For women who dread that one week each month, a new birth control regime may have an answer.
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved Seasonale, the first extended-cycle birth control pill. The contraceptive, created by Barr Laboratories in New York, will be available by prescription to women in October 2003, according to a press release.
Unlike regular birth control pills, Seasonale has 84 active pills followed by seven placebo pills. The placebo pills cause women to menstruate, so patients only have their period once every four months.
Philip Hindelang, a gynecologist at the Student Health Center, said the idea behind Seasonale is not new and doctors have prescribed continuous birth control to patients for years.
“If you had gone to women in the 60s and said ‘Take this and you won’t have a period for four months,’ no one would have taken the pill,” he said. “It’s a marketing thing.”
Women who are on a regular mono-phasic birth control – that have the same level of hormones in all 21 pills – can skip the placebo pills at the end of the month, start their next pack instead and also not have a period, Hindelang said.
Cyndi Rachal, an animal science senior, said she purposely took pills so she would not have her period on her honeymoon.
Hindelang said continuous birth control can benefit women with heavy menstrual cycles or intense cramping because they would only experience discomfort three to five times a year.
“I would like that because I get menstrual migraines,” Rachal said. “But at the same time, I have a 5-year-old stepdaughter so I would freak out if I didn’t have my period.”
Rachal said she would be interested in Seasonale if it was available at the Health Center, but Hindelang said it would likely be too expensive to offer.
But if students want to take continuous birth control they can, by using mono-phasic pills available at the health center for about $8 per pack, he said.
Hindelang said continuous birth control will not harm women’s systems, but some students were still doubtful.
Melanie Hebert a biological sciences junior said although she takes birth control for medical purposes, skipping periods does not seem like a good idea.
“It’s a biological process, it messes it up,” Hebert said. “It works that way for a reason.”
Harriet Hammond, a psychology senior, was also skeptical of Seasonale.
“I wouldn’t do it because it messes up your menstrual cycle too much,” Hammond said. “Regular birth control regulates and controls it, but you still have it every month.”