Hello... I have been taking ortho-tricyclen for the last 7 years I would say. It always made me very emotional around my period but I just learned to deal with it. Finally I decided to switch to orthocyclen so there would be only 1 dose of hormones coming into my body as opposed to three different levels per month. I can already tell after just 1 month of taking orthocylen that my emotions have stabilized and i'm not nearly as moody, so i'm happy about that.

However, the downside is that I have gained about 7-10 pounds in the last 3 weeks and i'm becoming quite concerned. This alarms me because i've simultaneously started exercising almost every day, either running 4-6 miles, walking 5-10 miles, or swimming about a mile, in addition to lifting weights. Also, I have become very aware of what i'm eating, counting calories, and am trying to make very healthy decisions about what foods I eat.

I've heard of the pill causing weight gain, but I was wondering if anyone knows the average or most amount of weight gain that can result from taking the pill. Also, has anyone else experienced weight gain from orthocyclen? And if so, would you please tell me about how much weight you gained? I just don't know if 7-10 lbs is normal... It seems rather excessive to me.

Thanks so much in advance for your responses.