Boss of my body/Baas in eigen buik (Rant)

[steelweaver]

I'm having my period, for the first time in months. I'll be a guinea pig for a medical testing company, and they need to synchronize the menstrual cycles of all the test subjects in order to efficiently conduct their tests. In my case, this means I've had one week-long pill-free interval, and started taking the pills they provided today. I will continue taking them for 37 days, after which there is another pill-free interval.

Usually, I tend to take these contraceptive pills daily, without any breaks. I only have the recommended pill-free intervals maybe once or twice every year, just to check stuff is still working and to remind myself why I skip periods. There has been a lot of debate about skipping periods by means of hormonal contraceptives, but so far, I feel the pro side has come up with better backing for their theory than the con side. The con side mostly depends on the "But it's always been done like this, and god forbid we change anything" style of reasoning, which in my opinion just doesn't cut it. On the other hand, not having periods actually reduces strain on your body, which sure sounds like a good idea to me.

When I wasn't on the pill, I had heavy and long periods, which tended to include at least one day that would have been better spent in bed. I suffered from fatigue, severe cramps and the general effects of blood loss. The pill was a real lifesaver for me, I still had the hellish cramps, but the blood loss wasn't nearly as bad. Still, whenever I ran into a my-period-is-a-celebration-of-my-womynhood fundamentalist, I couldn't help but think her periods were probably pretty light...and meditate on methods for a slow and painful death. Just because it's natural, doesn't make it right. Tornadoes and tsunamis are natural too. So are Ephedra and Belladonna.

Let's face it, the minute we start using contraceptives of any kind, we start meddling with nature. We invented hormonal contraceptives, which interact with our own hormones to prevent pregnancy. At first, the pill was marketed as a way to make a woman's menstrual cycle more predictable, so her fertile periods could be determined more easily. Of course, since the pills actually prevent you from ovulating at all, this method worked exceptionally well. It took a while for the public to find out that there was more to these pills than just straightening out one's cycle. By the time they did, the pill was gratefully embraced and it changed the face of society. The past few years, there have been doubts about the usefulness of the pill-free interval, and several studies are being carried out on that subject. If the interval is only there to imitate the normal cycle and has no real function beyond that, we may find it an option to abandon it altogether.

Comments

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Isn't the regular use of the pill to take it for three weeks, and then skip a week? And if you do not skip a week, that you can have some 'intermediate bleeding'? I mean, I have my stopweek, and my period is less heavy now that I am on the pill (I have the same symproms as you do). I am actually trying to synch my period so that I'll always have them during weekdays (and thus, never during (larp) weekends.

[steelweaver.livejournal.com]

Yes, the three weeks plus the one week break is the standard. It depends on the person if spotting or breakthrough bleeding occurs if you skip the break. Personally, I only feel a little bloated when my period would usually be, and don't really experience any spotting.