FDA Approves Oral Contraceptive That Stops Your Period: Birth Control Pill Lybrel Halts Menstruation
This week the US Food and Drug Administration approved an oral contraceptive that, when taken as directed, effectively stops menstruation for the duration of its use. Although the regular monthly cycle will be stopped as long as a woman takes the pill as directed, breakthrough bleeding and spotting are possible (and, if you ask me, likely).
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!
Tags: Birth control, contraceptive, FDA, lybrel, menstrual-cycle, menstruation, oral, period, pill, seasonale, US-Food-and-Drug-Administration, woman, women, Womens-HealthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Birth control, Menopause, Pregnancy, Sex, Women's Issues
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6 opinions for FDA Approves Oral Contraceptive That Stops Your Period: Birth Control Pill Lybrel Halts Menstruation
alicia
May 25, 2007 at 12:42 pm
OK, I’m probably going to contradict myself a million times here, but, here I go.
Unknown side effects aside, I just can’t fathom taking a pill to have a period only four times a year, or stopping it altogether. It’s just unnatural. Menstration is one of the things that make us women. We’re supposed to have periods. (This is actually why I stopped taking the regular ol’ old-fashioned birth control pill - I just got tired of the idea that I was preventing my body from doing something it’s supposed to do [ovulate].)
Too, the idea of trading my once-a-month period for who-knows-how-long sporadic bleeding and spotting doesn’t appeal to me. It kind of defeats the purpose. You can protect your best underwear when you know it’s coming - you can’t when it’s unexpected! LOL :)
At the same time, I empathize with women who have severely heavy and painful periods and nothing has worked for them. I recognize that taking this pill is up to them - it may turn out to be great, and if so, great for them!
For me, though, I’ll stick to other preventative measures.
Devon Ellington
May 25, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I disagree with it. The menstrual cycle is very important and natural. It’s not pleasant, it’s painful, the side effects are not fun, but to stop it? No, thanks. It’s wrong. To me, it seems like a form of oppression being marketed as freedom — and what’s next? How else are they going to mess with our bodies? We had to fight hard enough to get rights to them in the first place, and now they’re taking away a basic function and telling us it’s “our choice” — but, of course, they don’t know side effects.
I believe the side effects will be severe. We won’t know that for 20-30 years, but I think the side effects are going to hurt all sorts of cylical rhythms, and also have effects on people mentally — oh, but wait, then they just get to put more people on even MORE medication and make MORE money off them!
alicia
May 25, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Speaking of cylical rhythms, and I’m going to really show my ignorance with this question (trust me, I tried to google before it came to this, haha), but what exactly happens to your egg(s) when birth control pills prevent ovulation?
Kristen King
May 25, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Great question, Alicia! I’m going to do a post all about it.
Dev, I tend to agree with you. Anything with unknown long-term side effects makes me nervous!
kk
Lively Women Q&A: What Happens to Your Eggs When You Don’t Ovulate?
May 25, 2007 at 5:42 pm
[…] 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 […]
Immanuel Schoenhals
Jun 14, 2007 at 9:22 am
This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”
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