Is it safe to stop your period?
There’s a reason why they call it “the curse.” Many women are eager to do away with the monthly pain and bother of menstruation, but is it safe to stop your period?
By Jennifer Goldberg
Period suppression is a matter of personal choice, says Dr. Roger Pierson, director of reasearch in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Saskatchewan. “There is no known benefit [to stopping your period], but there’s also no known health risk,” he says.
Here are some facts to help you make your decision.
There are several ways to stop your period
Though each woman’s body reacts differently, using any kind of combined hormonal contraception continuously will usually suppress menstruation, says Dr. Amanda Black, an Ottawa-based OBGYN and a member of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada’s (SOGC) extended hormonal contraception guideline committee. Birth control patches, pills and vaginal rings will all stop your period if you use them every day without a break. The hormone injection Depo Provera and the hormonal IUD called Mirena may also suppress menstruation.
Seasonale is the only birth control brand specifically marketed for extended-cycle use. Approved by Health Canada in 2007, these pills are designed to give the user just four periods a year.
If you’re taking the birth control pill, you’re not having a natural period
“Some people think that it’s natural to have a period every month when they are using birth control, but it’s not a real period that you’re getting,” says Black. When you stop taking the birth control pill for seven days, you have what doctors call a hormone-withdrawal bleed—bleeding that simulates what happens at the end of a regular menstrual cycle when estrogen and progesterone levels drop.
However, when you take contraception continuously, you’re maintaining steady levels of those hormones and the withdrawal bleeding does not occur, says Black. So when you use birth control continuously, you’re suppressing withdrawal bleeding, not a natural period.
Long-cycle pills such as Seasonale contain the same hormones as 21-day combination pills
Seasonale is the brand of oral contraception that is specifically approved by Health Canada to suppress menstruation, but it’s safe to do it with any of the birth control pills that are available, says Black. “Any of the risks associated with taking combined hormonal contraception aren’t expected to be any higher if you were taking it continuously or in an extended fashion like with Seasonale.”
Seasonale contains a combination of levonorgestrel (progestin) and ethinyl estradiol (estrogen), just like many other brands of birth control such as Alesse.
The difference is that Seasonale comes in packs with 84 active pills—enough to take each day for four months, after which you take a break for “menstruation.” An advantage to taking Seasonale, says Black, is that this break preempts the breakthrough bleeding a lot of women experience after taking birth control continuously for a few months.
The concept of having a regular monthly period is relatively new
“If we go back a couple of thousand years, women were typically in some sort of a sexual relationship from the time they started having periods until they reached menopause,” says Pierson. With no contraception available, women were pregnant or lactating most of the time and Pierson estimates that they may have only menstruated about five or six time in their lives. “It was when we had efficient contraception that we got the idea that regular menstrual periods are normal. So to have someone declare that you need a regular menstrual period to be healthy, that’s just not the case,” he says.
There’s no scientific evidence that period suppression is harmful, but long-term studies haven’t been done
According to the SOGC’s guidelines on continuous and extended use of hormonal contraception, taking the pill to suppress your period for a short period of time is as safe as using it in a 21-day cycle. However, the guidelines also state that evidence on the long-term safety of using hormonal contraception continuously isn’t available.
The longest period of time that researchers have officially followed women continuously taking the birth control pill is three years, says Black. “But the first studies published on this were in 1977, so it’s something that’s been done for a long time. However, we don’t have any reason to suggest that the risks would be any higher than it would be taking the birth control pill in the regular way.”
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Web exclusive: October 2009
It is true that having a natural cycle can help a woman determine other health issues when there is an unexplainable change in the pattern of the cycle. A young woman who is not sexually active and who experienced several months without any periods thought that was convenient for awhile, but then decided to get checked out with the doctor. After discussing it with the doctor and noticing a couple other linked symptoms, scans were arranged and a small abnormal growth was found in the pituitary gland. The result was secondary amenorhea, stoppage of menustration. To prevent further growth and attempt to in fact shrink the growth in the pituitary, medication is available. It was due to the prolonged missing of normal periods that the young woman was prompted to seek information. Yes, it behooves us to learn from the patterns of our lives.
I have endometrial ablation surgery last april of 2011, due to continuous bleeding. after may of 2011 I haven't had any monthly periods any more but I still feel menstrual cramps every month. my OB refuses to take me in for check up, for he says it has nothing to do with the surgery. What could be the causes of my menstrual cramps every month when I'm not having periods any more?I went to general practitioner for check up, and the Dr. suggest that he will send a request to my OB for follow ups but since then nothing had been scheduled for me. What should I do?
1.48yrs old. I had my blood vessel burned off 2yrs ago.didnt work, I keep having periods that will last a whole month,or never stop at all some month. Now they r giving me the depo shots it will be my third shot this month.but all is been happening to me is I get a period and it won't go away, I've been on my period for a whole month. How does this happen, after every thing they did. Do I need to get another .Obyn
I actually take the pill with a break every 4 months for the least 4 years to prevent uterine cancer as per my family doctor and as per a gynecologist. Having a very active period can actually lead to more chance of developing problems and cancers!
The most important thing is that WE have choices. My periods have always been nasty. Since the beginning I have dealt with debilitating cramps, hemorrage style bleeding, menstral migraines and that is just to name a few. Thank god for the pill. It has meant many years of far less suffering. Now I am at the age where the pill is no longer an option for me and I am in a panic about my lack of choices. Either go on the pill or get a hysterectomy. I am a good 10 years away from menopause but still a little to old to be taking the pill. It is a nightmare because there really are very few options for women who held hostage by horrific periods.
I'm getting pretty sick of this pharmaceutical industry sponsored propaganda... it's a woman's choice whether she wants to take hormones for birth control and it may be the best option for some people, but I agree with previous comments: stop making it sound like it's natural and even healthier or expected for women to be altering their natural bodily cycles for decades, there is sufficient evidence that it is in fact unnatural and increases risks of some cancers, not to mention gradually lowering libido and other unpleasant side effects.
I have, all my menstruating life, refused to put chemical hormones into my body. At 39 yrs old, using the Creighton Model of Fertility Awareness, a 99% effective method of avoiding and acheiving pregnancies (mine have been spaced nicely at 3yrs between each), my OB-GYN is impressed with how much I know about what is going on in my body (and it's a shared responsibility with my husband). I look forward to being prepared for menopause, and am confident about detecting irregularities, from ovulation to menstruation. I am amazed at how few women know about ovulation, who also don't know the potential effects of chemically suppressing it for years. And the notion that women of past generations only had a period a few times in their lives is ridiculous! Stupid theories like this keep women believing the propaganda that we need "fixing." Considering women today want to be "in control" of their own bodies, they should take control - by knowing their bodies' natural functions! Therein lies your true freedom.
Though it might have been typical hundreds of years ago for women to generally be lactating, there were spinsters, in addition to women like me who have not been able to get pregnant, so there certainly would be awareness that women do menstruate on a monthly basis. This view could not only have been formed when contraceptives were available.
I've heard this argument about women of the past having so few periods, and it's completely ridiculous when discussing the safety of hormonally repressing your cycle. Women who don't have periods because they're pregnant or lactating have a completely different hormonal balance in their body than someone just taking birth control pills. Not to mention their bodies are experiencing this based on altered levels of natural hormones, not artificially created ones. If it was actually the same thing then when you went on birth control pills I guess you'd start shooting milk everywhere! But it's not the same, which is exactly why women who are lactating can't take a regular birth control pill, they have to take the "mini pill" which I believe only has progesterone in it, and even with that some will find their milk supplies negatively affected. Plus the idea that women would only have five or six periods in their whole life is laughable, even with poorer nutrition, etc. which decreases regularity. While some breastfeeding mothers don't start their cycles up again for years (those who choose to breastfeed their children as toddlers, for instance) for others it's only a few months postpartum even while breastfeeding exclusively. And it's not as if every culture would have young girls off and pregnant the second they start menstruating, either. Going on birth control pills and staying on them before your body has fully matured is particularly questionable, stalling processes that many people will find they finally go through once coming off of birth control (gaining weight, changes in breasts, etc.). There are proven safety risks to ongoing use of birth control such as loss of bone density, etc. and no study longer than three years after decades of being able to study the side effects of prolonged usage shows just how much these companies give a damn if you know how safe or not these products really are. Look into Fertility Awareness and other birth control methods so you understand all the options out there before buying into "it's all safe, don't worry".
Most premenopausal women have irregular periods and the flow also changes. Whoever wrote this comment above is quite scary. Should we all have our uterus and ovary removed just in case we have cancer? Can a patient get hyresectomy eventhough there is no evidence of cancer? Are woman really in good hands and should they trust their doctors?
Age - 49. Due to irregularities with my period, going from a 3 day period to a 16 day period,in a matter of 2 - 4 months, I approached my family doctor regarding alternatives. She recommended that I go on hormone therapy for 6 months and then be period free, fully menopausal. I did not like that idea because the change in my cycle was too abrupt. I asked for a referral to Gyno. Too long of a wait she said. I then asked for a Hysterectomy. Thank God that I did. The sudden change in my period was caused by CANCER. Now, Everything is gone, Uterus, Ovaries, & Cervix. Hormone therapy would have masked the cancer, and by the time it was found, It would have been too late. BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU CHOSE TO DO!!!