Tag Archives: Kinsey Institute

Take Charge Of Your Menstrual Cycle!

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Ladies, you don’t have to have your period when Mother Nature decides it’s time. You can have your period when you want to or not have your period  at all. Using contraceptive pills, you can take charge of your menstrual cycle!

Also called “continuous contraception,” you can suppress or alter your period by not taking the placebo or iron pills in your oral contraceptive pill pack and instead starting a new cycle pack. You can also take contraceptives such as Seasonale or Lybrel designed to reduce your periods to just 4 times a year.

A 2013 study by the University of Oregon in the US revealed  that around 17% of female students at the university are practicing continuous contraception. This is higher than what was previously believed.  Women’s magazines such as Madame Noire and Glamour came out with several articles over the summer discussing this trend.

Many of us have heard of using oral contraceptives to regulate our periods or clear up our face. But, few of us have heard of taking contraceptive pills to the ultimate level to decide when to bleed.  Ladies, obgyns have used continuous contraception for decades to treat endometriosis, dysmenorrhea, and other menstruation-related disorders that benefit from an uninterrupted dose of hormones. (You can get more info at Kinsey Confidential and WebMD) How safe is doing this? The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other health organizations say suppressing your period is safe – it’s simply another reproductive choice for women. However, little is known about the long-term effects of this lifestyle is and whether it would affect women of African or Asian descent differently. Also, while oral contraceptives have been proven over many decades to be safe, they should not be taken by heavy smokers and triphasic oral contraceptives can lead to irregular bleeding is taken uninterruptedly. (Take a look at what type of oral contraceptives you are using, if you’re not using one of the specialty pills like Seasonale or Lybrel that already limit the number of periods you have per year.)

Yet, we all have our big moments like a special party, a week-end at the beach, or our wedding night when it would literally mess up things to have our periods start flowing.  And, it’s not easy getting blood out of clothing and sheets, is it…?!

Over one-third of women who opt for this lifestyle learned about how to do it from media  – not doctors.  SuzyKnew recommends you work with your healthcare provider to take charge of your menstrual cycle. In the US, your insurance should cover continuous contraception if your doctor writes a note.  If your provider hasn’t heard of this, send them a link to SuzyKnew!