Saying goodbye to periods
Can women eliminate menstrual bleeding without problems?
Menstrual periods are an unnecessary nuisance that could be eliminated from women's lives with little harm. That's the message starting to spread from specialists in reproductive medicine.
Read the story here.
Comments
I think it is an excellent idea for women to continue using their pill to stop periods. There is absolutely no point to them at all. The reason you are taking the pill is so you don't get pregnant so why would you want a period? Horrid, messy and painful. Eve doesn't need to suffer any more, not in childbirth nor twelve times a year for 40+ years. Attitudes of GPs need to change though. You don't need to have a period just to prove you're a woman.
Posted by: Heather Simmons | December 14, 2006 11:48 AM
I too think it a great idea to have no periods especially now adays when people are delaying having families well into their thirties. Why then have a period every month if you know you don't want kids for , what in some cases could be another 10-15 years?! I've been on the depo injection and therefore have had no periods for 10 years and have no complaints, no mood swings stomach aches etc
Posted by: Ciara McCabe | December 14, 2006 02:14 PM
I wrote an article on the controversy surrounding Seasonale when it first came out 2003. Journalistic objectivity notwithstanding, I thought it sounded like a great idea. I went and begged my GYN to prescribe it for me.
But then I started getting side effects that I hadn't gotten on the Pill itself, which I'd been taking for years -- mood swings, melasma, no libido (hard as it is to admit this on a widely read Web site!). Plus, I would still have intermittent bleeding -- only now I didn't know when it was coming and couldn't be ready for it.
The experience scared the hell out of me, and now I'm not on any Pill at all.
I just wanted to share my story because I thought a "no-period Pill" was such a marvelous idea when I first heard of it too.
Posted by: Karen Hoffmann | December 18, 2006 06:32 PM
Glad to hear science has caught up with what many women already have practised: I have always continued to take the "pill" without a break when on extended holidays, especially in non-western countries, to eliminate the problems (hygienic and otherwsie) of periods.
Posted by: Cobie Brinkman | December 18, 2006 10:29 PM
Savvy women have always known this - When on extended trips, especially in non-western countries or off the beaten track, continuing the "pill" without a break prevents problems, hygienic and otherwise, by stopping periods.
Posted by: Cobie Brinkman | December 18, 2006 10:34 PM
Has anyone else actually tried taking contraceptive pills continuously? I took mine continuously for eight weeks while on holidays, but towards the end I started experiencing spotting, followed by light flow. The light flow only stopped a week later when I took a one-week break from the pill, but then of course I had heavy flow for a week. I would prefer to take an occasional break from the pill and have a predictable period, rather than getting unexpected spotting that could cause embarrassment and greater inconvenience.
Posted by: anonymous | December 19, 2006 03:07 AM