Meds & Supplements, News & Research, Treatment

Birth Control Pill News

Birth control pills are often used to treat menstrual migraine by evening out hormone levels and sometimes to stop menstruation all together. In recent news are a medication that keeps women from menstruating and a tasty new pill.

Lybrel, a continuous oral birth control that stops menstruation, may soon be an option for women with menstrual migraine. Taken each day, the pills provide a continuous supply of hormones without a break for a period, ever. With Seasonale, a similar product that’s been on the market for awhile, a woman menstruates four times a year. Wyeth, the maker of Lybrel, hopes to market it the drug early next year, pending FDA approval. It seems creepy to me, but The Well-Timed Period quotes a report that says that periods aren’t as necessary as they seem.

To learn more about “menstrual management,” see the links under “How to Skip a Period” on The Well-Timed Period and poke through the very informative blog.

In more bizarre contraceptive news, a mint-flavored chewable birth control pill called Femcon Fe is now available by prescription. Kids mistaking birth control pills for candy is already a risk, won’t making the pills taste good further the problem?

(By the way, if you’re a Seasonale user, generics called Jolessa and Quasense are now available.)

News & Research, Treatment

Birth Control Patch Warning

This has been all over the news, but in case you haven’t seen it, the FDA has issued a warning on Ortho Evra, aka “the patch.” It releases higher level of hormones than previously reported, which puts women at higher risk for blood clots and other serious health problems.

Hormonal birth is often used to treat menstrual migraine and the patch’s convenience is very appealing. Don’t give into the temptation.

If you’ve started having headaches or had your existing headaches worsen and use the patch, changing birth control might be your solution.

I try to give everyone, including companies and sometimes the government, the benefit of the doubt. I can’t delude myself any longer. Why can’t Big Pharma grasp that it’s possible to make money and not hurt people?