Does your menstrual cycle control your life? The mood swings, the nausea, cramps and headaches. Haven’t you often wished that you could put an end to it all? Now you can, researchers say.

You feel bloated, short-tempered and have a dull ache in the lower half of your abdomen. You have fought with everyone in the family in the last two days and have just had a road rage attack on the way to work. And you know it is time to stock up on painkillers and tampons. But, hey, isn’t this just of one of the joys of being a woman?

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Researchers are disagreeing. Modern women menstruate a lot more than their great-grandmothers did. As recently as a hundred years ago, women started their periods in their late teens, not at 11 or 12, had many more children and spent many years breastfeeding. For many, having their periods was the exception rather than the norm.

A Solution?

And researchers may have a solution. A year-long study of a new kind of contraceptive pill, named Seasonale, is being conducted by the Eastern Virginia Medical School Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. This pill is taken consecutively for 84 days and then halted for one week, which results in women having four periods a year instead of twelve or thirteen. Reducing the number of periods a woman has is not a new concept, says Dr Freedolph Anderson, associate professor at the Virginia Medical School. But do women need to menstruate at all if they are not planning on becoming pregnant?

The answer is no, says Cape Town gynaecologist Elizabeth van Wyk. Many contraceptive injections on the market, such as Depo Provera and Nurlsterate put and end to periods altogether. Considering that we are designed to have many pregnancies which would result in many months of not ovulating and not menstruating, it is true that modern women bleed too much. Reducing the number of periods a woman has, is therefore not unnatural at all. Taking the pill back-to-back (skipping the placebo section and going straight into the next pack) is not unhealthy or dangerous, she says, except that it if done for too long, could result in breakthrough bleeding. It will also not cause any hormonal imbalances.

Why isn’t everyone doing it?

So if this monthly drama and inconvenience can be avoided, why isn’t everyone doing it? Many myths surround menstruation, such as they are proof of being a real woman and that having them somehow affirms someone’s femininity. Many women, for these reasons, in fact like menstruating, says Elizabeth van Wyk. There is also widespread belief among many women that they would suffer from headaches and other maladies if they did not menstruate. It is also seen as a monthly confirmation of not being pregnant.

The monophasic pill, such as Nordette or Femodene, would be most effective for taking back-to-back, says Elizabeth. If she should wish to become pregnant, it usually takes anything up to six months for ovulation to take place again. The good news, though, is that studies have shown that being on the pill for 5 or more years reduces the incidence of uterine and ovarian cancer by 50%. So what are we waiting for?(Susan Erasmus, Health24)

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