STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

halleybird · Hermes

RE: BC users - help!

Permalink · Hermes

Hermione wrote:

actually my doc has tried to convince me that there is no need for me to have a period at all. she actually prescribes my BC so that i don't have to take any of the sugar pills - she has three daughters and she said that neither she nor they have their periods - they just take their active pills continuosly - if she and her kids do it, i'm pretty sure she's secure in the safety of doign this - i've been considering it, like i said - i've been having her prescribe them like that though and then still having a week off a month just so i can save money on the meds

really... I'm going to ask my dr about taking it continuously - I'm wondering if my insurance would let me do it (they restrict how many pills you can have filled - maybe the dr. can override that)

halleybird · Hermes

Hermione wrote:

actually my doc has tried to convince me that there is no need for me to have a period at all. she actually prescribes my BC so that i don't have to take any of the sugar pills - she has three daughters and she said that neither she nor they have their periods - they just take their active pills continuosly - if she and her kids do it, i'm pretty sure she's secure in the safety of doign this - i've been considering it, like i said - i've been having her prescribe them like that though and then still having a week off a month just so i can save money on the meds

ha ha, I know what you mean about the $$. Taking my pills continuously means they aren't covered by my insurance (which will only pay for a refill every 28 days). Luckily for me, I have crappy insurance, and refilling at the "retail" price is only $0.01 more than the insurance price (Thanks, Aetna. Sheesh!).

ETA: detroit, your doc can override the insurance's instructions, especially if she stresses that you are taking the pill continuously for medical reasons. I think they send a form to the pharmacy or something. Mine did that for me, but Walgreens can't find it, and I just don't bother since there's basically no price difference.

-- Edited by halleybird at 21:25, 2006-01-14

Permalink · Hermes

halleybird wrote:

Hermione wrote: actually my doc has tried to convince me that there is no need for me to have a period at all. she actually prescribes my BC so that i don't have to take any of the sugar pills - she has three daughters and she said that neither she nor they have their periods - they just take their active pills continuosly - if she and her kids do it, i'm pretty sure she's secure in the safety of doign this - i've been considering it, like i said - i've been having her prescribe them like that though and then still having a week off a month just so i can save money on the meds ha ha, I know what you mean about the $$. Taking my pills continuously means they aren't covered by my insurance (which will only pay for a refill every 28 days). Luckily for me, I have crappy insurance, and refilling at the "retail" price is only $0.01 more than the insurance price (Thanks, Aetna. Sheesh!). ETA: detroit, your doc can override the insurance's instructions, especially if she stresses that you are taking the pill continuously for medical reasons. I think they send a form to the pharmacy or something. Mine did that for me, but Walgreens can't find it, and I just don't bother since there's basically no price difference.-- Edited by halleybird at 21:25, 2006-01-14

that's great information - I'm definitely going to look into it.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

I am on seasonale and I love it. I did basically the same thing on alesse when i was in college because the student pharmacy carried it for $8 a pack vs walmart at $40 and no insurance coverage.

I don't know if any of yall have the option to fill perscriptions through the mail but my insurance covers it and it is way cheaper that way. I get seasonale for $60 vs. the $120 that walmart charges for it.

Hermione · Kate Spade

ooooooooh girl how do you do that? through the mail with who?

relrel · Marc Jacobs

Hermione wrote:

actually my doc has tried to convince me that there is no need for me to have a period at all. she actually prescribes my BC so that i don't have to take any of the sugar pills - she has three daughters and she said that neither she nor they have their periods - they just take their active pills continuosly - if she and her kids do it, i'm pretty sure she's secure in the safety of doign this - i've been considering it, like i said - i've been having her prescribe them like that though and then still having a week off a month just so i can save money on the meds

another hijack....recent research has come out that actually points to the period every month as reasons behind increased rates of cancer (duh, besides environmental pollution and such) because it provides with increased time for mutations to occur. im forgetting all the essential parts of the arugment so im not much help, i guess. i just wanted to add that there isn't any reason on god's green earth why your period should come every month. until better nutrition and diet came along around in the 20th century, the period didn't come every month. the only reason that the standard birth control pills have an off week is because the MALE doctors that orginally came up with this thought it was a good idea so that women stayed as close to "nature" as possible and that the period defined what/who a woman was. stupid male doctors. most good ob/gyns will tell you that you can just skip the sugar pills and keep on going. it's slightly more expensive to do this with regular packs because you then need more pills, but there isn't any medical reasons why not. just make sure that about every six months or so to take a week off from the hormones. this is a beautiful thing when trying to plan vacations, weddings, any important day that you think might interfere with your period...just skip it!

on the flip side however, there are some issues with take an extra week of hormones. that's why its best that the new birth control forms are used. the newer forms are all almost lower doses of safer hormones.

added later: i went and did some research on medline and found a couple of studies and other medical articles relating to continous vs cyclical birth control...pm me if you want the articles so i can send them as an attachment.

added even later: hmm, since you can't seem to add attachments through a pm here are the two most relevant articles that i found. the first talks about the idea of a monthly menstruation cycle and the second (and i apoligize for the crappy format of this one, i couldn't find a pdf file of it) deals with the continous vs cyclical forms of bc. any further questions feel free to pm about them, i do love my reproductive system.

-- Edited by relrel at 11:08, 2006-01-15

-- Edited by relrel at 12:00, 2006-01-15

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

I never take my sugar pills. I don't start my new pack right away either. I just take the week off from taking anything (the week of my period). Is that bad?

relrel · Marc Jacobs

nunzi182 wrote:

I never take my sugar pills. I don't start my new pack right away either. I just take the week off from taking anything (the week of my period). Is that bad?

nope. the sugar pills don't have anything in them, so not taking them is essentially the same thing. sugar pills are just there to keep you on a schedule. imagine that, us women aren't smart enough to figure out to stop taking the bc for seven days in a row, we needed sugar pills to keep us together.

course, im sure there are women out there that would get messed up otherwise. i take the yummy sugar pills, cause guess what? i am that woman who would forget what day it was.

Elle · Hermes

A few thoughts:

Hermione - I would ABSOLUTELY start your next pack of BC like you normally would - starting a week later would leave you unprotected and could very feasibly allow you to ovulate. And the 'period' you have while on the pill isn't a true period at all, it's actually anovulatory bleeding brought on artificially by the drop in hormones that occurs after you complete your cycle of pills. Occasionally the drop doesn't bring on a bleed, which isn't really a big deal if it only occurs once in awhile and all other possibilities for lateness have been eliminated. I'd talk to your doc if it becomes a habit.

Taking regular pills continuously - I was on Seasonale and loved it, but it was really expensive b/c my insurance didn't cover it at all ($150 every 3 months). I had been on Alesse in the past and it was good for me, so I asked my doc if she could prescribe it to take continuously and she did (it was much cheaper). A word of warning with this - I bled every day for 12 weeks trying to go continuous on Alesse. The hormone levels just weren't high enough to complete supress my period, and I waited in vain for my body to adjust. Consider yourself warned ! As for the insurance issue, your doc's order for continuous use does override any insurance policies on the subject. However, pharmacies aren't allowed to fill more than one pack at a time or in a certain time period, so you'll probably have to pick up every 3 weeks . Since Seasonale comes all packaged up together, they really have no choice but to give it to you at once. IIRC taking regular BCP continuously is still considered 'off label use', hence the restrictions.

BCP/ period supression re: cancer - Even taking regular BC and cycling monthly can reduce your chances of ovarian cancer because it supresses ovulation and therefore saves your ovaries from the trauma of ovulating monthly (the risk for possible pre-cancerous mutations can occur when the ovary heals itself after ovulating). Supressing your 'period' as well may reduce the chances of uterine/cervical cancers because it saves them from the process of sloughing off and expelling your uterine lining each month. Any hormonal treatments (BCP included) can (technically, course) raise your risk of breast cancer due to the prolonged exposure to elevated hormones.

I love that the medical establishment feels that women are so flaky/unintelligent/uninformed that they must include an entire week of placebo pills that have absolutely no affect whatsoever on the effectiveness of any medication lest the woman get confused and off track. But apparently we are responsible enough to shoulder the primary brunt of preventing conception . Stupid boy doctors ....

This book is super cool, if anyone would be interested in the subtle inner workings of your body. They should seriously teach this book in school - it really dispells a bunch of myths that are still considered 'common knowledge' even today.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Hermione wrote:

ooooooooh girl how do you do that? through the mail with who?

I have Aetna health insurance and my prescriptions are filled through express scripts. You can see if your insurance company will let you go through express scripts for prescriptions. Many insurance companies are starting to make you go through a mail order service for medicines you take on a daily basis instead of going to places like walgreens so it comes out way cheaper for you and your insurance company.

http://www.expressscripts.com/

relrel · Marc Jacobs

lsubatgirl wrote:

Hermione wrote: ooooooooh girl how do you do that? through the mail with who? I have Aetna health insurance and my prescriptions are filled through express scripts. You can see if your insurance company will let you go through express scripts for prescriptions. Many insurance companies are starting to make you go through a mail order service for medicines you take on a daily basis instead of going to places like walgreens so it comes out way cheaper for you and your insurance company. http://www.expressscripts.com/

express scripts (and im assuming other mail order pharmacies) also let you fill three months of bc pills at a time. i was paying, iirc, $30 for three months of ortho try cyclen and then when it lost its patent i was paying $15 for three months of the generic trinessa.

Deuce · Dooney & Bourke

FYI, I am pretty sure that most pills make a 28 day (with sugar pill) and a 21 day version (without sugar pill for continuous) My insurance would not cover me getting a 28 rx and getting my refill early, but when the dr gave me the 21 day rx I had no problems with my insurance. I have been doing this for a long time, due to the headaches I get.

NCshopper · Hermes

Elle wrote:

Hermione - I would ABSOLUTELY start your next pack of BC like you normally would - starting a week later would leave you unprotected and could very feasibly allow you to ovulate. And the 'period' you have while on the pill isn't a true period at all, it's actually anovulatory bleeding brought on artificially by the drop in hormones that occurs after you complete your cycle of pills. Occasionally the drop doesn't bring on a bleed, which isn't really a big deal if it only occurs once in awhile and all other possibilities for lateness have been eliminated. I'd talk to your doc if it becomes a habit.

Thanks Elle. That is exactly what I was trying to say, but I don't have all the technical terms down. I had no idea it was called an anovulatory period. Who knew?

Also, Hermione, your pill packs should come with a nice long insert that should cover all the questions you might have about the pill--missed pills, missed periods etc. I always forget about that little insert, but it really does have some helpful info.

dc · Dooney & Bourke

lsubatgirl wrote:

I am on seasonale and I love it. I did basically the same thing on alesse when i was in college because the student pharmacy carried it for $8 a pack vs walmart at $40 and no insurance coverage.
I don't know if any of yall have the option to fill perscriptions through the mail but my insurance covers it and it is way cheaper that way. I get seasonale for $60 vs. the $120 that walmart charges for it.

I don't want to hijack, but you love Seasonale? Did you ever have side effects?

I am only on my first pack (I am at the end of month 2), but so far I have had 2 yeast infections in one month and I have now had breakthrough bleeding for 10 days straight (starting right when my last YI ended - UGH!) - not spotting, but constant moderate bleeding, with cramps that wake me up at night. Have never had breakthrough or any side effects of this type on any other pill... I want to talk to my Doc about regular pills. I think I want my period back. (I suspect that I get the yeast infections b/c I don't have a period - that's common, b/c for many women having a period restores your pH every month and without the period, the yeast fluorishes). Sorry if this is all TMI, just a cautionary note re: Seasonale...

That said at least I have not gained weight - have actually lost 10 lbs, though mainly b/c of the insane dietary habits I have had to adopt (tons of yogurt, avoiding numerous types of food, etc) to reduce my risk of more yeasties. Bah.
.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

dc wrote:

I don't want to hijack, but you love Seasonale? Did you ever have side effects? I am only on my first pack (I am at the end of month 2), but so far I have had 2 yeast infections in one month and I have now had breakthrough bleeding for 10 days straight (starting right when my last YI ended - UGH!) - not spotting, but constant moderate bleeding, with cramps that wake me up at night. Have never had breakthrough or any side effects of this type on any other pill... I want to talk to my Doc about regular pills. I think I want my period back. (I suspect that I get the yeast infections b/c I don't have a period - that's common, b/c for many women having a period restores your pH every month and without the period, the yeast fluorishes). Sorry if this is all TMI, just a cautionary note re: Seasonale... That said at least I have not gained weight - have actually lost 10 lbs, though mainly b/c of the insane dietary habits I have had to adopt (tons of yogurt, avoiding numerous types of food, etc) to reduce my risk of more yeasties. Bah. .

The only side effect that I noticed was that my cramps were bad but I just took some tylenol and it was better. I've never had breakthrough bleeding on any of the pills I was on. The only pill I ever really had issues on was OTC and I gained all kinds of weight and had horrible mood swings. I also haven't gotten yeast infections on seasonale but I did get them on aleese. I guess everyone is different so I don't really know if my experiences will help but who knows.

blubirde · Chanel

dc wrote:

lsubatgirl wrote: I am on seasonale and I love it. I did basically the same thing on alesse when i was in college because the student pharmacy carried it for $8 a pack vs walmart at $40 and no insurance coverage. I don't know if any of yall have the option to fill perscriptions through the mail but my insurance covers it and it is way cheaper that way. I get seasonale for $60 vs. the $120 that walmart charges for it. I don't want to hijack, but you love Seasonale? Did you ever have side effects? I am only on my first pack (I am at the end of month 2), but so far I have had 2 yeast infections in one month and I have now had breakthrough bleeding for 10 days straight (starting right when my last YI ended - UGH!) - not spotting, but constant moderate bleeding, with cramps that wake me up at night. Have never had breakthrough or any side effects of this type on any other pill... I want to talk to my Doc about regular pills. I think I want my period back. (I suspect that I get the yeast infections b/c I don't have a period - that's common, b/c for many women having a period restores your pH every month and without the period, the yeast fluorishes). Sorry if this is all TMI, just a cautionary note re: Seasonale... That said at least I have not gained weight - have actually lost 10 lbs, though mainly b/c of the insane dietary habits I have had to adopt (tons of yogurt, avoiding numerous types of food, etc) to reduce my risk of more yeasties. Bah. .

dc - I'm on Seasonale and I love it too. My dr. told me the first 6 months could be tricky with the break through bleeding issues. For me, the first 3 months were great, no bleeding at all until period time. But the 2nd 3 month pack was a bit more cumbersome. I had the bleeding about 10 days before my period (moderate bleeding, like you're describing) and then a full period, although not a very heavy one. I'm on my 3rd 3 month pack and I haven't had one issue with bleeding at all. If you can deal with it, once that adjustment period is over, it's really nice.

As for yeast infections, have you taken any antibiotics recently? I get a yeast infection EVERY SINGLE TIME I take an antibiotic, especially if it's for an UTI. I got a nasty one recently and I'm still recovering. All because of some super high-dosage antibiotics I took to get rid of the remains of an UTI that wouldn't go away. My gyno said some women simply look at antibiotics and get yeast infections (I guess me) and gave my dyflucan (sp?). I'm supposed to take it halfway between my antibiotic treatment (if I have anymore) and hopefully it will kill enough yeast to keep me from getting an infection.

Have you been to this site yet? http://www.msu.edu/user/eisthen/yeast/ It's pretty informative about at-home ways to treat and prevent yeast infections.

halleybird · Hermes

lsubatgirl wrote:

dc wrote: I don't want to hijack, but you love Seasonale? Did you ever have side effects? I am only on my first pack (I am at the end of month 2), but so far I have had 2 yeast infections in one month and I have now had breakthrough bleeding for 10 days straight (starting right when my last YI ended - UGH!) - not spotting, but constant moderate bleeding, with cramps that wake me up at night. Have never had breakthrough or any side effects of this type on any other pill... I want to talk to my Doc about regular pills. I think I want my period back. (I suspect that I get the yeast infections b/c I don't have a period - that's common, b/c for many women having a period restores your pH every month and without the period, the yeast fluorishes). Sorry if this is all TMI, just a cautionary note re: Seasonale... That said at least I have not gained weight - have actually lost 10 lbs, though mainly b/c of the insane dietary habits I have had to adopt (tons of yogurt, avoiding numerous types of food, etc) to reduce my risk of more yeasties. Bah. . The only side effect that I noticed was that my cramps were bad but I just took some tylenol and it was better. I've never had breakthrough bleeding on any of the pills I was on. The only pill I ever really had issues on was OTC and I gained all kinds of weight and had horrible mood swings. I also haven't gotten yeast infections on seasonale but I did get them on aleese. I guess everyone is different so I don't really know if my experiences will help but who knows.

I have never been on Seasonale specifically, but I have been taking continuous bcp for 3 years. I actually started doing it because I was having breakthrough bleeding when I took the pill the normal way, and this stopped it. I've had bleeding maybe 2-3 times total, but nothing prolonged or serious.

The only side effect I've noticed is the same one lsu mentioned -- the cramps are worse when I do have a period, but not a ton worse, and definitely not bad enough to go back to the regular pill.

Elle · Hermes

halleybird wrote:

The only side effect I've noticed is the same one lsu mentioned -- the cramps are worse when I do have a period, but not a ton worse, and definitely not bad enough to go back to the regular pill.

Me, 3 (or 4 or whatever). I actually had an experience almost identical to Blubirde's, in which my first cycle was perfect, and I spotted intermittently throughout my 2nd and 3rd cycles (mostly when a period would have normally been due), and was totally fine after that. I did have some cramps before/during my periods while I was on it (though it lessened with each subsequent period), but mine was more of a severe achiness in the ute/cervix/vag area. Kind of felt like my body 'forgot' how to have a period, and therefore had a little extra trouble completing the task. That lessened as well with time.

I'm also not prone to the yeasties, so that could definitely be a factor if you are prone I suppose. Maybe a daily dose of acidophillus (sp?) would aid in prevention? And maybe some cranberry capsules for daily UTI prevention?

dc · Dooney & Bourke

blubirde wrote:

As for yeast infections, have you taken any antibiotics recently? I get a yeast infection EVERY SINGLE TIME I take an antibiotic, especially if it's for an UTI. I got a nasty one recently and I'm still recovering. All because of some super high-dosage antibiotics I took to get rid of the remains of an UTI that wouldn't go away. My gyno said some women simply look at antibiotics and get yeast infections (I guess me) and gave my dyflucan (sp?). I'm supposed to take it halfway between my antibiotic treatment (if I have anymore) and hopefully it will kill enough yeast to keep me from getting an infection.
Have you been to this site yet? http://www.msu.edu/user/eisthen/yeast/ It's pretty informative about at-home ways to treat and prevent yeast infections.

blubirde - nope, no antibiotics... and there is no question it's yeast (people often misdiagnose, but I've been to the Dr). The only thing that could have caused the YI was the pills. I took diflucan (two doses) for the first and it came back 3 weeks later (used Terazol that time), followed 5 days later by the bleeding just as the YI was going away. I am now almost to two solid weeks of bleeding - b/w this constant bleeding and the YIs before that, I can not remember what it is like to be "normal!" My life is devoted to massive quantities of plain nonfat yogurt (which has plenty of acidophilus and other active cultures... and I am not sure it's helping, as you can see). Maybe once my body adapts to the wack hormones this will stop. But I have tried every single preventative measure (immediately changing out of workout clothes, cran juice, yogurt, eliminating all kinds of foods, blah blah - yep, have been to that site you mention, among HUNDREDS of others) and am worried b/c I feel slightly itchy AGAIN today just as it seems the bleeding might be slowing up a bit.

Sorry again for the thread hijack - these dumb pill side effects have been pretty much ruling my life these days!