The Pill: why don't females "come off"

[6.8SPC]

I have been wondering for a long time why, when females get prescribed oral birth control, are they never told to "cycle off" the way athletes would with AAS. If I'm not mistaken birth control pills are methylated(or 17-AA) estrogens or progestins. I can think of seven females I know who either take, or have taken, birth control for extended periods as long as two years. Is there less concern for toxicity or endo hormonal axis recovery issues? I wouldn't start eating 40mg Dbawl for two years why would they do something similar, just with alkylated estro? Is it just a significantly lower dose? Or are some docs just louts?

 

[Gunsmith]

it is a very low dose and they do cycle off for one week a month thats why women still have their period when the take birth control , some women mannipulate their period by just skipping the little pink pills that are only their to keep you on track.

 

[mike1107]

I would never have thought to see such a thread here ....

 

[6.8SPC]

I would never have thought to see such a thread here ....

I guess it is kind of silly... I'll stick to posting in the beginner's section for a while.

How bout this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRgqWBp0gI

 

[Moen]

You need to get a girlfriend asap buddy! You would know these things come in strips divided into weeks they should take them

 

[GoneForever]

They don't come off the pill because, well it may be liver toxic, but... thats better than a condom

 

[Sassy]

FYI...

6.8SPC, this really isn't a dumb question. I asked the same thing when I had to go on HRT for menopause. There were all these scary studies coming out at that time about the dangers of HRT. I'm young and I wanted to know what happens when you stay on them for long lengths of time with out cycling off them. So FYI, hope this helps answer your question...

Just like with any medications BC pills have side effects, but like mentioned above it is a very low dose. It has been around for 40 yrs, so they have to dosage pretty much down by now... but there is always some risk.

According to Harvard University the sides are....
**broken link removed**

What are the side effects?
Side effects vary from woman to woman and often depend on the type of pill you are taking. Some women report bleeding irregularities, especially during the first three months of taking the pill. This usually will resolve itself after a few months. Taking the pill at the same time every day helps to decrease the risk of missing pills as well as to decrease the risk of irregular bleeding. Other possible side effects include nausea, breast tenderness, and mood swings. Some women report a slight increase in weight, 3-4 pounds over a year, though newer formulation of pills have made this less of a problem. If you find you are still experiencing side effects from the pill after three months, contact your clinician. Changing your pill may help to relieve your side effects.

What are the risks of taking the pill?
Abnormal blood clotting is the primary risk in taking oral contraceptives. In a small number of women, the estrogen in the pill changes the way in which the body forms blood clots. Blood clots among healthy women with no risk factors are rare. If while taking the pill, you experience any of the following, you should seek medical care immediately and inform them you are taking hormonal contraception:
A - abdominal pain (severe, sudden onset)
C - chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood
H - headache (severe, unrelenting), numbness in arms and/or legs
E - eye problems (sudden blurred vision, loss of vision, flashing lights)
S - severe leg pain in calf or thigh

 

[gooey]

this is a great question...

why is it ok for women to take this STERIOD for numerous months even yrs with doc's ok? yet other the male hormone is looked at as such a horrible, terrible, crime committing, emotionally unstable, raging, unhealthy thing? Seems like a dbl standard to me. Whens the last time you have heard in the news or media of a women getting busted for taking her friends or mothers BC without prescription?

gooey

 

[Lolly1909]

BC is used for other purposes. If you take test, you want to gain muscle mass. If a women take BC pills, she don't want to get pregnant.

Hmm, if a man injects test then the risk of making a woman pregnant is smaller right ? Cause the ammount of spermcells is much smaller then normal.

 

[EVERLAST]

looooooong BC cycles

Some women choose to skip their periods altogether for long periods of time by staying on the pill with no break at all. They just skip the "blanks" that others take at the end of their run to have a period. By skipping these "blank" pills the womans' body is fooled into thinking she's already pregnant. Some do this to avoid "bad periods", cramps, PMS, mood swings, etc. Others just don't want to fool with periods.
These low doses of estrogen can occur naturally at times during a normal womans' lifespan and are supposed to be "safe" (according to doctors)....
So........ if a guy takes test at low doses ( i.e. 300-500 mg/week), would that be kinda the same thing? Maybe the most raging hormone specimen of male teenagers could be the protocol model, and we could call it HRT?
I realise that's stretching the metaphor pretty thin, but hey, theoretically, it could happen....

 

[Kaiser]

why is it ok for women to take this STERIOD for numerous months even yrs with doc's ok?

Because it saves health insurance companies billions. It's just political.

 

[thebrick]

why is it ok for women to take this STERIOD for numerous months even yrs with doc's ok? yet other the male hormone is looked at as such a horrible, terrible, crime committing, emotionally unstable, raging, unhealthy thing? Seems like a dbl standard to me. Whens the last time you have heard in the news or media of a women getting busted for taking her friends or mothers BC without prescription?

gooey

The media has always had a double standard regarding testosterone. I remember specifically an instance some years back when I saw a TV documentray about the evils of steroids.... then some months later there was another show on the tube about male menopause and treatment with HRT and the great potentials it had

 

[Sassy]

Hit the nail on the head...

Because it saves health insurance companies billions. It's just political.

BINGO!!!

Between the media, government and insurance companies... it all comes down to politics.

There just hasn't been that much research done on the effects of hormone replacement in males or females. It seems like babyboomers are now getting to an age where their hormones are reducing and all of a sudden HRT is becoming an issue.

There are a few articles if you google "hrt for men" or "Testosterone replacement for men" and get a few articles.

 

[Kaiser]

BINGO!!!

Between the media, government and insurance companies... it all comes down to politics.

There just hasn't been that much research done on the effects of hormone replacement in males or females. It seems like babyboomers are now getting to an age where their hormones are reducing and all of a sudden HRT is becoming an issue.

There are a few articles if you google "hrt for men" or "Testosterone replacement for men" and get a few articles.

Yes, it costs way more for insurance companies to support babies and especially unwanted babies with government support. They'll gladly stop human reproduction because of this. HRT, viagra and cialis puts a man back into the fertile pool so they are reluctant to support it. Would you give someone the tools to cost your company more money?

 

[Sassy]

Some women choose to skip their periods altogether for long periods of time by staying on the pill with no break at all. They just skip the "blanks" that others take at the end of their run to have a period. By skipping these "blank" pills the womans' body is fooled into thinking she's already pregnant. Some do this to avoid "bad periods", cramps, PMS, mood swings, etc. Others just don't want to fool with periods.
These low doses of estrogen can occur naturally at times during a normal womans' lifespan and are supposed to be "safe" (according to doctors)....
So........ if a guy takes test at low doses ( i.e. 300-500 mg/week), would that be kinda the same thing? Maybe the most raging hormone specimen of male teenagers could be the protocol model, and we could call it HRT?
I realise that's stretching the metaphor pretty thin, but hey, theoretically, it could happen....

Some Doctors now will prescribe BC, so a women will have periods quarterly or twice. They said it really doesn't hurt anything if women don't have periods every month like previous believed when they take monthly BC.

The trouble part is I've read conflicting reports on BC pills increasing / lowering woman's chance of developing ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and pelvic inflammatory disease... then again it seems like everything cause cancer.

 

[Golgo13]

Things to stay on for long periods or indefinitely:

The Pill = Natural hormone levels
HRT = Natural hormone levels

__

A cycle isn't anywhere close to a natural level.

 

[KillerStack]

The media has always had a double standard regarding testosterone. I remember specifically an instance some years back when I saw a TV documentray about the evils of steroids.... then some months later there was another show on the tube about male menopause and treatment with HRT and the great potentials it had

Not to mention testosterone gels for women to increase their sex drive. This has been getting press in recent years as well. A tiny bit of test does wonders for the female libido.

 

[thebrick]

Of course.... back to the pill.... if you saw my wife's PMS when not on the pill, you would never want her to come off either

 

[6.8SPC]

6.8SPC, this really isn't a dumb question. I asked the same thing when I had to go on HRT for menopause. There were all these scary studies coming out at that time about the dangers of HRT. I'm young and I wanted to know what happens when you stay on them for long lengths of time with out cycling off them. So FYI, hope this helps answer your question...

Just like with any medications BC pills have side effects, but like mentioned above it is a very low dose. It has been around for 40 yrs, so they have to dosage pretty much down by now... but there is always some risk.

According to Harvard University the sides are....
**broken link removed**

What are the side effects?
Side effects vary from woman to woman and often depend on the type of pill you are taking. Some women report bleeding irregularities, especially during the first three months of taking the pill. This usually will resolve itself after a few months. Taking the pill at the same time every day helps to decrease the risk of missing pills as well as to decrease the risk of irregular bleeding. Other possible side effects include nausea, breast tenderness, and mood swings. Some women report a slight increase in weight, 3-4 pounds over a year, though newer formulation of pills have made this less of a problem. If you find you are still experiencing side effects from the pill after three months, contact your clinician. Changing your pill may help to relieve your side effects.

What are the risks of taking the pill?
Abnormal blood clotting is the primary risk in taking oral contraceptives. In a small number of women, the estrogen in the pill changes the way in which the body forms blood clots. Blood clots among healthy women with no risk factors are rare. If while taking the pill, you experience any of the following, you should seek medical care immediately and inform them you are taking hormonal contraception:
A - abdominal pain (severe, sudden onset)
C - chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood
H - headache (severe, unrelenting), numbness in arms and/or legs
E - eye problems (sudden blurred vision, loss of vision, flashing lights)
S - severe leg pain in calf or thigh

I was hoping for a female perspective on this. Thanks Sass.

 

[violentmessiah]

If I were a female

I'd be looking into bio-identical hormones for birth control or HRT. Sounds like a better alternative according to my female OB/GYN professor and some of my friends and/or their mothers who've switched to them. I don't know much about them personally......(not my real area of interest)
Females stay on birth-control because they don't want to get pregnant, don't want to have their period, have extremely painful problems that are hormonally regulated (where bc can help) and because the doses are generally very low, enough to not cause liver damage.
The benefits usually outweigh the risk when talking about female birth control.
One thing you won't generally hear about when talking about female birth control though is that they weren't intended to be used for a period of time longer than 5 years. I'm not one to say ANYTHING more about that because my wife started taking birth control when she was 16 to help with hormonally regulated pain problems (I don't have her medical history so I'm not sure what the actual diagnosis was). It's been about 12 years since she started taking birth control and I don't blame her because of how much pain she went through....but who knows if it would be the same now...that's all her choice and I won't interfere, I'll simply make educated suggestions.