Dear Straight Talk: A friend, who I will call “Ashley,” has a lot of freedom. Her parents have told her to trust her own judgment regarding sex and her body. She usually makes good decisions but there is one thing we are arguing about because I think it could be harmful. She wants to take the birth control pill that eliminates your menstrual cycle. She is 17. I know it would be convenient but what if it made her sterile or messed up her hormones down the road? — Ashley’s friend
From Bird, 17: Her body is her choice, but eliminating your period is unhealthy. She should be fully educated before making this choice.
From Nicole, 17: Stop your friend immediately. If she has pain, she should go to a doctor to see if her pain is out of the ordinary. If it’s not, she needs to deal with her body’s cycle.
From Nick, 19: I’m not so fortunate to have ovaries, but anything that interferes with the body’s natural cycle to that degree is bad news bears in my book.
From Lennon, 21: If I was a woman, I’d worry that I was pregnant. For that reason, not having your period would seem more stressful than having it.
From Mary, 17: I’ll let you in on a secret. You can push, you can give facts, but it comes down to what she wants to do. So stand behind her while letting her know how you feel about it. I do this all the time with my friends. Just relax, things will be okay.
From Farren, 20: You can already block your period with regular birth control pills through continuous use. It’s a pretty popular trend to block your period this way. I’ve heard of the pill that gives you four “seasonal” periods a year and the new one that suppresses it entirely. Obviously it’s silly that we can control what is supposed to be “nature.” However, for women who have painful side effects, this may be best for them. I don’t think every teen should jump on the bandwagon, but if your friend has heavy periods or painful side effects, it might help her out. The point of the pill is to trick your body into thinking you’re pregnant, so obviously, it can change your moods or make you gain weight, but regarding messing up her hormones or making her sterile, women have been on the pill for 10 to 15 years and they are able to have children. I would let this one go. If your friend’s body reacts adversely, she will stop on her own.
Dear Friend: First, natural breasts aren’t good enough. Now the menstrual cycle is a nuisance! Very few women have problems with their menstrual cycle, but many are buying the pitch for convenience making menstrual suppression a multi-million dollar industry. Farren is correct that about 20 percent of women have suppressed their menstrual cycles through “continuous cycling” of birth control pills. The new pills, “Lybrel” and “Seasonale” simply legitimize the idea, and are thought to be no riskier than regular birth control pills which have been used since the 1960s.
I’m not old-fashioned, but I do care about long-term radiant health. As such, I have a solid mistrust of ingesting synthetic hormones to “fix” something that “ain’t broke.” Natural menstrual suppression, which occurs in pregnant and nursing mothers, involves natural hormones which have properties distinct from synthetic hormones. Every time we fool Mother Nature, we subject ourselves to the Law of Unintended Consequences — as menopausal women sold on synthetic hormones found out the hard way. The future will tell what the unintended consequences of artificial menstrual suppression will be. I place my bets with Mother Nature and urge my female readers to do the same.
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