The commercial for Seasonale, a birth control pill, raves about getting only 4 periods a year. So what's the deal? Is that safe?
Birth control pills can either be monophasic, where you get the same amount of hormones each day, or triphasic, where you get a different amount of hormones over 3 weeks.
Seasonale and other monophasic pills allow you to take them in any sequence you want. Each pill pack contains a 3 month supply, and each 4 week supply contains 3 weeks of hormones and one week of sugar pills. So if you want, you can get your period every month by taking the sugar pills after taking 3 weeks of hormones. Or you can get it every 3 months by taking all the hormone pills for 9 weeks and then one week of sugar pills, thus keeping Aunt Flo at bay for over 2 months.
When you're on any birth control pill, when you get your period, it isn't a real period, because you're not actually releasing an egg (the pill stops you from ovulating). It's called a "pill period," and it results as your body's reaction to withdrawing from the hormones. Having this kind of period once a month is just as safe as only having it 4 times a year.
Fit's Tips: Monophasic birth control might be right for you if you suffer from painful periods, excessive bleeding, or unbearable mood swings. Definitely ask your trusted DR about this if you have questions.
Patrizia Pepe
Rochas
Mango
Sounds like something to investigate. Who wouldn't want to bleed less?
1Dont know much about this , but sounds good!
2I already kind of do this with my regular birth control. I will skip my period every other package. I would do it more than that, but my insurance kind of makes it impossible to do that by limiting how many packs I can get every month. So, I'll take one package and not take the sugar pills for that one, then I'll get a new pack and take the sugar pills for that one. So I get 6 periods a year instead of 12.
You don't even have to take the sugar pills, they're just placebos. Just don't take the pills for a week and start the next pack exactly one week later. They include it because some women just need the habit or else they'll forget to take the pills altogether.
The only downside to skipping the sugar pills and starting a new pack right away is that I go through my prescription a teensy bit faster this way, and I'll end up going to the doctor about a month earlier than I would have normally to get the yearly exam and a new prescription.
3I took this to minimize bleeding and between-period spotting, but unfortunately it had the opposite reaction and caused increased spotting. I went back to my normal monthly pill and was far happier.
4Sometimes Seasonale causes more spotting for a while but it goes away almost completely after 6 mo - 1 year. I love it and will never go back.
5Just something to think about if you are interested; I went on Seasonale and gained 12 pounds. I went off it after 5 months and the weight fell off so it was definately due to this pill. It's different for everyone but good to be aware of if you are considering it.
6This I love!!! It evened out my moods uch better than other birth control pills. Plus, I LOVE that I don't get my period every month. I take the Pill for 9 weeks straight. It's awesome.
7When you hear the term “contraceptive pill, most often refers to oral contraceptives containing estrogen and progesterone. Combination pills contain a combination of these two hormones. They are classified as monophasic, biphasic or triphasic pills depending on whether the level of hormones stays the same during the first three weeks of the menstrual cycle or changes.
The combined contraceptive pill work by preventing ovulation - the release of a mature egg from a woman from the ovary. Estrogen in the pill causes this.
Monophasic pills
Monophasic pills contain the same amount of estrogen and progesterone in the active pills in a pack. Examples of monophasic pills include Alesse, Brevicon, Desogen, Levlen, Levlite, Loestrin, Modicon, Nelova, Nordette, Norinyl, Ortho-Cept, Ortho-cyclen, Ortho-Novum, Ovcon, Yasmin. Because of the uniform hormone level in all the pills, monophasic are least likely to cause side effects such as mood swings, which can result from fluctuating hormone levels in the body .
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