Weight gained after stopping nuvaring

I was on nuva ring for over 2 years, and when I first got on it I gained 15 pounds I stopped 3 weeks ago and have had an immediate weight loss. I have also had on and off bleeding and I'm definitely a bit depressed. I have constant headaches and my breast are soar. I did enjoy using the nuva ring. Since coming off the ring I want to have sex with m hubby all the time. ( he is really enjoying it!) Quite the opposite of when I was on the ring.

I am so glad to read this last post, finally someone who lost weight. I am planning to go of NR next month because we want to have a baby. I have been on NR for about 4 years. In the last two years I gained about 15-16 lbs. Nothing major, but enough to make me need new clothes and feel uncomfortable. I worked very hard on Weight Watchers and recently lost 17 pounds in four months. Now reading these posts I am afraid all that hard work losing weight will be in vain. I am very worried, but I know there are other stories of those who lost weight after NR, you just have to search around online for those comments. I'll update my post in a few months with my results.

My daughter went on the Nuvaring when she was 14 years old, because she had terrible cramps with her periods. It worked in preventing the cramps, but as soon as she went off of it for just 2 months, the cramps came back, and she started to gain weight. She went back on the ring and has been on it for 9 more months. She continued to gain at least another 10 pounds on the Nuvaring. And a lot of her weight gain has been in her bones. We don't know what to do now! We also would have never gone on this product if we had known what was in the future!

Please watch out on the Nuvaring, I was on it and it totally took my sex drive away, when I got off it it I gained 10 lbs. I have had blood work done, and it shot my estrogen levels down to 29, in the menopausal range, I'm only 33. I would recommend not having your child on this at all, have her take an over the counter medication for cramps, the long term effects of hormonal birth control aren't worth it, yet doctors and nurse practitioners push it on everyone.

I'd be curious to see if you gain the weight back, I sure gained 10 lbs quick when I went off of the nuvaring. Liz

omg ive been on it for years but recently gained massive weight when lost my job and have been home eating all day...they say people GAIN when starting birth control,so i thought i would discontinue it in hopes to LOSE some weight...NEVERMIND!!! Thank goodness ive read y'alls post first!!! o.O

I originally wrote the post quoted. It's been 3 months since and I haven't been able to shed any of the weight. I actually went up to 136lbs and somehow managed to lose 8lbs. I'm now stuck between 128-130lbs. I don't know how long it'll take to lose the weight but it's been 7 months approx. since I got off the nuvaring and no luck yet. I don't know the mechanics behind WHY this happened but I am not too happy about it. I definitely wouldn't have gone on it had I known this would happen. And my cycles haven't gotten regular yet. I'm not going to ttc until next year since I started a new job but I am very disappointed with this whole nuvaring deal.

I went off NV in December of 2010 because we are trying for baby number 2. My first period off of NV came normal, but after that it has been all over the place. I was two weeks late in Jan. and was so excited because I thought we were pregnant but I wasn't. I too am having horrible side effects from stopping the NV. I had been on it for approx. 6 years and never had any problems. No weight gain, acne nothing. I have always been a little heavy so am very concious of my weight and after I went off I noticed a change. Between Feb. and March I have gained almost 10 pounds, my stomach seems larger/swollen and my skin is terrible. I have acne like I have never had before, even in my teens. My moods are all over the place and I just feel awful. I called my OB and they said it is due to your body adjusting back to it's own hormones. I have appt. in May to see her and I am hoping to get some sort of answer. Like everyone else my eating habbits have not changed. I have actually been trying to lose weight because I want to be about 10 lbs lighter before I am pregnant again.
Keep hope ladies.. these are our own bodies trying to get back in touch with us and I pray that these side effects are just temporary. I know one thing for sure is that I will NEVER go back on the NV again. The company really needs to do more research on the after side effects of this thing. We women are fragile enough as it is when it comes to our bodies and going through something like this (especially when trying to conceive) is not good for us at all. After I see my OB I will post again and hopefully have good news for everyone. In the mean time I am just going to eat right, continue to exercise and hopefully get the upper hand... one thing I have noticed is a lot of water weight so I am going on a diuretic and I have a feeling that might really help.
Keep your heads up!! We will win this. :-D

Hi,

I was on the nuva ring for about 6 months (no weight gain) and i got off of it about a month ago because i was having really bad anxiety and so far I havent experienced any weight gain. Maybe it just depends on how long you're on it? I noticed a lot of posts that said they gained weight were on nuva ring for 2+ years so maybe thats why? I was on depo for 4 years before switching to nuva ring and experienced no weight gain with that form of birth control either.

 

Also for those who gained weight after going off have any of you got your body fat checked? The decrease in estrogen after going off nuvaring could have raised testosterone levels and all the weight could be increased muscle mass...dont just go off what the scale says!

 

I would definitely suggest a raw food lifestyle to detox your body and reduce your blood acidity to help balance your hormones...if it can get rid of CANCER I am sure it could help with hormone imbalances.

 

Goodluck!

To everyone here!! Going off the Nuva Ring may increase your body's natural production of PROGESTERONE.... most of the weight gained from a slightly elevated level of progesterone is water weight that is carried through fat cells... so fat cells become swollen with water....and of course, we all know that fat cells are typically stubborn about opening up and letting things out, especially if they are in 'reserve' mode... which Progesterone DOES cause. higher Progesterone also causes soreness of breasts, cramping, and mood swings. For example, progesterone levels are usually high in the body during PMS and also during pregnancy and I am sure anyone who has been pregnant or who has known others who are pregnant, or others who have really bad PMS... Bloating, tender breasts, sensations of uterus (cramping, or a water-logged sensation), vaginal symptoms, and mood swings are common complaints. It can take a long time for things to level out because the increase of progesterone is a reflex of natural homeostasis, but rather than being concerned that you are 'fat' ... just continue to exercise and eat well, if things don't level out within 2 years.... see a hormone specialist and ask them to check your estrogen/progesterone/cortisol/ and thyroid levels. Make sure to mention that you were on the Nuva Ring and that the fluctuations started once you went off of it and that you suspect a hormonal imbalance. If you don't wait and give your body at least a year though... most likely a doctor won't take it seriously, because it is normal for a woman's body to take a while to adjust to changes. 

Trust me.  The weight gain is not muscle mass.  Your nipples get sore.  Your stomach gets bigger.  Your period is irregular and some people on other forums have reported nausea.  Lots of comments of people having pregnancy symptoms but are not actually pregnant. 

Been off NR since 3/25/11.  Have gained 4 lbs so far.  Have a dr's appt next week.

I am a VEGAN and in the first two weeks off of nuvaring I gained 5lbs! I dont eat meat, cheese, dairy of any kind, I avoid processed foods and sugars as much as possible and I work out 3-4 days a week and i do 1hr of hard cardio and 1 hr of weight training and I was 128 before i got off nuvaring and now i'm close to 134lbs!!  I hope this all works out. 

I'm so glad to see I'm not alone because I was starting to think I was crazy when I noticed rapid weight gain after discontinuing nuvaring for 1 month!  especially after my sister who is an OBGYN told me that she has never heard of this and that it cant be from nuvaring. however, once i stopped nuvaring i started working out more than ever before and cutting my calories down almost in half, which normally i lose weight pretty fast if i do that, and my clothes just kept getting tighter! i recently got back on it so in order to stop the weight gain so hopefully that works.  as much as it made me happy to see other women experiencing this, i would like to see more medical research on this issue.

GOOD NEWS!  I've been having the same situation as all of you ladies... I went off the nuva and gained about 10 lbs. within a month or two, despite majorly increasing my workout and decreasing my calories.  My mom showed me this book she has called the Fat Flush Plan by Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman.  The book talks about how the diet will help re-regulate your body and hormones after going off birth control, among other things.  So, I decided to do the diet and, for the first time since going off the nuva, I'm finally losing weight.  I started the diet almost a month ago on May 8th (today is June 4th) and I've lost about 9 lbs so far. 

I will say that the diet is not easy at first because it requires you to eat a very specific and limited amount of things, but so far it's working.  It also helps that my mom and sister are both doing the diet with me, so it makes all of the cooking and food prep a lot easier.

I'll keep you guys updated with how the diet and my weight are going : )

I was on the NuvaRing for a short time, but it still seems to have had quite the negative effect on me after stopping it.  Throughout my life, my periods have always been very regular without birth control - I am 33 and expected my periods every 28 days, on the dot.  I chose the Nuvaring because I thought it would give me a lower dose of hormones than taking the pill.  Initially things seemed to be fine but about 3 weeks into my first month, I began having episodes of blurred vision and dizziness that lasted a couple of seconds each but multiple times per hour.  Initially, I attributed this to some extended dock rock since I had been out to sea for two of those three weeks on a smallish boat that rolls a lot.  But after my boyfriend pointed out that I didn't have the dizziness during the no-Nuvaring week, I made an appointment to see my nurse.  Immediately my vision issues resolved themselves and I felt like myself again, although fatter.  And the fat was distributed differently from my usual pattern - very much concentrated in my stomach as if I was pregnant.  Twenty-eight days later, no period but also no pregnancy symptoms and a negative home test.  So, this being the 22nd century and all, I went a-Googling and found this and other forums describing funky periods and weight gain. 

So here's my story,  I was on the Nuvaring for one full month plus a 2-week "month" before my nurse put the Nuvaring and dizziness together and told me to remove it right away citing vision changes as one of the warning symptoms that hormonal birth control is going awry.  I got a period 2 days later, but then not again for 39 days.  Around the time that my period was due (after reading your stories), I began taking an alcohol extract of chaste berry once in the mornings, which I continue to do.  Frustrated with the fat, I also started going to "hot power" yoga.  I had done Baptiste style yoga in the past but this was the closest approximation that I can find where I live now (sort of the middle of nowhere).  I was looking for something that would make me sweat out toxins and force me to physically move the fat in my stomach around.  This, combined with my normal running regimen, seems to be working (she says while hoping not to jinx herself...).  It's only been two weeks, but, I lost 2 pounds of the total 7-8 that I gained since starting the Nuvaring, and the distribution of the weight seems to have changed so that I no longer feel like I have a bowling ball lodged between my ribcage and pelvis.  I still have a long way to go, but I thought I would share this combination of chaste berry extract plus hot power yoga with you.  Here's hoping it continues to help me make progress and best of luck to all of you struggling with the same issue.