Anybody hear has been on the Seasonal birth control pill?!
Question: It's a pill that limits your menstrual cycle to 4 times a year. Some even cut your periods out entirely. Anybody tried that, what where the side effects? I have an appointment with my doctor, but it's in February.
Answers: It's a pill that limits your menstrual cycle to 4 times a year. Some even cut your periods out entirely. Anybody tried that, what where the side effects? I have an appointment with my doctor, but it's in February.
I've heard of it and to be honest, its in part a marketing gimick. OB/GYNs have been saying for years that theres no reason why you can't take the pill continuously or at least for multiple months in a row, thereby limiting ones cycle. This is usually done with a monophasic pill (same amount of hormone in each pill) and just taking the active pill continuously and throwing out the week of placebo. So basically, what makes Seasonale different is that they just market all active pill in one pack, thereby eliminating the need to toss the placebo week (the hormone withdrawal is part of what causes shedding of the uterine lining).
Side effects are generally mild. Many women will experience spotting around the time that they would have had their periods while taking the Seasonale. In general, women on the Pill (any of them actually) tend to have lighter, shorter, and more predictable periods. This is in part because the lining of the uterus, the endometrium, gets thinner with consistent Pill use. Some will have less PMS around the time of their period and those on the polyphasic can have improvements in acne. In terms of side effects to be on the look out for, all of these pills can increase your cholesterol level though usually not to a degree that its concerning. Mine is a little elevated but a large portion of that is HDL, or the good cholesterol, so I've never been concerned. The big thing that we also warn women about is the risk of blood clots in the legs, called DVT, which can lead to stroke, heart attack or something called pulmonary embolus. Eventhough its a risk, this risk tends to be extremely low in women under the age of 35 who do not smoke and who do not already have a history of clotting related disorders. If you are over 35, you can cut the risk significantly by not smoking.
There has been concern in the past about the Pill and increasing the risk of breast cancer. This was more of a concern on the old versions of the Pill when the amount of hormones in each dose was higher than what is probably needed. The last I read, this risk is still pretty small and would only apply to those tumors that were effected by increases in Estrogen. What they commonly don't tell you is that taking the Pill, even if for only 6 months, puts a pretty big dent in your risk for endometrial and ovarian cancer, both of which are typically much harder to detect and treat than breast cancer. In fact, by the time that most women with ovarian cancer get diagnosed their cancer is already at a point where it has metastasized to other parts of the body. If you are doing any kind of breast exam and getting your routine over 40 mammograms, the likelihood that you are not going to be diagnosed with breast cancer until it is late stage, assuming you don't have one of the uncommon, aggressive family linked forms, is fairly low.
Of course, it goes without saying that the Pill does not protect against STD. As contraception, its not perfect (nothing but abstinence is) but its efficacy goes up if you are consistent with taking it about the same time, every day.
Hope that helps.
Yes I used it for 2 years and loved it for the first year and a half. After that time my body decided it didn't like it anymore and I would have breakthrough bleeding. Up until that point, though, I absolutely loved it