Inkblot (can I just call you Rorshach test? LOL!!),

When I first read this post, I thought what your doc told you was a bunch of hooey. Then I thought about it for a minute, and read it again. What I specifically thought about was the week before my period where all I do is eat. It's like I'm constantly hungry. I wear the Ortho-Evra patch because a)I'm lazy and b)I'm lazy and c)I'm lazy. Also, birth control pills make me really sick. I think I had one in the beginning with a too-high dose of hormones and it made me nauseous and therefore, I'm ruined on the pill.

I definitely think your doctor might be right. I know when I'm not on the patch at all, my eating habits definitely change. It probably has to do with a combination of physiological and psychological changes brought on by hormones. I don't eat much as it is, but my food intake tripled right before my period - I think that may be because it helps alleviate some of the symptoms of PMS - the moodiness and irriation (purely psychological for me, I've always associated food with comfort). On a more physical standpoint, the week before your period is when your body is trying its hardest to be in good nutritional shape for the baby it's trying to create (nice try, body! HAH!) so you start getting constantly hungry to make sure you have the proper nutrients for that. Remove the fluctuating hormone levels and I'm pretty sure you come up with more consistent eating patterns. My food intake is more stable when I'm on birth control than when I'm not.

A great thing about the patch, Seasonale, and pretty much any form of hormonal birth control is, of course, that I can SKIP HAVING MY PERIOD! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! Monthly bloating, irritation and bleeding? No thanks. I'll pass.

My hubby to be likes it too, of course. More, ahem, windows of opportunity. So to speak.

*innocent look*

some of it's magic
some of it's tragic
but i had a good life all the way......
~jimmy buffett