No more periods

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shanghaiceltic

Board Royalty

Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7617
Location: Perth WA
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Posted: May 21, 2007 - 01:15 PM
Post subject: No more periods

I would be interested in comment on this. It does seem to be playing with nature and nature always seems to have a way of redressing itself.

I have a cousin who was one of twins. The other did not surive and my cousin was severely disabled, Why thalidomide, the wonder drug in the 60's used to stop morning sickness.

Coming soon, a pill that stops periods forever

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:10am BST 21/05/2007

A contraceptive pill that aims to halt indefinitely a woman's period is expected to receive full approval from US health officials this week, a move that could end discomfort and pain for many women.

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to give the green light to Lybrel tomorrow. Wyeth, the drug's manufacturer, has requested approval from British officials for the drug, which will be marketed here as Anya, but it is unlikely the pill will be available until next year.

It is estimated that 3.5 million women in Britain use oral contraception. It is taken in three-week cycles, with women taking a break in the fourth week to allow them to have their periods, mimicking the natural cycle.
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Lybrel, however, is taken for at least a year at a time. Like the majority of oral contraceptives it is a combined pill, containing both oestrogen and progestogen, but the doses of hormone have been lowered to allow for it being taken without a break.

Supporters of Lybrel claim there is no need for women to menstruate and the pill is an easy and safe way to eliminate what many consider to be a monthly ordeal.

Gynaecologists say they have been seeing a slow but steady increase in women asking how to limit and even stop monthly bleeding.

Surveys have found up to half of women would prefer not to have any periods and most would prefer them less often.

Most doctors say they have prescribed contraception to prevent periods and many women have achieved the Lybrel effect by skipping their rest week and taking pack after pack of their pills to miss out on having periods.

Rebecca Findlay, of the Family Planning Association, said yesterday: "It's a good lifestyle option for some women, and gives them extra choice, though clearly will not be welcomed by all women."

Some experts believe that blocking periods could be unsafe. Paula Derry, a health psychologist in Baltimore, wrote in the British Medical Journal two weeks ago that "menstrual suppression itself is unnatural", and that there was not enough data to determine if it was safe long-term.

Her stance is supported by research in the US which has found many women view their periods as symbols of fertility and health. Christine Hitchcock, of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, told The New York Times: "My concern is that the menstrual cycle is an outward sign of something that's going on hormonally in the body. [I worry about] the idea that you can turn your body on and off like a tap."

The same hormones that control the menstrual cycle act on the brain, bones and skin and the long-term effects of suppressing them were unknown, she said. "You need to think whether there are consequences for the whole body that we don't know about," she added.

The main reason the original contraceptive pills, introduced in the 1960s, mimicked the monthly cycle, was because there were no off-the-shelf pregnancy tests at the time. Scientists believed women would want the reassurance of a monthly period to prove they were not pregnant.

Also, church leaders were worried about its impact on promiscuity and the manufacturers felt that to mimic the natural monthly cycle as closely as possible would make it more acceptable.

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Kiwi

Post Boaster

Joined: May 07, 2003
Posts: 4763

Status: Offline

Posted: May 21, 2007 - 01:39 PM

I thought the pill was already recognized as a source of estrogen pollution in rivers? Of course maybe the reports on that have been alarmist/inaccurate/false, but the potential effects of existing pill use seem to me to be a bigger worry than the potential effects of adjusting the dosage (which is after all all they are really talking about).

Wasn't there also some reports that sexually inactive teenage girls were going on the pill to encourage breast growth? Is that healthy?

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hammerforlife
Fire-eater

Joined: May 24, 2004
Posts: 2701

Posted: May 21, 2007 - 01:47 PM

Kiwi wrote:

Yep estrogen has been causing problems in rivers for a while. Right back in 1978 Thames Water in London found out that 40% of the male of one type of fish were hermaphroditic and were sterile. This was blamed on estrogen. So not a new problem.

Probably due to all the Chavey 12 year old slappers that live in that part of the World. In fact the're probably the best of the Chavs. The others wouldn't know what the pill was.