I thought the Saturday Night Live skit poking fun of Seasonale was funny, though not accurate – of course. It’s called Annuale, and you can see it at this NBC link.

Post from: Blisstree

SNL Skit on Annuale (Seasonale)

If you’re already taking birth control pills, you can possibly skip the unpleasantness (cramps, etc.) of the placebo week. When birth control pills were first developed, they included the placebo week of pills for cultural, not medical, reasons (so that women wouldn’t miss their periods). The pills were supposed to feel more natural that way.

Some women have been using birth control pills to manipulate the timing of their periods for years. For instance, delaying the placebo week for a few extra days to allow for important events.

Doctors have also prescribed “regular” birth control pills to be used continuously. But lately, there’s a new crowd of birth control pills on the market designed especially for having fewer or even no periods. These pills skip the placebo week for you.

Those pills include Lybrel (no periods), Seasonique (only four periods a year) and Seasonale (also only four periods a year).

And they may work great for you, but I haven’t tried them.

I use plain old “regular” Loestrin and skip the placebo week. Actually, I use the generic — Microgestin! And that’s one benefit to taking regular birth control pills that aren’t new and specially designed to help you miss your period — There’s actually a generic available. That’s not to say these new pills won’t have a generic one day too. Seasonale already has a generic.

There is a downside to taking regular birth control pills continuously. Unless your doc writes the prescription in a way your insurance will accept, you’re paying for a four week supply, but only getting a three week supply. It can be tricky. The manufacturers still include that week of fake pills, and you may not be able to avoid paying for them.

What about side effects? In addition to the regular side effects of birth control pills, taking them continuously may present you with additional concerns. We’ll talk about that in a post coming up soon.

Have you tried any of the birth control pill brands mentioned in this post?

Paris pharmacy cross image via flickr.

Post from: Blisstree

Ways to Take Birth Control Pills Continuously

In response to yesterday’s post about the new FDA-approved, no-period birth control pill Lybrel, Alicia asked this question in the comment trail:

What exactly happens to your egg(s) when birth control pills prevent ovulation?

That’s a great question. First of all, let’s be clear on two important facts about the female body:

1. You’re born with all of the eggs you’ll ever need–millions of them, just chilling in your ovaries until menarche.
2. Ovulation refers to the actual release of the egg from the ovary into the fallopian tube, not the production of the egg.

Second, let’s be clear on what happens to eggs that aren’t fertilized and gestated when you’re not taking birth control.

1. At ovulation, the egg is released and travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus.
2. If it’s not fertilized, it simply disintegrates and is absorbed by the lining of the uterus.*

Logically, then, if birth control prevents ovulation from releasing the egg into the fallopian tube, it would eventually just break down and be asorbed back into the body in the uterus. But does that play out scientifically?

From Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania:

Your eggs are just hanging out in your ovaries until they are called upon. Not ovulating doesn’t do any damage to your body, including your eggs.

They don’t all “expire” at the same time, but your eggs have been dying since you were in your mother’s womb.

Girl fetuses have eggs, in fact we have the most eggs (5-7 million) ever when we are still inside our mom developing. A lot of those eggs die before we are even born and they continue to die throughout our life. By the time most of us reach puberty we have about 400,000 eggs left. Which is more than enough!

Some of those eggs get used, some die and some even survive menopause. Really, menopause is sort of an expiration date for the eggs that have made it that far. There may be a few still holding out, but we won’t use them after menopause.

The medical term for this process is atresia, which Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines as “The degeneration and resorption of one or more ovarian follicles before maturation.”

So, the short answer (after that long one!) is that if the egg isn’t fertilized or if it isn’t even released, the same thing happens: it just gets absorbed back into the body. Amazing, huh?

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

Lively Women Q&A: What Happens to Your Eggs When You Don’t Ovulate?

Although many women are very excited about the idea of a pill that will stop their “little friend” from visiting every 28 days, the long-term effects of the drug and, more importantly, its effects, are not known. According to a WebMD report,

Side effects of Lybrel are similar to other low-dose oral contraceptives, including an increased risk of blood clots, particularly in smokers and women over 35, and breakthrough bleeding.

Perhaps more importantly however, cancer experts, like NYU’s Julia Smith, MD, are concerned about the lack of long-term data measuring the impact of continuous-use hormones on the risk of breast and other hormone-fueled cancers.

“This is something that has not been carefully studied yet. We don’t have any evidence that there is a problem, but we certainly have many instances in the history of medicine where problems only showed up at a much later date after long-term exposure and widespread use,” says Smith, director of the Lynne Cohen Breast Cancer Preventive Program at the NYU Cancer Institute.

Moreover, she tells WebMD, “When you tamper with the way the body works naturally you can’t predict long-term outcome until you study long-term outcome. And right now we don’t have that data.” (source)

Lybrel’s FDA approval comes on the heels of Seasonale, which offers women the opportunity to reduce periods to only four each year, approved in 2003.

It’s up to you and your doctor to determine whether an oral contraceptive or another form of birth control is right for you, and which specific product in your ideal category is best suited to your medical and lifestyle needs.

But that aside, what do you think of this? Are you excited about the chance to just do away with your period, or would you rather it stick around? Is every month too often, or just right? Is four times a year not enough, or still too many? Share your opinion in the comments!

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

FDA Approves Oral Contraceptive That Stops Your Period: Birth Control Pill Lybrel Halts Menstruation