Yasmin (Birth control) and weight gain/other complications

Hello!
Let me give you a brief history before I begin.  I had RNY gastric bypass in 2/04.  I lost weight steadily through late 2005/early 2006 and then began re-gaining weight, slowly for the most part, but sometimes 10 pounds at a time for no reason.  

I have been struggling over the past few years with weight gain, for no apparent reason.  I've been following my diet (while not 100% certainly nothing to warrant the weight I've re-gained) and up until about 6 months ago (because of repetitive stress fractures) I was exercising at least 5 days a week for an hour a day.  My body was not responding in the least to any form of exercise or diet, I was continuing to gain weight while exercising, it was beyond frustrating. 

I've had some thyroid issues which have been diagnosed since my surgery and recently they've been under control (at least for the most part).   I had my thyroid checked when I began having night sweats and migraines sometime in 2006.  I had not had a migraine since before my surgery and had NEVER experienced night sweats before.  

Over the past few weeks, I began hearing a lot more about the birth control pill Yasmin (my birth control) and side effects/problems it was causing for people.  Last weekend, while busy painting my living room (I had nothing to do but think) I was still thinking about Yasmin and all of a sudden a light bulb went off.  I began Yasmin in late 2005 or early 2006 and that is the time my weight began to creep back up.  Was the Yasmin the cause of my weight gain??  

I began to do some research, and while weight gain is not a common side effect it is a side effect that many people experience.  There are also a lot of people who begin experiencing thyroid problems while on Yasmin.  There are a ton of other side effects, many of which I was experiencing, but I was passing it off as stress or my period or whatever.  

So now I am wondering if there are other people who have had WLS and have begun to regain weight are also on Yasmin and some other form of Birth Control?  Is this something that could be causing an unanticipated complication?  Could this tiny pill be causing me to feel like a failure and doubt myself?  Could it be nullifying the wonderful process that I put myself through?

Any insights would be most welcome.

Michelle

Michelle,

It will be interesting to see the replies to your post.  I am not on any hormone-based birth control - my doc has flat-out told me that they are ineffective for RNY patients due to the way our bodies absorb medications differently, and that other methods should be used instead.

There are a couple of things that make your question really reasonable, though - first off, way back when I was on hormonal BC, I KNOW it made me gain weight - that's a common side effect.  Secondly, as you may know, estrogen and other similar hormones are stored in fat.  As we RNY'ers lose weight rapidly, there's a LOT of hormone released to flood around in our systems, causing sometimes severe mood swings, period changes, etc.  You're far enough out from surgery that that shouldn't be happening, but who knows what the effects of that combined with Yaz early on might have been to trigger changes in your metabolism?  Finally, as we age our bodies react to hormonal BC differently, because our bodies are producing different levels of hormones naturally.  

It seems really plausible to me that the hormones in Yaz could be a significant contributor to what you're experiencing.  Have you talked with your GYN about it?  Have you tried going off it for a few months to see if you see any changes?  Might be a worthy experiment.

Karen

I don't know anything about Yasmin.  But, I went back on BCP's  in September....gained 10 pound over night and I am not exaggerating...it was over night.  I figured it was water and would come off once my body readjusted...nope...its still there.  I use it to regulate my periods more than for birth control.  If I am not on bcp my body is a mess.  I went off of them last February before having plastics and didn't go back on until my periods became so messed up again that I had to go back on (in Sept).  If I remember correctly,  i went off the BCPs a couple months before my WLS in 2006 and didn't go back on them for a year.  At the same time I went back on them, I stopped losing weight and it stayed the same pretty much for the next two years.  I have no idea whether BCP's have anything to do with it, but it is an interesting coincidence. 

Heather

Me, too, Heather.  On BCP, I'm golden.  Off of it, my skin goes nuts, my headaches go crazy, and all kinds of other stuff goes wrong.  So even if I didn't need it for BC, I think I'd take it, anyway!

BTW, the time I've recently been OFF of the BCP is the same time I gained those 5 lbs!

I too can't give any exact answers to your question but you did bring up a great point.  Back in 2002 I was put on Yasmin.  I stopped it because I was a smoker and wasn't willing to take the risk of blood clots and what not about a year after starting it, in 2003.  (you would think I would have given up the smoking part, huh?)

Anyway...this was well before surgery....and of course I was big then, so any weight gain I had I kind of blew off....because....well...I had ten million reasons why I was gaining weight.

Interestingly enough a few years later I was diagnosed w/ a thyroid problem.  Now, my mom has thyroid issues so I didn't think toooo much of it.  I kind of expected to have a thyroid problem at some point in my life.

Interesting......

Good luck on continuing your journey!

MIchelle - First of all let me say that most Dr's don't feel that we absorb any oral birth contol pills well enough for them to be effective. Now that I have put my disclaimer out there here's my story lol. I had RNY in Jan 2007. I was on Ortho-trycyclin low dose. I HATE condoms more then words can describe and well I know I took a big risk not using them, but pre-op I was diagnosed with PCOS and was told I would never have kids so I Didn't worry. I was on the pill until Jan 2009 and never had any weight gain issues from it. Maybe my loss was slowed but never a gain. I lost 140 +/- pounds and was maintaining.

I too have thyroid issues (3/4 of it removed in 2002 because of large recurrent cysts). Thyroid issues if not controlled can also mess with your weight and your cycles/hormones.

So Yes, I do think that in my case I absorb the pill just fine. When I went off of the pill late Jan 2009 we started trying to conceive. I was pregnant in April. So this proves that I can get pregnant and for the 2 years prior the BCP was working 100% for me.

Hope that all that babbling helps!

Liz

PS - if you aren't looking to start a family in the next year maybe an IUD is the way to go for you

Liz, I got pregnant pre-op the very first time we tried - INSTANTLY.  So we were a fertile couple.  I have been on the pill as my only form of BC ****il very recently, for non BC issues, but that's a whole other story) since my RNY, with nary a pregnancy scare.  So clearly it has been very effective BC for me, too.

Dr. Brader always told me that if we can absorb pain relievers and antibiotics and antidepressants and cold remedies, then we can absorb the pill, too. 

I'm not sure how old you are, so this may not apply to you at all.  I have also been having night sweats and weight gain (five pounds since early November).  I just happened to have my regular OB/GYN appointment, and she noticed the sudden change.

She suggested that, since I'm 38, I'm most likely in the throes of perimenopause, which can cause both weight gain and night sweats, as well as plenty of other issues.  I was also on the pill at the time, for the record.

Not only that, but apparently malnutrition (in our case, malabsorption) and massive weight loss can trigger early perimenopause.  While this is usually associated with eating disorders, the results - weight loss due to insufficient dietary intake - certainly are the same in WLS patients as in patients with eating disorders.

http://www.perimenopausesymptoms.org/info/early-onset-menopause

Smoking and never conceived, premature ovarian failure, total or partial hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, thyroidectomy, anorexia and bulimia disorder all can lead to premature menopause and early onset menopause.

The symptoms of early onset menopause are similar to those of normal menopause. And like normal menopause, many early menopause symptoms also result from decrease in production of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone.

http://www.34-menopause-symptoms.com/

Menopausal symptoms affect about 70% of women approaching menopause. Typical menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes or night sweats, are caused by changing hormonal levels in the female reproductive system. Almost all women notice early symptoms while still having periods. This stage of gradually falling and fluctuating hormone levels is called perimenopause, which often begins in the early 40s.

LIST OF THE 34 MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS

Common Symptoms 1.Hot Flashes 2. Night Sweats 3. Irregular Periods 4. Loss of Libido 5. Vaginal Dryness 6. Mood Swings 7. Fatigue 8. Hair Loss 9. Sleep Disorders 10. Difficult Concentrating 11. Memory Lapses 12. Dizziness 13. Weight Gain 14. Incontinence 15. Bloating 16. Allergies 17. Brittle Nails 18. Changes in Odor 19. Irregular Heartbeat 20. Depression 21. Anxiety 22. Irritability 23. Panic Disorder Pains 24. Breast Pain 25. Headaches 26. Joint Pain 27. Burning Tongue 28. Electric Shocks 29. Digestive Problems 30. Gum Problems 31. Muscle Tension 32. Itchy Skin 33. Tingling Extremities Others 34. Osteoporosis

ETA:  to remove a duplicate of the list. Sorry about that!