No tampons, no oversized sanitary pads, no cramps … Any woman pressing Pamprin could rant about the infinite positives of a period-stopping birth control pill. But is this new drug for the disappearance of menstruation safe and can it still provide protection against acne?
What is “stop period”?
Well, the first period ending contraceptive called Lybrel doesn’t actually stop the period. As the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals points out, birth control-induced period interruption is really “menstrual suppression.” The body’s response to the seven-day absence of contraceptive hormones after the typical 21-day contraceptive cycle triggers withdrawal bleeding, not a true period.
Whatever it’s called, this week’s Food and Drug Administration approval of the contraceptive bypass period raised enough unanswered questions about safety to fill a month of morning talk shows.
Lybrel
Lybrel period suppressant comes in a 28-pill pack. The pills contain 90 micrograms of a progestin, levonorgestrel, and 20 micrograms of an estrogen, ethinyl estradiol. These active ingredients are similar to and work like other FDA-approved contraceptives. Except you skip the placebos.
Levonorgestrel stops the monthly release of an egg from the ovary and thickens the cervical mucus, making it difficult for sperm to fertilize an egg.
Lybrel and acne control
In addition to preventing pregnancy, Lybrel can also have an acne-preventing effect. The ethinyl estradiol component of the pill can lower circulating levels of testosterone and ultimately limit the secretion of facial oil, one of several factors involved in causing acne.
But how will menstrual elimination with Lybrel treat acne effectively?
A study sponsored by Lybrel’s manufacturer, Wyeth, supports the acne-preventing power of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. However, ironically, the possible side effects of levonorgestrel include oily skin and acne. If you experience acne while using a contraceptive that contains levonorgestrel, tell your doctor, because commonly prescribed acne antibiotics such as tetracycline can make levonorgestrel less effective.
More studies are needed on menstrual elimination
While the words “stop your period” may sound melodious to millions of women, for the University of New Hampshire professor of gender sociology and medical sociology
Jean Elson, they sound more like the prelude to a horror movie.
Elson feels: “Using hormones to reduce normal menstruation seems like a very strange mix of feminism and medical authority to me: women are offered the opportunity to control their own bodies, but what are the real implications?”
Furthermore, Elson finds that menstruation has been transformed from a biological problem into a social issue and proposes that women, “… may not find their periods so inconvenient if schools and workplaces provide opportunities for people to rest. “.
Like Elson, Margaret Freda, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women’s health at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City, has doubts about menstrual suppression.
Last August, Freda told the American Journal of Nursing, “The jury is still out on total menstrual suppression,” pending long-term studies on its safety.
A study published in Contraception tested the safety of continued daily use of Lybrel in more than 2,000 healthy women who had normal menstrual cycles. Among the participants, Lybrel side effects were comparable to those reported for 21 days and 7 days without oral contraceptive regimens.
However, Dr. Camelia Davtyan, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, noticed a problem with the study. Davtyan said HealthDay News that, “… the rate of complications related to uterine bleeding is quite high.”
Of course some women have been practicing menstrual suppression for years, it could be five to twenty years before medical studies finally agree on the general safety of this practice. In the meantime, women will once again need to trust their intuition and personal health needs to decide how best to prevent pimples and pregnancy.
Sources:
Archera, David F et al. Evaluation of a continuous regimen of levonorgestrel / ethinylestradiol: results of the phase 3 study. Contraception; December 2006, vol 74, no 6, pp. 439-445.
Reproductive Health Professionals Association. Health Matters: Understanding Menstrual Suppression. October 2006.
HealthDay News. Contraceptive pill for the whole year, safe and effective. December 13, 2006.
Potera, Carol and Maureen Shawn Kennedy. Choosing not to menstruate: a trend for adults and some teenagers. It is safe? American Journal of Nursing; August 2006, vol 106, no 8, pp. 19.
Thiboutot, Diane. A randomized controlled trial of a low-dose contraceptive containing 20 μg of ethinyl estradiol and 100 μg of levonorgestrel for the treatment of acne. Fertility and sterility; September 2001, vol 76, no 3, pp. 461-468.
University of New Hampshire. Expert: A new birth control pill that eliminates menstruation is a bad idea. Newswise; May 22, 2007.