Friday, June 9, 2006 Morning Edition has story about menstrual suppression

[lindisfarne]

About why the "period" you get on the pill isn't really a period, and why eliminating this "period" by continually taking the pill(skipping blanks) or using the patch/ring continually is safe and can get rid of the side effects of the "hormonal rollercoaster" you get when you're not on a hormonal form of BC or when you go off the hormones to have a "period".

(The ring and patch keep your hormones much more constant than the pill - with the pill, you get a surge of hormones which decreases over 24 hours; since hormone levels have to be high enough to prevent pregnancy even at the end of the 24 hour period, you end up getting more hormones than you would need if the hormones were released gradually. This constant hormone level can sometimes reduce side effects women get if they're on the pill. You just have to try them and see if it works for you.)

[izzie]

1. I am sure that the right wing nuts will not let this go on.

--

[RamblingRose]

2. I get the Depo Provera shot every 3 months and rarely ever have a period

I think is has a high progesterone level. I didn't hear the story so am not sure that relates. I've always wondered about the risks of not having a period.

[dropkickpa]

3. Can't use ring or patch

due to allergies. Tried depo, bled for 8 months straight starting a week after I got the shot and became severly anemic (because it took that long for the shit doctor I had at the time to say something other than "when it wears off it'll stop"). Was on Lunelle and loved it, but it was pulled of the market in the US.

I am on Seasonale now (12 weeks of monophasic hormones, 1 week off) and love it. I have 4 3 day periods a year. I don't have a problem remembering to take it daily because I also take 2 allergy medications, and if I skip just one dose of those my alleriges act up horribly within 12 hours of the missed dose.