Stacking Pills

[mijakai.livejournal.com]

Hiya everyone!

I take a birth control pill called Norimin (I live in New Zealand so odd brands to most, but its your typical 21 days on, 7 days off kind of pack) but I have been stacking my packs for about 5 months now - my doctor told me that it was fine to do but I have since read differing opinions on the matter. I have terrible periods so like to avoid them as much as possible but since I have been stacking I feel like I have put on quite a bit of weight and have a loooooooow sex drive. So, VP, what I'd like to know is: can stacking pills amplify the normal side effects of birth control pills? And is there any proven medical advantage/disadvantage in stacking pills long term? I've read so much different stuff trying to prove each side of the story.

Thanks!

Comments

[archangelbeth]

So far as I know, stacking for at least as long as a depo shot lasts should be reasonable. Some individual people can't, because their uterus gets in a snit and starts bleeding anyway. Some can't because their uterus keeps building up lining and they have a withdrawal-bleed-from-heck when they do let themselves bleed. But at the least, figure out how long someone would be not-bleeding from a Mirena or a Depo shot, and that's probably fine if your body doesn't pitch a fit.

Stacking might or might not contribute to libido and weight gain issues. You've probably seen me rant about this before... Estrogen binds to one of your thyroid hormones, making it unavailable for your body; this can make someone hypothyroid if they were at all bordrline, and symptoms of hypothyroidism include depression and weight gain, and depression can do a number on libido. (Please get your thyroid tested?)

HBC on its own can do a number on libido for some people. If it's already axing yours, I think that the stacking is a red herring -- it might have contributed to the severity and speed of the libido-slaying, but it's probably not something that not-stacking would've prevented. You may want to look for another brand of pill and see if that one is less cruel to your libido. I'd look at which type of synthetic estrogens and progesterones are in it, and pick a pill with different types of synthetic hormones, to maximize the chances your body will react differently to it. (Which, unfortunately, also maximizes the chance that you'll get negative side effects, instead. Ah, the lovely biological roulette wheel of "how does my body react to *this* hormone?")

Good luck!

[faithed.livejournal.com]

I have heavy and painful periods and during the exploratory phase of trying to find out what was wrong (it turns out nothing, but that's a whole other story) I was told to stack my pills for 12 months by gynecologist to see if that made any difference to them (apparently periods can get a lot better after pregnancy so I'm assuming that's what she was trying to emulate).

I personally had no problems with bleeding, etc, during that time, but my sister can't stack her pills for more than 3 months at a time.

If your doctor has said it's fine, it probably is. As I said I never had any issues - didn't do a damn thing for my pain mind.