A New Phase of Birth Control

[elaineska]

I've been seeing commercials about b.c. pills that let you have fewer periods. Of course I got all excited and I went on [url=" I thought the site was very informative. They don't advertise specific brands of b.c. though. So I'm wondering if they're gearing us up for a revolution in birth control? What do you guys think about this?

 

Also I have a question. On the site I read that it is perfectly normal and safe for women to take 3 straight months of hormones and THEN take the placebos in order to have fewer periods. (It shocked me when I read that periods aren't any heavier after doing this But I thought that this could only be done with a mono-phasic pill - one that doesn't have fluctuating amounts of hormones. However I think most pills out there are tri-phasic, right? I'm on Ortho Tri-Cyclen LO which is tri-phasic. Should I worry about trying this method of postponing my period? Is the monophasic/triphasic thing a bunch of hooey? The site sure didn't mention any difference.

 

I'd like to hear your thoughts on all this.

[in_the_mirror]

i was on ortho tricyclin lo also for about a year, but it didn't work to well for me...so i went to ortho evra (the patch) and for me it works wonderfully, i only really have my period for four days.

 

i heard of the fewer period method but that scares me a little bit. birth control can have an affect of lowering your chance of getting pregnant to begin with so i wonder what only having a period four times a year would do to my body.

[elaineska]

Nope. On the site it says that taking this kind of pill has NO effect on fertility in the future. I don't know where you heard that b.c. pills affect fertility.

[applepie]

The pill that lets you have only 4 periods a year is called Seaonale. Then there is Yaz, which lets you have the same number of periods but because you are taking more hormonal tablets, you get shorter, lighter periods.

 

I think there is one other, but I don't recall what it is.

[sparklez]

I used one of those pills and let me tell you, if you suffer with depression it will make it ten times worse.

[CarnelianButterfly]

When you think about thst BC is using hormones to trick your body into thinking its pregnant. You don't have periods for 9 months when your pregnant because you no longer ovulate, the cervix thickens and closes so that the amniotic fluid and baby don't come out either. When you're on BC, you are no longer ovulating, so the natural response to ovulation, the thickening of the walls of the uterus preparing for egg implantation, is not going to happen. The dual hormone BC, has estrogen, prevents ovulation, and progestin, thickens cervix and hampers development of the uterus walls. The lack of blood on the walls of the uterus will also mean that a fertilized egg won't be able to implant.

 

When on BC, the light periods are because your body doesn't produce the same amount of lining.

[booberry]

I don't trust anything that doesnt allow my body to have a normal, regular period every month. I was on depo-provera and that was beyond disturbing. I was suckered into using that can of worms by the promise of "no periods". I ended up suffering from never-ending periods.

 

I don't think it's a good idea to be a guinea pig for anything new on the market. The website says this and that? who cares. They have their own agenda.

 

Also I was on tricyclene lo and it made me really depressed. I also started my period a week early, so i guess this "triphasic" thing is not a good idea for me. "lo" was too low, apparently.

[Sheyda]

Annie24 has already posted a link on this in another thread: link removed

 

Basically, there has not been enough long-term research carried out to determine whether this method of birth control is safe or not.

 

Yes, it might have already been approved, but so have other drugs that have been found out to be killers a few years down the line. As booberry has already said, I don't want to take the risk of being someone else's guinea-pig.

[RayKay]

While the pill does not affect your fertility permanently, most women will experience withdrawal when coming off the pill, including irregular cycles and ovulation for weeks or months. This is because your body has to remember how to produce its own hormone levels correctly again, as the pill has been doing it for you.

 

Really, the pill in itself is still a giant "experiment". When I first went on the pill for example 10 years ago, the information in the packets and by doctors was that it was not a significant additional risk to breast cancer. Somewhere since then they changed the warnings to say you should not be on it long term if you have a risk.

 

How many young girls go get on the pill without knowing the risks, without researching it, with very little information provided other than to take it every day?

 

Doctors still often will say you are just imagining things if you are suffering long term depression, anxiety - but I know MANY women including myself whom did experience it on the pill and only when we went off it and were NORMAL did we realize we were not crazy after all!

 

Of course, the period you have on the pill is not a true period anyway (as Carnelian pointed out) so I don't know if stopping this or not makes a difference, but I would be concerned that not taking any breaks from hormones for even longer stretches of time could have some serious side effects for some women.

 

 

I am not saying it is not a suitable method of birth control at all; and for some it is almost a necessity due to very painful periods, etc. I myself was on it for a long time, but I think there is so little real understanding of it by most people and I really am leery of more forms being pushed on us and drug companies saying what is "best for us". I have been hormone free now for several months, and would never go back personally.

 

 

Not all pills are suitable though for this, from discussions I had with my doctor before, the triphasic ones would not work very well for example due to the fluctuations.