The Pill and the "natural" menstrual cycle

United States
May 7, 2010 2:39pm CST
I have to wait a week until I can get my tests done to see what is really wrong with my body. The doctors had some theories and I've been researching those theories online since I can't do much else until we know for sure what's wrong. I got a little sidetracked from kidney cysts to ovarian cysts to reading about the birth control pill and our menstrual cycle. It seems that originally when the pill came out 50 years ago, it was influenced by the Catholic Church. The church supported this method as it was natural (more so than say spermicide which KILLS). And they boasted it's use of chemicals the female body already makes and using those to prevent ovulation. They also decided to create this 28 day cycle where women got their period monthly like clockwork. Many women were in fact irregular when it came to their periods. (I was too before my doctor put me on birth control). For those of you who don't know how the pill works, it's generally a 28 day course of a number of active pills and a number of inactive pills at the end. When taken daily, a woman gets her period while on the inactive pills. When taken properly it is pretty effective against pregnancy. And like I said this idea of a monthly period was to boast how natural it is. So women didn't feel like it was disrupting their periods. However further reading tells me that in fact it was not so natural back then. At that time many women were getting pregnant and not having periods and that was healthier. Not to say we should all run out and get pregnant, oh no! The problem with a monthly period is this - Every time a woman has a period she needs to regrow tissues and cells to replace what she lost. Each time the cells regrow it increases chances of mutations and complications. So this research says that fewer periods are better! But the media has been telling me that I want a period each month. And we're so used to the monthly period idea that new pills which boast only 4 periods a year are facing a lot of criticism. Ladies what do you think? I'm all for fewer periods and less health complications? I also know my partner would like me to have fewer mood swings ;p How do you feel? Information from http://www.noperiod.com/ and http://rfrost.people.si.umich.edu/courses/MatCult/content/PillTaker.pdf
3 people like this
5 responses
• United States
8 May 10
My OBGYN put me on a pill and told me that I should take it the first 3 months like normal, and then for the next 3 skip the inactive pills and just go on to the next package. After that, if it worked well, to do it for 6 months. So, theoretically, that makes for 2 periods per year. As for whether it increases chances of mutations/complications, I don't think that would happen any more than it would normally with time. As you grow older, so do your eggs. They're all already there and waiting. Menstuation...it's your body doing what it was designed to do! And the building up of the lining is preparing your body for pregnancy. Once that lining sits awhile it breaks down and isn't sufficient to support a pregnancy.
• United States
8 May 10
That sounds cool. Did your OBGYN say what the benefits of you having only 2 periods a year are? I've always had really bad periods with lots of complications. I'm just thinking maybe fewer periods will decrease some of my problems.
• United States
8 May 10
His reasoning was that it would help with the awful debilitating cramps and very heavy flow.
@agv0419 (3022)
• Philippines
8 May 10
I'm also on the pill for 3 months now because of menorrhagia or heavy menstrual bleeding for a month the doctor told me to take contraceptive pills for three months to make my period normal. I have hormonal imbalance so pills can help me to resolve my problem. Pills have many benefits aside from preventing contraception.
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
12 May 10
Hi Sweet Well I have had the Marina Coil fitted about 15 years ago I went to be Sterilised and this new Coil had just come out, so I went for it I rarely get a Period now, for the last 2 years there has been nothing and it is just wonderful lol but I am also at that time of Life
• United States
13 May 10
Hi darlin! I've heard of the coil before. Haha I wouldn't mind not having a period. My mom is older and so she doesn't get them anymore and so when I'm cramping and in pain on my period she says "boy I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore!" Hehe.
@Catkin (480)
• United States
8 May 10
Oh boy....waiting is one of the worst bits, it leaves too much time to do exactly what you've done: worry and wonder and go "oh my god, what if I have THAT?!" I do the same thing, it's kind of hard not to. _ Very interesting, I didn't know that the Catholic Church had a hand in the pill's beginning. I was only 11 when I started my period (topic for another discussion, the increasingly earlier ages of menstruation in young girls over the last decade...it's scary), and in the past 12 years I have not once used any form of birth control, pill or otherwise. Granted, I have not been in any danger of getting pregnant, but I suppose I could have talked with my doctor about possibly taking the pill to reduce the horrible cramps I'm prone to getting. I think they've gotten a bit better with time, or I've at least managed to anticipate and react accordingly --1 ibuprofen if it feels like some serious cramps are on their way, but I'll take no more than that. It took a couple years for me to be able to read myself well enough, though; I can think of a number of occasions I was sent home from school because my body said, "Hey, that's a bad cramp and you ate something earlier! Time to clear out your system!" _
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
8 May 10
I personally think that once you start playing around with your body and your period you are asking for trouble. As much as I didn't like having a period its the way it is for us females and it should not be changed to only 4 times a year. I think when you do this you are creating problems unnatural to your body and this will cause trouble later on in life. Who knows what will happen when menapause comes for these females who chose to have their period only 4 times a year.
• United States
8 May 10
Before I was on the pill I was having anywhere from 3 to 15 periods a year. I was soooo irregular. The periods also varied in length from 2 days to 2 weeks. That's why I got put on the birth control pill. The OBGYN said it was healthier and more convenient to know when the period was coming.
@phoenix8606 (4942)
7 May 10
hell0! I am not a woman, but I know that it is really better to let the things go on their natural way, because with the pills that many people take, there can be often many complications and sometimes women become even sterile
• United States
7 May 10
Now a days there's a pill for everything it seems. Some of those pills can be very dangerous. Everyone reacts differently and in my 10 years on birth control I have had no complications. Heh I guess since you're not a woman you can't really say much about your period can you? ;p