Menstruation Is Fast Becoming
Optional
By LINDA A.JOHNSON, Associated Press
Writer
Sun May 21, 6:45 PM ET
TRENTON, N.J. - For young women with a world of choices, even that
monthly curse, the menstrual period, is optional.
Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a
growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old
Stephanie Sardinha.
She hasn't had a period since she was 17.
"It's really one of the best things I've ever done," she
says.
A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine,
Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the
hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away
instead of following instructions to leave the ring out for a week
to allow bleeding. She says it has been great for her marriage,
preventing monthly crankiness and improving her sex life.
"I would never go back," said Sardinha, who got the idea from her
aunt, a nurse practitioner.
Using the pill or other contraceptives to block periods is becoming
more popular, particularly among young women and those entering
menopause, doctors say.
"I have a ton of young girls in college who are doing this," says
Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, a gynecologist in Little Silver, N.J., who
did it herself for years. "There's no reason you need a
period."
Such medical jury-rigging soon will be unnecessary. Already, the
Seasonale birth control pill limits periods to four a year. The
first continuous-use birth control pill, Lybrel, likely will soon
be on the U.S. market and drug companies are lining up other ways
to limit or eliminate the period.
Most doctors say they don't think suppressing menstruation is
riskier than regular long-term birth control use, and one survey
found a majority have prescribed contraception to prevent periods.
Women have been using the pill for nearly half a century without
significant problems, but some doctors want more research on
long-term use.
The new methods should be popular. A non-scientific Web survey for
the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals found at least
two-thirds of respondents are bothered by fatigue, heavy bleeding,
"really bad cramps" and even anger. Nearly half said they would
like to have no period at all or decide when to have one.
For some women, periods can cause debilitating pain and more
serious problems.
Two recent national surveys found about 1 in 5 women have used oral
contraceptives to stop or skip their period.
"If you're choosing contraception, then there's not a lot of point
to having periods," says Dr. Leslie Miller, a University of
Washington-Seattle researcher and associate professor of obstetrics
and gynecology whose Web site, noperiod.com, explains the option.
She points out women on hormonal contraception don't have real
periods anyway, just withdrawal bleeding during the break from the
hormone progestin.
According to Miller, modern women endure up to nine times more
periods than their great-grandmothers, who began menstruating
later, married young and naturally suppressed periods for years
while they were pregnant or breast-feeding. Today's women may have
about 450 periods.
Still, surveys also show most women consider monthly periods
normal. Small wonder: Girls learn early on that menstruation is a
sign of fertility and femininity, making its onset an eagerly
awaited rite of passage.
The period is "way over-romanticized," says Linda Gordon, a New
York University professor specializing in women's history and the
history of sexuality.
"It doesn't take long for women to go from being excited about
having a period to feeling it's a pain in the neck," said Gordon,
author of "The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control
Politics in America."
She says caution is needed because there's not enough data on
long-term consequences of using hormones continuously. Gordon notes
menopausal women for years were told that hormone drugs would keep
them young until research uncovered unexpected risks.
"People should proceed very cautiously," she says.
Today's birth control pills contain far less estrogen and progestin
than those two generations ago, but still increase the risk of
heart attack, stroke and blood clots. The pill should not be used
by women who have had those conditions, unexplained vaginal
bleeding or certain cancers, or if they are smokers over 35.
But there are benefits from taking oral contraceptives too, such as
a lower risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis and
pelvic inflammatory disease. And forgoing periods means no
premenstrual syndrome and a lower risk of anemia and migraines,
says Dr. Sheldon Segal, co-author of "Is Menstruation Obsolete?"
Segal has been involved in research for several
contraceptives.
Almost since the first pill arrived in 1960, women have manipulated
birth control to skip periods for events such as a wedding,
vacation or sports competition. Female doctors and nurses were
among the first to block menstruation long-term to suit their
schedules, said Susan Wysocki, head of the National Association of
Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health.
"They were then more comfortable recommending it to their
patients," said Wysocki, who uses a vaginal ring to prevent
menstruation.
The idea gained momentum after Barr Pharmaceuticals launched
Seasonale in November 2003. It's a standard birth control pill
taken for 12 weeks, with a break for withdrawal bleeding every
three months. Amid wide acceptance by doctors, sales shot up 62
percent last year, to $110 million.
Publicity for Seasonale made women wonder, if just four periods a
year are OK, why have any at all?
Users of Pfizer Inc.'s Depo-Provera, a progestin-only contraceptive
shot lasting three months, usually are period-free after a year or
two. There's now a generic version, but the drug can thin
bones.
And many women have been getting extra prescriptions so they could
continuously stay on birth control pills, the Ortho Evra patch or
the vaginal ring, rather than bleeding every fourth week. That
schedule was set by the original birth control designers to mimic
normal menstrual cycles. But the extra prescriptions have led to
insurance company hassles.
"What Seasonale did is get rid of that nuisance," says Dr. Peter
McGovern of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey.
New extended-cycle contraceptives will do the same. Wyeth is hoping
by late June to get Food and Drug Administration approval to sell
Lybrel, its low-dose, continuous birth control pill; approval also
is pending in Canada and Europe.
Also in June, FDA should decide whether to approve Implanon, a
single-rod, three-year contraceptive implanted in the upper arm
that maker Organon USA has been selling it in Europe for a
decade.
Berlex Inc. is developing its own birth control pill for menstrual
suppression.
Barr, aiming to be a leader in extended contraception, last
November bought the maker of ParaGard, an intrauterine device that
blocks periods in some women. Barr's new product Seasonique, a
successor to Seasonale, likely will get federal approval at week's
end.
Dr. Patricia Sulak, who researches extended contraception at Texas
A&M College of Medicine, applauds this new trend. The doses in
standard pills are now so low, she said, that having seven days off
them raises the risk of pregnancy.
"This redesign is way overdue," she says. "It's going to be the
demise of 21-7."
Taken from:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_he_me/no_more_periods;_ylt=AnlJOuWy.3b6i1ShPQNMJ2UDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-
