Ladies, we can kiss our monthly menses with its associated headaches, moodswings, and bloating goodbye.  Women all over the world are jumping on the bandwagon and asking their gynecologists for continuous birth control in order to eliminate this often unbearable week of every month. 

Birth control, since its inception, has been  taken by women twenty-one days out of every month, with  a week off for withdrawal bleeding. It was initially thought that this week of bleeding was necessary as it  mimicked a woman’s natural menstrual cycle.  However as more and more women have  entered the workforce, this week of bleeding has become nothing more than a nuisance to women.  The menses has contributed to decreased productivity in the workplace due to often unbearable cramps, headaches, dizziness, and nausea associated with menstrual bleeding. 

Gynecologists for years have been prescribing  continuous birth control pills to patients  for events such as a wedding or  vacation. When birth control pills are taken without a break , a woman can skip a menstrual cycle. I , myself have been taking Yasmin birth control pills for the past six months and have had only slight spotting. The reduction in bloating, menstrual migraine headaches, and other PMS symptoms is astonishing.

How should continuous birth control be taken? Typically , a woman continues onto another birth control pill pack after she finishes her 21st pill in the pack.  The best type of pill to take for continuous therapy should be a pill that contains the same amount of estrogen and progesterone daily, ie. Levlen, Yasmin, Orthocyclen, Mircette, and Loestrin. I find that pills in which the progesterone levels increase weekly cause  more breakthrough bleeding.

The only side-effect of continuous birth control is occasional breakthrough bleeding. I tell my patients that if bleeding persists for more than two days after doubling up on their birth control pills, they should stop the pill, bleed for one week, then restart a brand new pill pack. What is the  downside to  not having a menstrual cycle monthly? Absolutely nothing! The uterine lining is protected from overgrowing by a constant daily dose of two complementary hormones, estrogen and progesterone.  What is the upside of continuous therapy? Think of all the money you will be saving on tampons, pads, and pain medication!

Dr. Tara Solomon, FACOG

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