SEASONALE BIRTH CONTROL BLOG

New birth control pill can be taken non-stop

October 25, 2006

The world’s first contraceptive pill that frees women from menstruation and its associated stomach pains and mood swings will be launched in Britain early next year.

A woman on the pill normally takes it for 21 days, then takes nothing, or a dummy tablet, for the next seven days. During this time she has a monthly bleed that is usually much lighter than for a woman not on the pill. However, the new pill, Lybrel, is the first designed to be taken all year round without a break.

‘The drug has been developed for women who find the current need to stop taking the pill for one week every month inconvenient, and for those who suffer from the hormonal fluctuations to which this can contribute,’ said Ginger Constantine, vice-president of Women’s Health Care and Bone Repair at Wyeth pharmaceuticals, the pill’s US-based manufacturer.

Lybrel is a ‘combined pill’, which means it contains both oestrogen and progestogen, by far the most common type of oral contraceptive in the UK.

Critics warn that oral contraceptives raise the risk of blood clots and breast cancer. They are also concerned that continuous exposure to hormones might damage women’s fertility. But Wyeth claims the new pill is safe. ‘Our findings show that 99 per cent of the 187 women in our studies began their periods within three months of stopping taking the pill,’ said Constantine.

There is no medical reason why women cannot take any contraceptive pill continuously. But when the oral contraceptive was launched in the Sixties it was thought that retaining a monthly bleed would help to make it more acceptable to women. Surveys in the Seventies reinforced that belief, with women saying it made the process feel normal.

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Since then attitudes have changed. Although Lybrel is the first pill designed to be taken continuously, the only difference between it and pills already on the market is that the dose will be varied so it can be taken non-stop.

‘It is completely safe to suppress menstruation for years at a time,’ said Toni Belford, director of information at the fpa, formerly the Family Planning Association. ‘It is not natural for women to have as many periods as they do now. A few generations ago women would have had virtually no periods for years at a time because they would have spent all their child-bearing years either pregnant or breastfeeding.’

Belford said she expected some women would be keen to stop their menstrual cycle, while others would continue to choose the reassurance of a regular bleed.

Wyeth hopes to have its US and European licence applications granted by the end of the year.

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Finally, a choice for women

October 24, 2006

Little girls can’t wait to grow up. We mess around with lipstick and makeup as soon as we’re big enough to root through Mommy’s purse.

Our birthday money goes to lip gloss and nail polish.

And then, we are “a woman” — and spend the rest of our lives trying to recapture fragments of our girlhood.

But until recently, there was one aspect of femaleness that we were taught we could do nothing about, that irksome monthly matter at the very core of womanhood. There are good reasons our mothers and grandmothers called this physical phenomenon “the curse.”

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That monthly period was the price we paid for our double X chromosomes. Pregnancy and (sometimes) its corollary, breast-feeding, were the only methods of putting a stop to the rhythms of nature every 28 days or so.

Now comes a whole new array of products to tinker with our hormonal makeup.

Take Seasonale, Barr Pharmaceutical’s heavily marketed and expensive (more than $650 a year) daily birth control pill that promises to cut down the customary monthly period to only four a year.

The Food and Drug Administration is likely to soon OK another daily oral contraceptive, Wyeth’s Lybrel, that can stop periods altogether while taking the pill.

Doctors don’t agree on whe-ther these period-sup-pression drugs are a good thing or not. Women aren’t sure, either. But at least there are choices where before there were none.

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Going without monthly

October 18, 2006

Little girls can’t wait to grow up. We mess around with lipstick and makeup as soon as we’re big enough to root through Mommy’s purse.

Our birthday money goes to lip gloss and nail polish. Twenty different shades of pink, and we can tell you the official name of each and every one.

And then, we are “a woman” — and spend the rest of our lives trying to recapture fragments of our girlhood.

Some of these efforts can be expensive (face-lifts, a younger man) and others not terribly effective (more makeup).

But until recently, there was one aspect of femaleness that we were taught we could do nothing about, that irksome monthly matter at the very core of womanhood. There are good reasons our mothers and grandmothers called this physical phenomenon “the curse.”

That monthly period was the price we paid for our double X chromosomes. Pregnancy and (sometimes) its corollary, breast-feeding, were the only methods of putting a stop to the rhythms of nature every 28 days or so.

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Now comes a whole new array of products to tinker with our hormonal makeup.

Take Seasonale, Barr Pharmaceutical’s heavily marketed and expensive (more than $650 a year) daily birth control pill that promises to cut down the customary monthly period to only four a year.

It’s just one of several different prescription drugs now or soon available to tamper with what we thought was our inevitable female plight.

The Food and Drug Administration is likely to soon OK another daily oral contraceptive, Wyeth’s Lybrel, that can stop periods altogether while taking the pill.

Doctors don’t agree on whether these period-suppression drugs are a good thing or not. Women aren’t sure, either. But at least there are choices where before there were none.

Now women get to decide for themselves if they’ll go with the flow.

Posted by toshko under Seasonale News | Comments (0)

Going without monthly `curse’ just a pill away

October 16, 2006

CHICAGO - Little girls can’t wait to grow up. We mess around with lipstick and makeup as soon as we’re big enough to root through Mommy’s purse.

Our birthday money goes to lip gloss and nail polish. Twenty different shades of pink, and we can tell you the official name of each and every one.

And then, we are “a woman” - and spend the rest of our lives trying to recapture fragments of our girlhood.

Some of these efforts can be expensive (face-lifts, a younger man) and others not terribly effective (more makeup).

But until recently, there was one aspect of femaleness that we were taught we could do nothing about, that irksome monthly matter at the very core of womanhood. There are good reasons our mothers and grandmothers called this physical phenomenon “the curse.”

That monthly period was the price we paid for our double X chromosomes. Pregnancy and (sometimes) its corollary, breast-feeding, were the only methods of putting a stop to the rhythms of nature every 28 days or so.

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Now comes a whole new array of products to tinker with our hormonal makeup.

Take Seasonale, Barr Pharmaceutical’s heavily marketed and expensive (more than $650 a year) daily birth control pill that promises to cut down the customary monthly period to only four a year.

It’s just one of several different prescription drugs now or soon available to tamper with what we thought was our inevitable female plight.

The Food and Drug Administration is likely to soon OK another daily oral contraceptive, Wyeth’s Lybrel, that can stop periods altogether while taking the pill.

Doctors don’t agree on whether these period-suppression drugs are a good thing or not. Women aren’t sure, either. But at least there are choices where before there were none.

Now women get to decide for themselves if they’ll go with the flow.

_The pill is the most popular form of birth control (30.6 percent), followed by tubal sterilization (27 percent), condom use (18 percent), vasectomy (9.2 percent) and injectible contraceptives (5.3 percent). … Among users of the pill, the effectiveness rate is 92 percent, meaning 8 out of 100 women taking it for a year will become pregnant.

Posted by toshko under Seasonale News | Comments (0)

More Birth Control Options for Men?

October 11, 2006

Men may soon have new options for safe and effective male contraceptives, such as a birth control pill, a patch, or an implant. According to MSNBC, researchers have had much success over the last five years with testing male hormonal contraceptives (MHC) and a daily pill could be available in five to seven years, with implants possibly arriving even sooner.

The University of Washington in Seattle has found that a male contraceptive that releases a certain amount of testosterone over a three month period has the potential to be a safe and dependable form of birth control. Like hormonal contraceptives for women, which prevent the body from releasing an egg, male hormonal contraceptives would prevent the production of sperm. Dr. Andrea Coviello, from the Population Center for Research in Reproduction, and fellow researchers have been testing a sustained released, testosterone micro-capsule that consists of a thick liquid injected under the skin. “It largely depends on how funding continues. The technology is there. We know how it would work,” Coviello told MSNBC.

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Scientists are also experimenting with a new implant, the intra vas device (IVD), that would block the flow of sperm. The device, which consists of tiny silicone plugs, would be another reversible birth control method for men. While the plugs would be inserted and removed surgically, the procedure is not as permanent as a surgical vasectomy.

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Birth Control Alternative Becomes More Widely Available

October 10, 2006

A new type of permanent birth control is becoming more readily available in central Indiana.

Essure, a tiny coil that prevents pregnancy, is an alternative to tubal ligation for women, and no surgery is needed, 6News’ Stacia Matthews reported.

About 700,000 women get their tubes tied each year, meaning hospitalization, incisions and a weeklong recovery. Essure takes about 45 minutes in the doctor’s office.

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Melinda and Ryan Allbaugh, of Flora, knew their family was complete after the birth of their second daughter. Tubal ligation was not an option for Melinda.

“It was out of the question. It was the anesthesia that was unnecessary. It was a lot of lost time as far as work, child care,” Melinda Allbaugh said.

The Allbaughs raise hogs, making it difficult for Ryan to take off for a vasectomy.

“It’s a seven-day-a-week job, twice a day,” Ryan Allbaugh said. “I wouldn’t have been able to be there. I don’t have much back up help.”

Essure is a device that is guided to the fallopian tube through the cervix. Once in place, scar tissue grows around it to create a blockage in the tube.

“The main thing I like about the Essure procedure is that it’s so quick to recover from and so low as far as medical complication rates,” said Dr. Don Snyder of Next Chapter, the company that provides the Essure procedure.

It takes about three months before Essure becomes effective as birth control. Snyder said it also costs about a third of what tubal ligation costs.

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