Earlier this year, I noticed I had gained 16 pounds in 8 months. I try to eat healthy food and not to worry about my weight, but obviously I was on a bad trajectory. Luckily I log my weight most mornings, so I could see that it was actually 3 weeks of gaining a pound a week, followed by a week of losing a pound. Travel and holidays tacked on extra weight, but the following week I worked to maintain. Not pretty. Of course the 3+1 pattern is obvious. Two children with bad tummies cause me enough sleepless nights! So oral contraceptives.
Then I thought about why, and I noticed that I had been ignoring nausea. Actually, it was a lot like morning sickness all over again, but milder. Day-long nausea that felt better while I was eating, with heartburn if I ate a full meal. Yeah, I'd rather not have morning sickness again, especially without a bundle of joy to make it worthwhile, and to know it will end. So I was eating too much to mask the nausea. Another confounding symptom was that exercise made me feel worn out, worn down, and just plain tired. Usually I expect exercise to wear me out, but with a side effect of feeling powerful and strong, just let me catch my breath.
Next I did my research to link nausea with ocp. Yes, it's a common side effect, so I made an appointment with my doctor and kept digging. I finally found an explanation that gave me an attack vector. Since nausea as a side effect is an androgenic effect, I could switch to an ocp with less androgenic activity (but also low estrogen since Cale still likes to nurse). Armed with what to reduce, I found what I needed to take to my doctor. As a side note, another reference pointed out that androgenic weight gain was caused by interference with carbohydrate metabolism. As someone with diabetes in the family, I don't want to take any medication that damages my carbohydrate metabolism!
That month (the ninth), I noticed that my biggest day-to-day weight gain was after a spaghetti dinner, a high carbohydrate meal. So I resisted carbs, but it was ever so tough!
First month on the new stuff ... first week or two! ... I noticed that resisting carbs was suddenly easy. The change was sudden and dramatic. I realized that I used to be able to resist temptation, but since I don't usually worry about my weight, I hadn't noticed. Realizing my own blindness made me empathize with people with addictive behaviors. It's hard to do what you know you should when there's that compulsion. I'm glad my bout was from an external cause I can control (once I noticed). Much less nausea, less heartburn, better control of what I ate, in one month. Compared to the previous month, when I knew but I had to fight the androgenic demon inside ... on the right track!
Last night's dinner was another example: I was still hungry after dinner of salad and meatloaf. On the previous regime, I would have been craving sweet carbs, probably chocolate too. A chocolate cake craving, in short. Instead, as I tried to figure out what I wanted to eat after dinner last night, I knew I didn't want sweets, and I wasn't in the mood for carbs or chocolate. I didn't want more meat(loaf). I was so sure I didn't want sweets that I didn't even want fruit! If it's not sweets or carbs, not fruits, and not proteins, that just leaves vegetables. Yes, I was in the mood for more veggies! I ate apple with the rest of my family instead of making another salad just for myself, but I would have been just as happy with a salad. There's a huge difference between the food craving that I used to have, and the milder food wanting I sometimes have now. I've been using the verb 'to crave' incorrectly most of my life. At least I'm more sympathetic to people who do have cravings now, because those are brutal.
The weight loss, not trying too hard, is about a pound a month. Exercise is no longer a chore, but back to being empowering and exhilarating. But the best part: I had spaghetti for dinner a couple nights ago, and it didn't spike my weight! So in 3 months, my damaged carbohydrate metabolism appears to be repaired! I was worried, what with my diabetic family history, that I might not be able to reverse the damage. But I could, I did, and I think I'm on the right track!
My main androgenic complaint (nausea) is gone, along with a host of other possibly-related problems like utter exhaustion from exercise, food cravings, and a damaged carbohydrate metabolism. Still unanswered is if my hair experienced androgenic alopecia or something else, but hair growth takes at least six months to see any changes, so it's too soon to tell. I'm unsure about the heartburn, since I think my heartburn correlates more to my weight (so it goes away as my weight drops back to healthy levels) than to any actual androgenic effect. On the flip side, I am experiencing more headaches, many at the migraine level. I need to be sure I'm well-hydrated (I haven't been as good about drinking lots of water lately for stupid reasons like 'busy') before I know if this is a new side effect. It's certainly easier to tolerate the occasional headache than continuous nausea, so I'm not complaining. I'm curious to know if my cholesterol and my blood pressure have also improved.
