Should menstrual cycles be tampered with?

[ecstatic]

I just read an article entitled "Menstruation Is Fast Becoming Optional" and it talks about how more women are using Birth Control pills to skip their periods completely. It sounds appealing but I wonder if these women are somehow playing with fire, or are periods really unnecessary? What if the naysayers are simply moles from the billion dollar tampon/pad industries?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20060521/ap_on_he_me/no_more_periods_1

[Virginia Dare]

1. I've read about this issue as well...

and my first thought was that my daughter was lucky because she probably will only have to deal with menstruation a few times a year, or less.

Then, I thought, wait, we're messing with mother nature again, what will the long term effects be, we don't know that do we?

[yvr girl]

2. From Sep-Feb I was in the hospital 4 times because of my period

I get so sick, I had to be hooked up to an IV for about 7 hours to be re-hydrated. It is the rare occasion that my period doesn't involve me being a heap in the bathroom floor writhing in pain. I have most certainly altered my cycle from time to time. I am also considering being on the pill full time.

[Virginia Dare]

9. I think for a case such as yours...

it's probably worth considering, but for women who have normal complication free periods, it's probably not something that should be advocated. That's just my uneducated opinion at this point.

[Caoimhe]

3. screw that

I took the depo shot and as a result didn't have my period for almost 6 months. I was miserable, bloated and a complete and total emotional wreck. I would never mess with the way Mother Nature set me up, but that's just me. It's not worth it. I only hope that women who are doing this for convenience don't wake up in 10 years unable to have children when they desperately want them. Class action lawsuit.. here we come.

[Sequoia]

6. After I had my first baby

and she came late in life...the docs gave me a pill to not have my period because I was breast feeding. Well, I thought it was great but when I went off to have another kid maybe...it was too late because the big ole M word came to me and that was that. I kinda don't think it's a great idea, especially for the younger ladies. Just doesn't seem natural to mess with mother nature on that scale.

[ecstatic]

8. except the women won't have a case because the pill manufacturers will say

that the women didn't follow the instructions of the pill. The only pill that purposely decreases periods (so far) is Seasonale.

[SheilaT]

4. Personally, I'm of the

"It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" school of thought.

I can tell you that when the birth control pill was originally developed, they considered doing it so that women would not get a period. But then it was thought that women tend to depend on getting their period as proof they aren't pregnant, so went to the system of hormones for three weeks, then none for a week so there's a period.

What that article does not address at all, is if there are long term negative consequence to completely suppressing the cycle as it talks about. Do those women have a greater incidence of something-or-another? I doubt that anyone has actually researched it that way, although it's possible that if within the context of other studies (the long-term one involving nurses might be informative here)the suppression of periods with hormones has been followed, then we might learn if there's any down side.

My point is, the only reason to think this (suppression of the period) could be a problem is if it results in something else going wrong.

I can tell you from personal experience that menopause, once the hot-flashes have ended and periods are no more, is quite nice.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. I agree with all your points 100%. Don't fool with Mother Nature unless

you have a major problem.
I saw ads on TV for pills to reduce the tme you get your period..just for convenience. It strikes me as another ploy by big pharma to make money off the bodies of women.
Anyone see any ads for pills for men to stop producing sperm???? No, the only drugs for men are to INCREASE their erections.

[slide to the left]

5. the research about this is old

I read about not having a period several years ago and so far, there have been no negitive consequenses reported. Women in the field in Iraq do this all the time. And I have stopped having mine. The period you have while on the pill is not a "real" period anyway since there is no egg.

[Nikia]

13. I am pretty sure that I am getting rid of uterine lining on the pill too

At least that is the way that it seems when I have my period. Do women on the decreased menstration pills lose a lot more menstral fluid when they do menstrate? What about women coming off od Depro shots?

[SheilaT]

14. Not necessarily.

It may depend on the exact formulation, but I thought that some of the pills simply interfered with the egg being able to implant. Besides, women have reported getting pregnant while actually taking the pill exactly as instructed.

When I was on the pill, many years ago now, I tended to feel slightly nauseous almost all the time. And while my periods were never fun -- tended to be heavy, and in my younger days I often had a very bad backache, although not too much in the way of cramps -- I never really understood why so many women hated them so much.

[woodsprite]

7. I thought it was "convenient" at best that mine only came so often,

then it started coming MORE frequently than 28 days. Diagnosis: extreme anemia (8.5 - organs start shutting down below 8) and endometrial cancer stage IIA. No, I don't think that menstrual periods should be played with. If you don't want one and don't want any kids, then get a hysterectomy. Especially if you're heavier or naturally produce too much estrogen. If you want kids, put up with it and if you have any irregularities (bleeding too much, spotting between periods, or even a mild clear fluid discharge) make sure that an endometrial biopsy is done as one of the first tests - not a last resort test. Pap smears do not pick up endo/uterine cancer.

**** This has been a public service announcement...... Because every woman should be aware that docs try to pass the possible symptoms off as some type of premenopausal normal bodily function, sometimes misdiagnosing for 2 or more years before even doing a biopsy.

[4_TN_TITANS]

10. My wife has been periodless for several years....

She prefers not to fool with it and seems to be normal enough without it. Her doctor said it was perfectly safe, but it feels 'unnatural' to many women. We also don't plan on having any more kids.

[demigoddess]

11. Since HRT has been discredited for menopause, they had to find some-

thing else to mess with. And they just love to mess with women's cycles because they do not respect women. Also it is a way to keep the money coming in from drug sales.

[Odin2005]

12. Who cares if it's "messing with mother nature"?

Anything that's not being a hunter-gatherer is "messing with mother nature."

The growing ludditism among my fellow left wingers is disturbing. :puke:

[BrklynLiberal]

16. How about some pills to stop the production of sperm in men, instead

of the only drugs for men being those for increasng erections?

[Warpy]

17. This is one of the things we'll just have to wait and see

Who knows how our bodies are really designed to work? No other critter out there has a monthly oestrus cycle and is sexually receptive at all times, at least if there's a decent partner around.

I'd have loved a way to skip my menstrual periods, which were irregular, heavy, and extremely painful, but I was completely intolerant of hormone therapy.

I am deeply grateful for menopause, something else that other critters don't share. There is no pleasure like that of thumbing one's nose at the fertility aisle in the supermarket.

Perhaps down the road the woman who skip their periods now will pay a price in terms of stroke, heart disease, osteoporosis, and various cancers. Right now, we don't know that's the case, or whether just having a period every month while undergoing two or fewer pregnancies might have an even bigger effect.

Women who opt to live on pills and avoid periods for six months at a time are experimenting with their own bodies and lives. That is their right, and following them long term will tell us a lot of important information later. I am grateful to them for this.

[ecstatic]

18. good points... having soooo many periods might be worse

than having none at all! We are going to learn a lot in the next few decades. Hopefully researchers are paying special attention so that people don't lose their lives/fertility in vain (if that's what happens).