Is it Okay to Not Have Periods?

There continues to be significant controversy over the new birth control pill, Lybrel. Lybrel, which was approved by the FDA a few days ago, is the first birth control pill to allow a woman to skip periods for an entire year. To some women this is like a miracle from God, but others question if we need to be playing God. There also seems to be significant concern that something must be wrong if you don't have a period. I mean don't you need to have a period? Not exactly.

Normal menstruation occurs in our bodies because of four important hormones: Luteinizing hormone or LH, Follicle stimulating hormone or FSH, estrogen and progesterone. Every month the levels of these hormones rise and fall to prepare the body for the possibility of having a baby. Under the direction of these hormones your ovaries prepare an egg to be released, your uterus builds up a lining, and one ovary then releases an egg. If fertilization doesn't occur then your uterus sheds its lining along with some blood, producing your period. If you manipulate these hormones then the process works a little differently.

When you take Lybrel or any birth control pill, you have a higher level of estrogen and progesterone than normal. So what happens? You don't build up a lining in your uterus and you don't release an egg. But with other birth control pills, when you take that week of 'no hormone' pills, your body does have a sort of rebound response that causes you to bleed. But its sort of an artificial period, because you never built up a uterine lining. Which is why most women's periods are lighter and shorter when they are using birth control.

Lybrel, like other birth control pills, actually decreases your risk of endometrial (uterine) and ovarian cancer. As a matter of fact, the more periods a woman has in her lifetime, the more likely she is to have endometrial or ovarian cancer. Because the more periods you have, the more you have cellular production from all of the building up and breaking down of the uterine lining.

The fuss caused by Lybrel is about more than whether a woman bleeds or not. The bigger issue is that we are exposing our bodies long term to greater doses of hormones than normal. Estrogen and progesterone don't just work on the reproductive system. They work on bones, fat cells and even your heart. We already know that birth control pills increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes while you are taking them. Are there other factors about Lybrel that we haven't even thought to question yet? Personally I am cautious about exposing my body to any drugs simply for convenience's sake. But there are some women out there who do have truly awful periods. Could Lybrel be the answer for them? I think the risks of Lybrel remain to be seen.