Significant weight gain (40 lbs in 5 months) 12 year old on low-ogestrel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My tween is on BC pills because of a medical issue. The dr said this is necessary for at least two years.

She's been on the pill since May. Since June, she's gained 40 lbs. This seems so excessive and i wonder if the dr should switch to another pill.

Anyone have any experience with this? What pill worked that did not cause such side effects?

OF COURSE! That's a huge red flag and horrible to her health that she is gaining that much fat. How can you allow it to have gone that far??

Once you gain fat cells, you never lose them. You can shrink them, but they are always there ready to swell up again.

Avoid the pharma pills. There is no medical need for her to be on the pill. Address the issue, such as if it is PCOS, rather than throwing HARMFUL pills at her. In fact no woman should take the pill, as they are harmful to your health.

[Anonymous]

Whoa. Calm down. The pill actually saved her lift bc she couldn’t stop her menstrual flow.

And it is likely water retention not actual fat.

Regardless, thank you for your advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. Calm down. The pill actually saved her lift bc she couldn’t stop her menstrual flow.

And it is likely water retention not actual fat.

Regardless, thank you for your advice.

Um, no 5’0” female gains 40 lbs of water weight.

This kind of head in the sand thinking won’t help the daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My tween is on BC pills because of a medical issue. The dr said this is necessary for at least two years.

She's been on the pill since May. Since June, she's gained 40 lbs. This seems so excessive and i wonder if the dr should switch to another pill.

Anyone have any experience with this? What pill worked that did not cause such side effects?

OF COURSE! That's a huge red flag and horrible to her health that she is gaining that much fat. How can you allow it to have gone that far??

Once you gain fat cells, you never lose them. You can shrink them, but they are always there ready to swell up again.

Avoid the pharma pills. There is no medical need for her to be on the pill. Address the issue, such as if it is PCOS, rather than throwing HARMFUL pills at her. In fact no woman should take the pill, as they are harmful to your health.

Even if you are a doctor (and you're not), you're not OP's kid's doctor, and have no business telling anons on this forum what do to with their health. There are worse things than being fat, and avoiding medications so you don't gain weight is beyond idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would post what the medical condition is to see if anyone has experience with it. I would be seeking out a second opinion here. 40 pounds is a lot, I can’t imagine how this has effected her self esteem and just how she feels in general.

she has menorrhagia.

If her iron levels are ok I’d suck it up with menorrhagia and get off the pill.

It’s better to feel miserable for a few days because of a heavy flow than indefinitely because of being fat.

Agree, I have had menorrhagia all my life. I take iron supplements and use those heavy flow days to de-compress and take it easy. It's not that bad, certainly beats gaining extra 40 pounds.

[Anonymous]

Op’s daughter is 12, so some of that weight is normal growth and development. Also you don’t get to decide for someone else, especially a 12 year old who is probably in 5th grade, that she should just tolerate menorrhagia.

[Anonymous]

There is also a non hormonal prescription medication for heavy menstrual bleeding, tranexamic acid. Downside is 2 large pills 3x a day.

I am assuming doc looked for fibroids and PCOS. How’s her thyroid function? Some endocrine disorders can cause weight gain and heavy periods.

As others mentioned, switching pills, IUD. Some people are very sensitive to hormones.

As a much older adult woman I find gyms, even those that are women, can be dismissive of heavy menstrual bleeding and just offer the pill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My tween is on BC pills because of a medical issue. The dr said this is necessary for at least two years.

She's been on the pill since May. Since June, she's gained 40 lbs. This seems so excessive and i wonder if the dr should switch to another pill.

Anyone have any experience with this? What pill worked that did not cause such side effects?

OF COURSE! That's a huge red flag and horrible to her health that she is gaining that much fat. How can you allow it to have gone that far??

Once you gain fat cells, you never lose them. You can shrink them, but they are always there ready to swell up again.

Avoid the pharma pills. There is no medical need for her to be on the pill. Address the issue, such as if it is PCOS, rather than throwing HARMFUL pills at her. In fact no woman should take the pill, as they are harmful to your health.

RFK Jr has entered the chat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would post what the medical condition is to see if anyone has experience with it. I would be seeking out a second opinion here. 40 pounds is a lot, I can’t imagine how this has effected her self esteem and just how she feels in general.

she has menorrhagia.

If her iron levels are ok I’d suck it up with menorrhagia and get off the pill.

It’s better to feel miserable for a few days because of a heavy flow than indefinitely because of being fat.

Sometimes it’s not just a heavy flow, but a uncontrollable amount of bleeding.
I don’t know about this 12 year old, but as a teacher, I was bleeding through a tampon plus pad every hour. I had to wear a maternity pad, plus depends to work for months before my gyne said it was time for a uterine ablation. If it was that hard for me as adult to manage in a school setting, I can’t expect a child to do it when there’s medication.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP.

In 5th she was bleeding thru two super pads, period underwear and thru her heavy sweatpants. There was actually breakthrough blood on her chair.

Now she is panicking if she gets any breakthrough bleeding while on the pill. It’s so terrifying for her.

They are going to reduce the prescription level and expect some bleeding to occur. And see if she has any other physical changes.

They did do two separate ultrasounds (external, on her abdomen). No fibroids or anything abnormal