I'm post-menopause. No more periods, Yay!!
I liked the pill because of the light periods and no cramps, however, I quit it in my late 30's due to having sex very infrequently. The sponge was a good substitute.

I am on the pill and I control my usage so I have my period every other month. I tried going three months without my "period", and I had breakthrough bleeding. It was cute. Also, I have to admit, not having my period for 6-12 months straight combined with having regular intercourse seems a little bit scary. Having my period every other month is re-assuring.

I took a class about three years ago in college on women's health and their bodies and we talked about this very issue (it was right around when Seasonale came out) and the really scary thing for me is the lack of any long term research on certain hormonal contraceptives and no research on what happens when people use them like this Stephanie girl does. Seasonale was tested for only 2 years on humans and then determined safe by the FDA. We have no idea what the long term effects of having more hormones in your body at those levels past two years are. That is what scares me. I remember in one of our lectures learning that even taking the pill without breaks for a year the placebo exposes you to levels of hormones that are creeping into the dangerous cancer causing early pill zone. There are no effects now, but in 20 years, will we see a rise in female cancers? Do we already?

I used to be on the combined pill and I occasionally used it to only have periods every couple of months - I went on it to make them lighter and less painful in the first place, so it made sense. I had to change to the mini pill after getting some scary side effects, and now I have the progestogen implant. I haven't had a period since I started the mini-pill, and while it was a bit weird at first I love it now! So much less hassle, and pain. I don't have any side effects from it either.

That said, when I was younger I took...Norethisterone I think it was? to stop my periods while on a long distance canoeing expedition. I took it for longer than most do, and had the worst, heaviest, most painful period of my life when I stopped it. I really hope the implant doesn't have the same effect!

I've been on Depo-Provera for 2 years now, and while I'll be stopping it because I'm concerned about bone density issues, I'll definitely be missing the no periods. There are concerns about the high levels of hormones with these treatments, but the stress of so many peroids in one lifetime has been argued by some researchers as a possible variable in cervicle and uterine cancer. So I guess you just gotta do or not, since it's one of those medical issues that nothing certain has been figured out yet.

I'm on the pill and I usually try and have my period once every two months--any more than that and I get breakthrough bleeding...

I've heard that research about having far more periods than in the past, and it makes sense... however, going more than 4 months without a period sounds needlessly risky--and going 5 years without a period seems like a recipe for severly fucking up your uterus.

I don't buy this "women today have nine times as many periods as our great-grandmothers" stuff. How can that really be true? My great-grandmothers on my mother's side had one and two children. Unless they got their first periods far, far later than I got mine, and started menopause far, far earlier than my mother, it seems to me they probably had the same number of periods that I and my mother are likely to, unless they stopped menstruating at some point due to malnutrition, which is not a goal I strive for. More periods than women did a couple hundred years ago? I can buy that, but not because women were full-time baby machines--that varies depending on the society in question--but because nutrition was so much worse.

Yup, and tonsils are useless, so lets cut them out, and spleens! Pesky things, let's get rid of them...
Oh.. .wait... they DO something? Oops.
The idea of messing with what our bodies just do for no other reason than we can't think of a reason *not* to disturbs me. If you have awful periods, by all means, space them out. But otherwise? I'm disturbed by the fact that what a woman's body "just does" is being treated as something to be... well... treated.

It's worth noting that people who are on hormonal birth control and say that they get periods are WRONG. Your doctor may let you call it that, but it isn't a period. It looks like one, to be sure, but it isn't. So the distinction between birth control with zero bleeding and birth control with some bleeding ISN'T the existence of a period.

If you look at Talmudic sources (200-500 AD), it's clear from the discussions of family purity that women did not, generally, get a period every month. As I understand it, it's a nutrition thing. Also, shorter life spans mean that many (most?) women died before menopause. Given that, the 9-times-as-many statistic doesn't sound crazy, but I do wonder how it was calculated.

I've been stopping my periods with Mirena, they were heavy and painful, and the pill was giving me migraines that presented like strokes. I have my second one now, (I had a baby in between) and it doesn't just get rid of the period, it gets rid of the whole PMS and water retention deal too. Result: I have lost 7kilos and feel great. Our foremothers not having many periods is not just down to pregnancy and nutrition, but also prolonged breastfeeding. Add together 9 months plus two years breastfeeding and you're halfway to five years already; get pregnant as soon as the protective effects of breastfeeding wear off and you can make five years without a period easy.

I use the pill, but have a 'period' every month, mainly because I get really really weepy and down and PMSy if I don't. But also because I think although I don't really enjoy my period, it would be wierd if it didn't come around every month!

DT, what is it if it's not a period?

I "stopped" my periods surgically. I had a procedure called thermal ablation. Thermal ablation burns out most of the endometrium.

I had a condition called menorraghia; excessive periods. We're talking ten or more super-plus tampons a day since I was sixteen. So.

Anyway, the procedure isn't available if you might want kids someday. I'm already spayed.

My experience is weird. I still have full hormonal monthly cycles (mood changes, acne), but very, very light bleeding. I'm no longer restricted by periods so heavy I sometimes wouldn't go places. It's no longer a nightmare. Yet, after 30 years of nightmare periods, I find I am still stressed, waiting for it all to come back.

So I fear these new hormonal experiments people are doing, but I also sympathize. Those of us who really suffer with periods have very limited options.

despite my hatred of the period and the pad, i stopped even using tampons unless necessary. my periods used to 6-7 days. now they're 2-4 days at the most. pads aren't fun, but tampons often hurt and there was always a danger of leaving it in too long.

plus, i'm divorced, out now and as re-married as i'm allowed and why would i take pills when i don't need to?

I have endometriosis, so my periods are are painful enough to leave me bedridden for a week. The only effective pain management I've found is to just not have periods. After a nasty, side-effect ridden bout with depo-provera, I started using my bc pills to have four periods a year, and I've never been happier. I feel more in control of my body, and thus more at peace with it; even my sex life is better without the anxiety caused by dreading my painful periods. Even if the pain wasn't so severe, I still think I'd probably do it this way.

My doctor told me that the period you have when you're on birth control isn't really a period (no ovulation, no real period); it's just hormonal withdrawl programmed in by the pill's developers to make women (and doctors and politicians and religious leaders) feel less wierd about the process.

I've also read that some people think that with today's super-low dose pills, there may be increased risk of pregnancyn during the placebo week.

I'm on Birth Control to Lessen/Stop my periods. My doctor put me on the Shot (which I did not like AT ALL, and do not recommend it...it's way too much hormones in one dose), and then on the Pill in an effort to control my endometriosis, as well as Menorrhagia. For someone with these disorders, the act of ovulation (which you still go through, whether or not you are actually producing an egg) can be very VERY painful. Before being put on BC, I was using a heating pad nearly everyday of my "period" to decrease the pain. Thus, period control can be a good thing. I'm still not sure how I feel about those who are using it for non-medicinal reasons...

I've been using the pill to skip periods for almost four years now (I usually have one every 4-5 months or so, when I have time for it), and seriously, it may be the greatest thing of all time.

I know alot of women who have had trouble with the pill because of mood swings/irritability/etc and I found immediately when I started it that I had the opposite problem - arguably, I'm more emotionally stable on the pill than I was before I started taking it, and the drop in hormones when I stop for a week would lead to fits of uncontrollable crying, a terrible temper, and mood swings worse than I've ever experienced. So it's been really good for me to plan my periods accordingly, so that I can take a full week off to deal with it.

Oh, and I always get terribly heavy periods, despite the pill, and usually DO have to take time off for it.

It's been huge for my grad studies to not lose a week every month to the various problems with menstrating, and side effects be damned, I'm not going back to that.

I have had maybe 3-4 periods since 1999, and expect to not have another one for another 1.5-2 years, due to pregnancy and breastfeeding. It's pretty great! I would also be concerned about achieving this through artificial means, until it is researched further.

Martha, I'm glad to hear someone else admit to problems with "that wonderful shot" (depo-provera). My ob/gyn was agast at the symptoms I had. Depression, bloating, mood swings, a seeming hormone induced ADHD. Taking birth control distrupted my professional and family life hugely.

The pill had made me irritable and actually seemed to cause pms for me when I took it after my second child. I don't remember it causing any problems before my first. Between the two, well not as bad as after the second, but problems were developing.

I will never take any hormonal bc again.

i just have to weigh in and say that i take seasonale now, and would seriously consider a pill that stopped my period entirely. i think the tonsil comparison up above is a little dishonest because really, do your tonsils give you cramps and mood swings? i understand not wanting to villify a natural process of a woman's body, but at the same time, it does suck! and if science can give me a way out, i'm taking it!

for me, it's a quality of life issue. could there be consequences down the road? maybe, maybe not. could be hit by a bus tomorrow? maybe, maybe not. i'm just going to look at the evidence, weigh the options, and do what makes sense for me now.

I went off of Depo in December last year. Last month, I had my first perfectly normal period since 2004, and I even celebrated my cramps!

I was really disappointed to discover how foreign my body had become to me while I was on depo. I'm ecstatic to have my period back!

I got a Paraguard IUD last month after almost nine years of messing with my body chemistry (in reverse order: NuvaRing, Depo Provera, and every kind of Pill imaginable in an effort to find something that wouldn't give me crippling migraines). It's been an exciting ten or so weeks since I quit the Ring (breakthrough bleeding and near-constant yeast infections are stupid), and I'm rapidly concluding that hormonal birth control is my Kryptonite. I never could believe not bleeding was supposed to be a positive side effect of Depo, and the weight gain and crappy moods were miserable as well --- plus I still got freaking headaches!

It feels almost indescribably good to be finally letting my body run itself like it wants to run. I know the ParaGuard isn't for everybody, but I'd much rather talk to it and ibuprofen about my cramps than my brain and much more ibuprofen about migraines.

On a more cynical note, Organon (the company that makes NuvaRing) has been working on a male Pill for years, and I can't wait to see the publicity campaign for that sucker. It's either gonna tank like the Titanic or sell out like the next Viagra. Either way, you'd better believe the FDA will make sure it's safe. Sigh.

I got a Paraguard IUD last month after almost nine years of messing with my body chemistry (in reverse order: NuvaRing, Depo Provera, and every kind of Pill imaginable in an effort to find something that wouldn't give me crippling migraines). It's been an exciting ten or so weeks since I quit the Ring (breakthrough bleeding and near-constant yeast infections are stupid), and I'm rapidly concluding that hormonal birth control is my Kryptonite. I never could believe not bleeding was supposed to be a positive side effect of Depo, and the weight gain and crappy moods were miserable as well --- plus I still got freaking headaches!

It feels almost indescribably good to be finally letting my body run itself like it wants to run. I know the ParaGuard isn't for everybody, but I'd much rather talk to it and ibuprofen about my cramps than my brain and much more ibuprofen about migraines.

On a more cynical note, Organon (the company that makes NuvaRing) has been working on a male Pill for years, and I can't wait to see the publicity campaign for that sucker. It's either gonna tank like the Titanic or sell out like the next Viagra. Either way, you'd better believe the FDA will make sure it's safe. Sigh.

As one commenter alluded to above - but which was not mentioned at all in the AP article - the reason a "period" was built into hormonal contraceptives in the first place had nothing to do with safety, efficacy, or medical necessity. It was a deliberate attempt by one of the major developers of the Pill - a devout Catholic - to make it seem more "natural", thus to placate the Catholic Church and encourage them to accept hormonal BC, along with the rhythm method, as "natural birth control". It didn't work, but as a result every woman taking standard birth control pills for almost 50 years has been stuck with monthly bleeding that mimics - but is not biologically the same as - a period, along with the hormonal swings, PMS, and occasional mistakes in usage (and unplanned pregnancies) that resulted from having different formulations of hormones in a single prescription.

Details here.

The new no-period pills use the modern low-dose hormonal formulations; they just keep you on that dose continually, rather than off-and-on on a monthly cycle. Your total exposure to hormones over a given period of usage is thus about 1/3 higher than with the "regular" pill, but the dosage you take at any time stays low. (And since women use them for greater or lesser periods of time, depending on personal choice, it is not necessarily the case that a woman on the no-period pill will be exposed to more hormones overall than a woman on the cyclical pill.) Because the action of the pill prevents the development of the endometrial lining that an embryo would implant in, there is no need to have a period to slough if off when there is no pregnancy. Concerns about long-term usage are reasonable, but the mechanism of action of this medication is the same as that of the old-fashioned birth control pills; the only change is that it is not interrupted every 4 weeks, but the fourth week is just the same as the previous three, so there is no reason it should add a distinct danger. We also have lots of relatively long-term data from users of permanently implanted hormonal birth control (Norplant, etc.), who also do not have periods; those are known to be safe formulations. Caution is all very well, but this is not a major departure from known practices.

Kevin, thanks for the link!

" We don’t know what the long-term effects are of not menstruating."

True, and we don't know the long-term effects for having that many more periods than a couple of generations ago.

I find it irritating when people say, "oh poor you and your cramps..." Let's talk about some of the other menstrual symptoms; how about the increased activity in your bowels alongside the cramps? Yes, this happens to some of us. How would you like to miss a morrning of work because you were on the can the whole time?

How about when your temporary mental state makes you feel like killing yourself, even though you know why?

I've gone off the mini-pill out of curiosity for a few months before my next checkup. I think I'll be doing it again. I had 1 1/2 periods in 3 years, and it was awesome! Why bleed when you don't have to? It's not just a matter of "inconvenience" to some of us.

With the pain, clots, and mood swings I get, the less periods I have the better. Haven't had one in nearly 4 months, and I'm feeling fine, not to mention that I've so far saved something like $30 in tampons, pain pills (which frankly do far more harm than BC), and extra washing. That's a fair chunk of cash for me. Add to that the productivity I no longer lose what with feeling like a zombie one week out of every month! I'm a full-time student, I can't afford to be sick that much. Now granted, I'm not having sex at the moment, but if I were I'd seriously weigh up whether buying a pregnancy test every month instead of having a "lets-make-sure-I'm-not-knocked-up-test-bleed" might be better in the long run. I've seen at least one article noting that ovulation is suppressed more effectively under a continuous regimen, and it makes sense to me.

I'm going to reiterate my disappointment with this site's attitude to hormonal birth control, though. Phrases like "we don't know the long term effects" are a fearmongering argument from ignorance that I'd expect from the CWA, not you guys. That comment also shows that you haven't done sufficient research into this issue before weighing in.
You may be uncomfortable with using HBC personally, and that's totally fine, but you're allowing your personal misgivings to get in the way of providing accurate information to your readers. A commenter should not have had to educate you on continuous BC, although I'm certainly glad he saved me the effort :P.

Lastly (and I see this a whole lot on US sites in particular)a lot of people here seem to think that all the different BC brands use the same couple of chemicals. They don't. There's a wide variety of different regimens and doses, involving quite a few different chemicals - I'm on one formulation that doesn't even use estradiol. If you have a bad reaction to one brand, that simply means its not right for your body and that you should be on a different formulation (or none; there are women for whom no pill is yet suitable. However, these are far rarer than most of you seem to think). If your doctor won't help you find the right one, walk out and get a competent doctor! Any specialist who is surprised at the effect of a hammer dose like that contained in Depo worries me, for example.

blah blah ranty-rant :P

This post has been so useful to me....

I've always thought of myself as being medicine savvy due to working in the pharma industry, but this thread makes me realise how little I know about the variety of BC pills.

I've tried a few methods, depo being the worst, and after reading the comments here I can't wait to get back to the docotors to find a period-less pill.

When I first started my periods I got them VERY heavily and went through a bout of anaemia. It was like I was getting 3 months worth every 3 months, rather than what is considered normal. I also had loads of problems with getting blood every where which I thought would get better with practice, but it hasn't and I'm still washing the blood out of my pants, trousers and bed linen years later. I just never got the hang of it all - not to mention the smell! I've always felt so embarrassed about this, and the white trouser adverts are infuriating. I won't go swimming if I'm on let alone wear white.

The other side effect is that I've found that I am a LOT more afraid when I have my period. I have found that I ski worse and can't face rock climbing. These things I love doing any other time of the month, but If I'm having a period I am stricken with fright!!

I period free life for me would be greatly enhanced. Thank you for the education everyone. I really mean that!

I've been on the shot (Depo-Provera) for over twelve years now. No periods, no weight gain, no PMS and my bone scan came back all lovely and normal.

It was originally developed as an anti-cancer drug and had been in use as a contraceptive in Europe for well over fifteen years before I started using it.

Also, its not just one huge mega-dose of hormones dumped into the system all at once, I suspect that wouldn't even work. The shot is administered intra-muscularly (by my hubby, what could be more convenient?) and is released over twelve weeks from the tiny pocket it forms in the muscle.

I was warned not to allow deep massage or the pressure that accompanies chiropractic adjustments over the injection site which may cause too fast a release and leave me unprotected.

A friend went off the shot two years ago after seven years on. Her period was back to normal within eight months. Certainly it's not for everyone and the side-effects can be brutal but I'm very grateful to have that option. I don't need a period to remind me that I'm a woman, sexist assholes take care of that nearly every damn day.

Emma - my doctor explained it once to me. It's bleeding but not menstruation. I'm not a biologist and don't know the details, but medically, they're quite different. I'm sure your gyn could explain it, but I can't.

I know that a lot of people hate Depo, but I love that "magic shot." I used to throw up from my cramps, so you can imagine the relief of not having any. During the three days that I tried the pill, I threw up every day... from this we conclude that not every woman's body is the same. Choices are good.

Another advantage to not having any monthly bleeding is the ability to do field work. I'm a research scientist, which is hard enough to begin with. Having my period while working in remote locations would be unpleasant, to say the least.

I use to take orthotricyclen when I was in college and dating, thought not sexually active. I didn't use the pill to skip periods, though now that I use the nuva ring and am no sexually active, I leave it in a little longer so I have a period every 5-6 weeks instead of every 4.

I had not used pills before I had to start them because of my endometriosis, and I took them for three years with only one proper pause between pills. After that three years, I could live normally for almost ten yeas before again going to the same regime, and again it works.

With these experiences, I would say that having the periods every month is most unnatural and unhealty. Stopping the bleeding can be done by various ways, and the pill is just one of them, but I expect that no matter what method is used, the result will help me also when I am older and do not need the pills anymore.

I mean, if you have to take pills, then it is BETTER for your health to take them continuously, without pauses.

Some personal experience with this, and advice from my doctor:

http://www.deannazandt.com/2006/05/23/missing-your-period/

I have a question about the bleeding during placebo week.

The reason why I'm squeamish about eschewing periods is because I had a pregnancy scare while on the pill. This particular pill (Estrostep) made my periods much lighter, but one month, it didn't show up at all.

The pill has a 99% effectiveness rate - it can fail. If a woman gets pregnant while on the pill, will she or won't she have her period/monthly bleeding? I'm surprised this hasn't been addressed by the media.

What I hate most about my periods is that the week before and during the week of my period, I get very exhausted - like I'm on sleeping pills. It adversely affects my mood, my work, and my interactions with people. So without pills, I'd essentially be spending half my time struggling just to be functional.

The weird thing is, I still get PMS symptoms now that I'm on the pill. I even get them when I skip my placebo week (I "PMS" every 3 weeks). But at least with the pills, I can decide when to start my "period" so I can time my sleepy week to occur when my schedule is lighter.

I find some of the opposition to this a bit odd, because it's not as though anyone is being forced or bullied into taking it. It's there as a choice for those who feel they would benefit from it. The information about the risks and side-effects is not secret, and anyone can look up the information if they choose.

I am also uncomfortable about some of the comments on risks etc. We know as much about the risk of BCPs as we do about any other medication. Yet there seems to be an excessive focus on and fear of the risks, that isn't applied to every other drug. It reminds me a little of the pro-life fearmongering about abortion - while it's true that abortion carries some risk, so does the alternative of pregnancy and birth, and so do many activities that we engage in everyday! The pro-choice position is usually that women are not children or idiots, and should be trusted to make their own informed decisions on abortion. Surely that should apply to this case as well?

Now I can see that the whole idea of advertising pharmaceutical products could be seen as problematic. But that's a different argument, and this particular drug should not be singled out for special criticism just because it involves women controlling their own bodies.

Lin-
When I was taking the pill with the placebo week, I had PMS each month. Once I went to menstrual suppression- 1 period every 3 months- I'd only get PMS once in those 3 months.

[ i.e. period, 3 weeks later a low level of PMS, no period in week 4, no PMS at all in weeks 7 or 11, period in week 12.]

I do menstrual suppression because, for me, hormone fluctuations and bounces are far worse than the steady level of hormones from the pill.

It isn't just that PMS and the pain of menstruation was dreadful- and that (as pointed out) the painkillers can be unhealthy in larger doses.

I'm protecting my ovaries by having many fewer ovulations. I'm protecting my breasts by having much lower hormone fluctuations. Being pregnant all the time could give my the same protections, but it isn't possible. Using the pill as a substitute for pregnancy? Its what I can do.

As others have pointed out, there are many, many kinds of bc pill. If you think you need the pill, and the first one you try gives you troubles, try other kinds.

Felix, lin is saying that she has a sleepy week that co-ordinates with her menstrual cycle, not that all woman do, and not that no man has a sleepy week that co-ordinates with his hormonal fluctuations.

Sarah, I see your points. For my part, my deep suspicion of the pill, and my decision not to take it, has to do with the medical profession's lousy track record with respect to pathologizing women's bodies. The early pill had a whole host of side effects and risks that in my opinion, certainly seem to be far greater than any medications to be taken for a comparably long time by men. Even more recently, the whole HRT scandal--first, doctors are coming out of the woodwork to say that HRT is manna from heaven and all post-menopausal women should be on it (my own former doctor wrote a book espousing just that position), and then, boom, the major study is called off in the middle because it's so very dangerous. Then I think about the thalidomide disaster, and breast implants being pushed in the literature of cosmetic surgery as a cure for "micromastia" (small breasts)--like that's a pathological condition, that I do just automatically distrust any medication that's supposed to "treat" a normal facet of female existence.

That said, many of my friends are on the pill and love it, and it's wonderful for treating things like endometriosis and for helping out women like those who've posted here who have terrible cramps etc.

So I think there's a genuine feminist case for keeping a close eye on the pill--you know, now we're supposed to go "Ah! No periods! Well, the doctors say it's OK so it must be." But they don't have such a terrific track record in coming out with these pronouncements. But yes, I can see why women who have terrible periods would go for it, as well.

Sarah and EG,

Women have been doing menstrual suppression long before Seasonale came out with the 84 day packaging. The pill mimics pregnancy, yet women aren't pregnant for only 1 month at a time, basically.

One other reason I started, beyond the health reasons...
The funny and sharp short story "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis. Unfortunately not available online (summarized here: http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Even_The_Queen)

My takeaway from Willis' story: until now it was wise to accept everything about how our bodies worked, because we had no choice. Now we have the ability to ask if everything that nature has given us is worth keeping. To me, monthly PMS and monthly periods aren't useful- in fact, painful and unhealthy.

Hi, I've been on the Deprovera shot for going on 6 months since I had bad problems with cysts on my one ovary due to a surgical clip fallin on my right ovary from an appendectomy. I've had a LOT of pain from this, so they put me on birth control to try and stop the cysts. The only problem is, that I bleed through the deprovera, and because of that, I was put on Progesterone also. Lately, I've been getting hormone migranes because of all of this. I tried stopping the progesterone, and the week I was off of it, the headaches stopped. However, I got extreme pain in my lower right side, by my ovary. My side also stared to swell up. I started bac up on the progesterone, and now the pain has lessened, and the migraines are back! Has anyone here had ANYTHING like this?? I've talked to my doctor and he's said that there is nothing wrong with my ovary other then I keep getting 7mm x 11mm cysts. I'm thinking of seeking a second opinion. And if I didn't mention it before, I've been on birth control since I was 14 since I had such heavy bleeding and pain. I'm now 18. And I've never been off.

Whoever said that hormonal BC was their personal kryptonite was spot on! I tried all varieties for years, and not yet having had children, was unable to convince anyone to "allow" me an IUD... I had to become VERY assertive, sign release forms, etc... and FINALLY got the Paraguard! I am so happy. To be honest the cramping took a bit to get used to, but it is SO worth the missing presence of emotional insanity caused by artificial hormones... I'm never looking back... oh, and by the way, I only have my period every other month and it is most often fairly light... naturally!

I have been on Depo vera for nine months now and I LOVE IT. I have a hard time remembering things every day so the pill wasn't an option. I was on Ortho Evra (the patch) for a year and liked it well enough. I had some hard times keeping it on and then, because of the law suits, my insurance stopped covering it ($50 a month!!). Depo Vera is only $10 every three months and it's amazing. I can still feel my period every month. I don't get cramps or bleeding but I get more emotionally sensitive (my normal reaction to my period) for about 3 days every month. The only annoyance I have had is that once I'm about two weeks away from needing another shot I spot continually until I have the shot again. I haven't experienced any of the weight gain, hair growth, acne, or mood swings at all. Not having my period and not having to remember things constantly is amazingly liberating. I hate being tied down by things. When you're going to a 4 day long concert or on a camping trip or a spontaneous road trip or sleep over who wants to make sure they have their birth control with them and that they have enough to get them through however long they'll be away for and to make sure that, whatever they're doing, they remember to take it. I went to London for 7 weeks and didn't have a single thing tying me down (including international tampons - yikes!). I researched a lot of different types of birth control when I switched from the patch and was very pleased with the effectiveness of Depo Vera (more effective than the pill and almost all other birth controls). If you don't like shots though, pick something else. One every three months can take a little getting used to and a lot of psyching yourself up.

I have been on Depo vera for nine months now and I LOVE IT. I have a hard time remembering things every day so the pill wasn't an option. I was on Ortho Evra (the patch) for a year and liked it well enough. I had some hard times keeping it on and then, because of the law suits, my insurance stopped covering it ($50 a month!!). Depo Vera is only $10 every three months and it's amazing. I can still feel my period every month. I don't get cramps or bleeding but I get more emotionally sensitive (my normal reaction to my period) for about 3 days every month. The only annoyance I have had is that once I'm about two weeks away from needing another shot I spot continually until I have the shot again. I haven't experienced any of the weight gain, hair growth, acne, or mood swings at all. Not having my period and not having to remember things constantly is amazingly liberating. I hate being tied down by things. When you're going to a 4 day long concert or on a camping trip or a spontaneous road trip or sleep over who wants to make sure they have their birth control with them and that they have enough to get them through however long they'll be away for and to make sure that, whatever they're doing, they remember to take it. I went to London for 7 weeks and didn't have a single thing tying me down (including international tampons - yikes!). I researched a lot of different types of birth control when I switched from the patch and was very pleased with the effectiveness of Depo Vera (more effective than the pill and almost all other birth controls). If you don't like shots though, pick something else. One every three months can take a little getting used to and a lot of psyching yourself up.

I know I'm about a year late on this post but I felt compelled to add my comment after stumbling across this post.

At 26 years old, every single one of my friends is on a hormonal birth control. Only one of my friends had painful and overly heavy periods and was prescribed a hormonal BC to alleviate that.

My friends take birth control as a method of avoiding pregnancy - not to suppress or maintain painful periods. I haven't researched extensively, but in my personal experience I feel like most women on birth control are using it in the way the name intends it to be used - for birth control.

I make no qualms about women who are seeking treatment for painful reproductive illnesses, just as I would not make any arguments against a cancer patient taking dangerous drugs to attempt to curb or cure symptoms. I tend to feel that hormonal birth control prescribed to otherwise healthy women to prevent conception is more dangerous than we are willing to believe.

I have been unfortunate enough to know 2 women who have suffered from the "rare" side effects of hormonal birth control. One was my aunt's goddaughter who at 23 years old died of a blood clot in her lungs which doctors told her family was most likely a result of her birth control and the second was a woman who shared a recovery group with my father following his open heart surgery recovery who had a heart attack at 29 and survived. She didn't smoke, she didn't drink, and doctors never really considered that she might be at risk for an arterial clot.

I avoid most over the counter medicines and in general attempt to stay as holistic as possible. I try to eat right and take care of my body - so looking outward I tend to see an overly medicated society. The fact that millions of women are taking a daily dosage of prescription medicine to avoid pregnancy does make me worry. I heard a great quote on the radio the other day by Dr. Drew Pinskey who stated that ALL drugs are dangerous - it's just a matter of the lesser of two evils - deciding what is worse for your body, the disease or the drug.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have normal periods, we have no disease. There should be no shame in having a period - and young women and society should be taught to embrace the female body as nature intended... my two cents anyway... I'm off to peruse the rest of this website!