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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Who knows about the Pill???? In relation to teenage girls..... help please!

29 replies

chenin · 29/03/2007 15:43

I wonder if anyone can help... my DD1 is 18 and on the Pill (microgynon). She had a bf that lasted nearly a year but the relationship is now finished.

She has carried on taking the pill which I am not too worried about. However, what worries me is the fact that she takes it 'back to back' to avoid periods. She has no pill free week. We have had big arguments about this because I don't think it is good for her body. Has the pill changed since my time.

All her friends are on the pill and they all take it like this. I have explained till I'm blue in the face that the pill is for contraception not for 18yo girls to avoid periods. She says that every time she is due a pill free week she has a party or something.... I know I know... how ridiculous bearing in mind she has parties she could go to nearly every weekend. I think this is bad for her health.

She says she has asked the Doctor at a health clinic she went to and that he said it was OK but I really think he probably thought she meant to take perhaps 2 months running not for ever! I have made her make an apppointment at our local surgery for Monday but I am not sure if she will let me come to voice my concerns. I want her to tell the Dr that she is doing this month after month. It is very common amongst her friends. Can anyone help?

OP posts:
Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:30

anyone?

OP posts:
nuttygirl · 29/03/2007 16:34

No idea about the medical implications but I found if I took it back-to-back (for just 2 months) when I had my next period it was much more painful than normal. Sorry I'm not much help but guess it bumps it for you!

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:35

thanks nutty!

OP posts:
nuttygirl · 29/03/2007 16:36

No probs, hope someone with more knowledge comes along soon!

Iklboo · 29/03/2007 16:39

I sometimes take it back to back - been as long as 3 months. Don't think there are MASSIVE implications medically speaking (practice nurse has no qualms) - I just get a longer, heavier bleed.
She's probably doing it to avoid the inconvenience of AF

Aloha · 29/03/2007 16:41

It's not bad for your health at all. The 'period' you get on the pill is not a true period anyway. It is absolutely fine and in many ways beneficial to take the pill like this. She may find she gets annoying breakthrough bleeding if she never has the week off. I did three months on and a week off (so four 'periods' a year) for years. It helps in all sorts of ways, such as keeping endometriosis in check.

Hulababy · 29/03/2007 16:42

I have taken mine back to back in the past, to miss a period on holidays, etc. Which is fine to do. Didn't make any difference to me regards the next period. But I have never done it for more than one period. Not sure what the recommendation is for how many times you can do it.

bozza · 29/03/2007 16:45

I have started doing two packs in a row just because I feel like it. But I couldn't get away with more because I always start bleeding after about 37 days anway. Although maybe if I continued taking it that would stop.

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:47

Thanks everyone... this is very interesting. When I was on the pill yonks ago it was actively discouraged to miss the pill free week.

I am concerned that DD and her girlfriends see the pill as a ways and means to avoid periods full stop. I would bet that a lot of girls feel like this, not just my DD and her peers.

I know that the period in the pill free week is not a true one... its just I sort of think your body needs a break for a week... call me old fashioned!

Thanks all

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 29/03/2007 16:48

There's even a Pill now called Seasonelle that's designed for a woman to take continuously and have only 3 or 4 periods a year.

Some forms of contraception, like Depo, stop it entirely.

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:48

BTW it wouldn't surprise me if some of DDs friends have gone a year back to back... seems excessive to me.

OP posts:
Aloha · 29/03/2007 16:49

Your body doesn't need periods. It's totally abnormal to have periods all the time. We aren't designed for it. Women would normally be pregnant or breastfeeding for most of their lives until the menopause!
Periods are very overrated. Constant menstruation is associated with ovarian and womb cancer. I think it is perfectly reasonable to not want periods - horrible things!

expatinscotland · 29/03/2007 16:49

Not really, helli.

I've known women who were pregnant or breastfeeding for years on end w/o having periods.

No big deal unless your periods have stopped because of excessive exercising or dieting, I wouldn't think.

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:49

Well, I just have the menopause to look forward to... my pill taking days are long gone!

OP posts:
mummydoc · 29/03/2007 16:50

there is no medical implications and in theory period shouldn't be heavier or more painful, it is merely fooling the body , if you htink about it ladies who are pregnant do not have "bleeds " every month ...

expatinscotland · 29/03/2007 16:51

You could go on Depo, hellie, and that would stop them. The Mirena coil does this, too, in many but not all users.

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:52

Well... Aloha and expat.... I can quite understand my DD wanting to avoid them. But hers are light compared to mine.... don't get me started on what I go through!

I was put on the pill for 6 months (I thought I was too old!) and had THE most wonderful six months with periods but then when I went to get my next prescription, they wouldn't give me them without a blood pressure test. It was sky high... dangerously so. So I had to come off the pill and look back on that six months very fondly and I didnt even take them back to back. But they were sooooo light compared to what I have to put up with now...

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 29/03/2007 16:53

Have they suggested the Mirena, hellie?

You should see a GYN if they're causing you that much trouble.

mummydoc · 29/03/2007 16:59

your dd should n't really have depo - recently it has been discouraged for teenagers because it is thought to be linked to osteoporosis later. have you thought of hte mirena coil - mine is fab

Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 16:59

Yes... I have been down that route. I am on Tranexamic acid which is supposed to reduce flow by up to 50%. Some months it works and some it really doesn't.

TBH I am starting the menopause (I think!) and hope that it will all go away then - until then I grin and bear it becaue some months aren't that bad! I just dont want to hear the word 'hysterectomy'.

OP posts:
Original poster
chenin · 29/03/2007 17:01

I have had Mirena suggested but have read good and bad reports. I know its working for you Mummydoc... but there also seem to be a lot of ppl out there that have had huge problems. I'm too old to muck around with my body too much!! (I'm 52 btw... I started with kids late!)

OP posts:
luchinka · 01/04/2007 17:48

I used to take micrgynon until about 2 years ago and I found if i ran more than 3 packs together I got spotting anyway during the month and it felt like having a constant period, so I only did it for really important things I didn't want a period on. I asked a doctor once and he said it was ok to run as many as 4 or 5 together.
I read an article years ago saying taking the pill with no break was fine and in fact the only reason that we take them with a 7 day break was that the (male) scientists who designed it thought women would be freaked out if they never had a period and would prefer to bleed once month .....

nogoes · 01/04/2007 18:23

I used to take microgynon back to back if I took it for longer than 3 months I would get spotting.

As Aloha has said having fewer periods can reduce the risk of ovarian and cancer of the womb. On the downside preventing menstruation may lead to higher iron levels which increases the risk of a stroke or heart attack. Apparantly one of the reasons that women have a lower risk of heart attack is because we tend to have lower iron levels. I would get medical advice I am sure it is not too much of a problem but I wouldn't imagine that they would advise that she blocks her periods completely.

BizzyDint · 01/04/2007 18:32

yes i took it from when i was 17 until i was 26 (stopped to conceive dd) pretty much back to back. i used to have maybe 3 or 4 breaks a year. i went with the idea that we were never meant to have so many periods in our lifetime. years ago women didn't start their periods as early as they do now (i was 10), they had more babies, breastfed for longer, so had less periods in general. i too read about the bleed gap being created so women would feel more natural by still having a monthly bleed, even though it isn't a proper period.

i regularly had my blood pressure checked at the family planing clinic, my weight was ok, i didn't smoke etcetc, and i conceived dd straight away after coming off the pill, i didn't even have the artificial bleed.

Emskilou · 02/04/2007 18:53

So if you take the pill back to back then get the spotting, how long does the spotting last??

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