Menstruation Is Fast Becoming Optional

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_he_me/no_more_periods_2 ^

[caryatid]

You'd have to be a real fool to use this as a convenience of sorts.

Don't try to tell anything to the current crop of young women. They will be quick to call you a dinosaur and to tell you that birth control is "just hormones and completely 'natural'" ... and they are so self-indulgent that nothing ... nothing ... 'inconvenient' [like a menstrual period] can be tolerated.  

 

 

{sigh} I am reminded of my late mother-in-law often saying Why must [you / or fill in the blank] climb fool's hill so often ... ?

[ovrtaxt]

he heheh hheh hehhhhe hehhh hhehhe

[rintense]

I took Seasonale, the drug that makes women have a period 4 times a year, for medical reasons (to suppress endomentriosis growth). For those who suffer from endo, suppressing estrogen is key to controlling the disease. Mine had nothing to do with birth control.

[nmh]

You're absolutely right!

Still, those that could be good Moms ... probably won't indulgence in this nonsense ... clean up the gene pool? Or demand it be covered by insurance as another form of infertility giving us all LESS in coverage?

[caseinpoint]

Wouldn't surprise me to see serious side effects surface twenty or thirty years down the road, right about the same time as those side effects from hormone experimentation by our athletes. I predict a generation or two of real mental and physical basket cases.

[Tired of Taxes]

For some women, periods can cause debilitating pain and more serious problems.

Gee, somehow I survived it every month for the past 30 years (when I wasn't pregnant or nursing).

[sassygirl]

Now your my kind of man!!!

Sexy, Sexy!!

[Paisan]

Now, only the HEADACHE remains...

Oh, sorry, I was thinking ALL women.

Single women rarely use excuses to avoid sex...

[Gerish]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more problems with thyroids..

I was thinking the exact same thing. Usually women start having problems with thyroids in their 40's and 50's. This may start a whole new generation of thyroidal problems such as toxic goiter or Graves' disease for women in their 20's. Unfortunately, once that starts, these women will be taking medication for the rest of their lives to offset those problems. Becoming pregnant could become very difficult after that.

[xsmommy]

really? it's the PMS that kills me : )

[AnnaZ]

Most doctors say they don't think suppressing menstruation is riskier than regular long-term birth control use,

That line jumped out at me also.

[AnnaZ]

Well, there's a couple understatements if ever I heard one

No kidding. Yeesh.

[Ditter]

Well blow my dress up! Look what I could have missed but it's too late now!

[coop71]

Did you read the article?

I've done the 4x a year thing for years and years, started back in basic training in 1992 and never looked back, with the full blessing of my ob/gyn. Went off it last summer so hubby and I could conceive and was pregnant within the month. (Imagine our surprise. And we now have a very healthy son.) Many of my friends and female relatives have done the same thing with the same results.

What I've found with friends/relatives who can't conceive are those who wait until after 35 years of age, have high-stress jobs, etc., and those that are impatient. It can take as long as 5 years, with or without a history of taking the pill, to conceive naturally. Yes, 5 years, with no reproductive problems from either the man or women. Yet the fertility business has led us to believe that one year is the mark for infertility. Of course, they get more business that way.

If you spend any amount of time reading about ovulation you'll know that ovulation - the actual act of a follicle bursting to release an egg, is slightly damaging to the ovaries, month after month, year after year. Not ovulating as much, and therefore not having a "regular" cycle is okay. Biologically, women are meant to be pregnant most of their fertile years, and therefore, don't ovulate very often. The pill mimicks the process of pregnancy without having 16 children in the process. As a result, you have less risk of some types of reproductive cancers. Further, with the 4x plan, you have less "ups and downs" in your hormones which means less PMS, less bloating, etc.

I think the fear of the pill, as well as fear of menstrual suppression started with high-dose pills years ago and began this whole nonsense about the pill being so damaging. That and anti-contraceptive groups, along with ignorance, misuse, and idiots who smoke and take the pill (esp. those 35 & over). Those who do can get bloodclots which are often fatal.

Bottom line? Please read more on the subject, and read lots of unbiased, scientific research. And as always, there are some women who just can't tolerate the pill - short-term or long-term. Just like there are other meds that some can't tolerate. Me? I can't take any cold meds or sinus/allergy meds. Over the counter or Rx. Yet millions do so and have no problems.

[coop71]

Can you please back up your "rumor" about teens, the pill, and breast cancer, with some facts? Thanks!

[metmom]

Here are some links that I googled using *breast cancer*, *birth control* *teens*:

http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/med_avoid/pill.htm

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21236

And, yes, I know that there are studies showing no connection, but I am suspicious when the groups are one's that promote abortion and contraception. They have too much stake in it to say that the very thing they are promoting is bad for people. The reasoning behind the incomplete first term pregnancy, for whatever reason, makes sense, so that gives it some credibility to me. Enough so that I wouldn't consider taking the risk just for convenience sake.

[nmh]

Well congratulations. You are certainly the EXCEPTION. Be grateful but don't suggest that this is good for your body. I know of COUNTLESS situations where birth control was used and conception was difficult to say the least. To totally turn off hormones is just a disaster waiting to happen.

If YOU would read the article you'd note that they DON'T KNOW the long term affects. There is little doubt that they will be NEGATIVE.

Stress, poor eating habits. lack of B6 etc all contribute to infertility. No question about that. That is a major problem. Most females don't even know how their body works - temperature, ovulation etc.. What they know most about is the act itself so education on the female body works would be beneficial.

When people relax, eat properly the odds dramatically increase that they will conceive however to suggest that existing birth control that regulates hormones unnaturally and now a product that will turn off your hormones won't have negative effects is ABSURD. With routine birth control pills, MOODS are affected, WEIGHT GAIN and CRAMPS are OFTEN more severe - that's just a simple birth control pill. This is also NOT unusual to have these side effects. It's COMMON.

GET REAL!

[nmh]

Yes ... regulating hormones like this is very dangerous. When you develop Graves' disease or go hypo is it much more difficult to have a term baby. Plus as you said they'll be on medication for the rest of their life complete with liver panels to make sure these drugs haven't destroyed that. ALL these prescription medications affect your liver - tap or PTU etc. Take em long enough and kiss your liver goodbye or if your Endo likes radio active iodine - then the thyroid gets ablated. The truth is Graves' can be controlled with diet and natural supplements. I am less and less impressed with the allopathic crowd.

There are times ... when I shake my head in amazement at what people will willingly do to themselves for "convenience" and then others with such a cavalier attitude exposing their gross ignorance.

[nmh]

Another dirty little secret an Endo doesn't want you to know or the DIET PILL MAKERS is that abuse easily leads to Graves' disease. All it does is speed up your metabolism. It wreaks havoc with the hypothalamus that regulate your thyroid. It totally screws up your hormones. Again, I can't for the life of me, imagine that severe consequences will NOT happen here with the latest pill of convenience to literally turn off and suppress your hormones.

People are getting dumber and dumber by choice ... they'll buy it for the "convenience" and down the road they'll be a slew of sad lawsuits that could have been avoided and we'll all get less medical coverage to compensate for the lawsuits. It's so predictable!

[Allegra]

"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,"

Took about sixty seconds as I recall.