Many women still don’t know they can choose to have fewer periods or not menstruation at all. According to the new guideline by the U.K.’s Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, there is no health benefit from having the seven-day hormone-free interval.
Lyona Lunter, Professor of the Pharmacy Technician program at Fanshawe college says sugar pills function as a placebo when not taking the active ingredient of birth control.
“Usually, a birth control package would have 28 days in it, only 21 tablets are actually active. The other 7 tablets are called sugar pills. Those are there as a reminder to keep taking every day; they are not meant as a preventative.”
Many studies have shown that taking pills on a prolonged cycle can be more effective than the 28 day cycle. If the first tablet it’s missed, then there might be a chance you ovulate that cycle. Not missing the pill lower the chances.
“Women would be taking 91 days consistently and technically, they wouldn’t have a period for almost 3 months. That ends up being 4 periods in the whole year. It is pretty safe for what I understand, but it depends on the women and the reasons why they would want to do that.”
Fanshawe student, Fatima Assaf, says she skipped her period once because she wanted to go to a sacred place in Saudi Arabia, but in order to participate, women must be ‘clean.’
“Once a year, Muslims go there and pray, but if you have your period you can’t participate in the prayer. So, I skipped the sugar pills to skip my period because I wanted to do everything and enjoy the spiritual life there.”
One big concern for women is that they may get pregnant while on their extended cycle. That becomes hard to notice right away since they are not bleeding every month.
Age can be a risk factor, if wanting to skip periods. As well, smoking or suffering from migraine. It is recommended to take a break once in a while to avoid irregular cycles.
Fatima Assaf says she stopped skipping her cycles because of the side effects.
“I am married, so now my husband and I use other alternatives – instead of pills – because of the side effects. When I used to take the pills, I would gain weight and get acne.”
In the new guideline, it is also mentioned that a year’s supply of the combined pill can safely be prescribed at the first consultation instead of the current three-month supply.
“Is it necessarily safe in every situation? probably not. That’s something to discuss with your physician about what’s best for you,” adds professor Lunter.
