually my experience with spironolactone.... I keep trying to quit taking it and I'm getting the same old horrible hormonal imbalance symptoms as everyone else!  I seem to get constant fatigue, a raging appetite and the inability to lose weight while on it and then horrible horrible bloating and raging acne when I try to go off.

  Spironolactone is an androgen blocker that I got put on for acne over 2 years ago btw.  It's a hormonal treatment that, among other things, is actually a diuretic; it's also the hormonal treatment given to men when they want to change into a woman (weird right? But bear with me cause I swear I have a point in here somewhere!)

Spiro works by basically blocking androgens and forcing the body to make estrogen instead (so just like bc it ups your estrogen).  25mgs of spiro is present in a couple birth controls btw--YAZ is one I know of--so this means that if you suddenly quit YAZ you're gonna get MAJOR bloating and oily skin (possibly lots of acne particularly on the chin but this will be common with the cessation of any bc).  I'm talking full body bloating, the likes of which you probably never thought could happen!  In short, i feel I'm in the same dilemma as everyone else cause it's like I'm damned if I stay on it and damned if don't!  What's a girl to do?

I can totally tell it messes with my metabolism cause I eat ridiculously healthy (even cut out almost all processed foods about 1 year ago when i realized it was making me gain!) and I work out for like 90 mins a day no joke! Even with this lifestyle, I still managed to gain about 15lbs on this drug and I've never had trouble losing weight before going on it!

Anyways, when I go off of spiro I can tell my metabolism picks up cuz it's like WHOA I finally start getting hot and sweating during my brutal daily workouts--but then I start experiencing other issues....bloating, oily skin, cystic acne, and it's like I rapidly lose all the fat in my face or something which makes me look super ugly...I probably work out too much at this point but I can't bear to look in the mirror anymore! I definitely agree with the person above who insisted that if you have a hormonal imbalance, how you eat and how much you work out only matters to a certain degree.  It's like fighting a losing battle.

Oh, also forgot to add that to those of you who are experiencing major bloating? Don't cut out all the sodium in your diet and don't chug gallons upon gallons of water!  You actually need salt so only try to cut out the salt in processed foods.  As for water, yes, it's good to be hydrated but don't overdo it cause you might acutally end up making the problem worse (this is especially true if you were on YAz or spiro cause I know these meds make your body confused about how to regulate fluids when you stop them).  Also look into taking a magnesium supplement...magnesium is awesome and basically helps with everything.

I stopped taking gynofen35 6 months ago and i have gained 5 kilos since. I excercised and ate healthy but i just kept gaining so i stopped ,and im still gaining weight.I tried everything nothing works. My belly is super bloated ,i gained more weight there and i never put on weight on my belly before. Im considering starting them again because of this.

There has to be another way. I'm going thru this too. My belly is bloated and I stopped the pill maybe 1.5 months ago.