Wed, Feb-04-04, 12:23
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Senior Member
Posts: 110
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Plan: not-so-strict Atkins
Stats: 130/126/110
BF:
Progress: 20%
Location: Seattle, WA
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5 pounds in 2 weeks is NOT normal, however your body could just be adjusting (i.e. retaining water temporarily). If I am not mistaken, Alesse has 20 mcg of estrogen? And the Ortho Tricyclen Lo has 25? It's a small difference, but my personal experience says it's enough to matter. I just recently started taking Seasonale and was on Ortho Novum; a 35-30mcg change. And I've noticed a slight difference, though it could just be imagination or a lot of other things. But, I think birth control pills are an area where you really have to trust your gut, since they are so darned individualized. We can guess...reread GUESS how one pill might affect an individual over another based on three things: estrogen content, androgenic potency, and progestin potency. The latter two are a factor of the type of progesterone used in the pill and cannot be compared on a "gram per gram" basis (kinda like an apple has more calories than the same amount of broccoli, if that helps).
The new Ortho Lo pills also have "low-androgenic norgestimate" as the progesterone. High androgenic potency causes things like acne, hair growth, etc. Norgestimate (Ortho Lo) in the doses of that pill has a bit lower progestin activity than the levonorgestrel in your former Alesse.
Bottom line from all of that garble is that you've got the higher estrogen in your new pill working against you and the lower progestin potency working for you. My gut feeling (and that's all it is, so take it for what it is worth) is that estrogen has a bigger impact than slight differences in progestin activity.
I'd stay with the new pill (assuming you switched for a good reason) for the rest of this cycle plus another, if you can stand it just to be sure it really is a factor in your weight gain. But, I am NOT a doctor so you've got to do what you and your health care provider feel best.
I'm in no way a medical practitioner, so please, take this all with a grain of salt. This is just what I've come up with from various texts, journals, and conversation with MDs in my personal research on the matter.
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