Birth Control Update

With a new pill, you have just four periods a year

“That time of the month” could be “that time of the season.” Seasonale, a new birth control pill, limits menstruation to four times a year. You take active hormone pills for 12 weeks instead of the traditional three (followed in both cases by a week of inactive pills).

For women who suffer monthly bloating, cramps and PMS, that’s an appealing idea. But you don’t need
a special product to achieve it, says obstetrician/gynecologist Larry Glazerman, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “Women can control menstrual frequency with almost any birth control pill, patch or vaginal ring,” he says. (Ask your doctor or nurse practitioner how this is done.) The new pill just makes it more convenient.

Birth control pills also mean lighter bleeding—because its growth is suppressed, there’s less uterine lining to shed. The downside to the extended pill is unexpected “spot bleeding.”

The pill has been around since the 1960s; why so long to go seasonal? Early manufacturers feared women wouldn’t be comfortable with a pill unless it followed the natural 28-day cycle, Glazerman says. But for years, women have manipulated birth control for vacations, weddings and athletic events. Doctors also have prescribed extended hormone therapy to ease the pain of endometriosis.

The extended approach is not for you, Glazerman says, if you’re on “triphasic” pills (which increase the hormone level each week), though most women on these pills can switch easily to a nontriphasic. And you shouldn’t take any birth control pill if you’ve had blood clots, certain cancers, a history of heart attack or unexpected bleeding, or are over age 35 and smoke.

Want to Know More about birth control options? Call 610-402-CARE.

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