With the Antibabypille the menstrual period can be postponed in the long-term cycle – this is particularly practical in the summer and holiday months. But experts warn against being too careless. “Even if serious complications are rare, they can destroy the life of a young woman,” said Ingrid Mühlhauser, chair of the women’s health group in medicine, psychotherapy and society. “The pill is therefore unsuitable as a lifestyle treatment and is not approved for it.”
Taking the pill, for example, only in summer and then continuously, so that the bleeding does not interfere on vacation or on the beach, also holds the Kiel gynecologist and author Dorothee Struck for “stupid”. “You have to know that there is always the highest risk of thrombosis, embolism or stroke in the first half of the intake. And especially in summer you have to sit a lot and cramped on vacation trips – this increases the risk even more.”
Birth control pill: Medical bleeding is not necessary
The pill itself is not bad, says the doctor, who also deals with other methods of contraception in her books. “The only bad thing is the totally relaxed handling of it.” The contraceptive pill prevents an egg from maturing monthly and thus also prevents ovulation. It is traditionally taken for 21 days. There is a stopping bleeding in a seven-day break. Women however, they may take the pill longer and thus delay their bleeding to a time that is more convenient for them. There are now pills for the so-called long-term cycle on the market, which are taken three months in a row.
Such a long-term cycle is also possible with any other single-phase pill, says the Hamburg gynecologist and expert of the German Society for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Anneliese Schwenkhagen. Postponing the cycle itself is not a problem: “It doesn’t really matter whether the bleeding stops after 21, 28, 32 days or even a few weeks later.” The inventors of the pill took the cycle of ingestion to the natural cycle of woman adjusted – medically, however, this is not absolutely necessary.
The continuous intake is not an idea of the pharmaceutical industry to sell more pills, but something that gynecologists have been recommending to some patients for many years, says Schwenkhagen, whose practice specializes in hormonal disorders. Migraines, extremely severe period pains or the disease endometriosis are common medical reasons. “You can do a lot of good things by taking the pill consistently.” She also considers permanent income for lifestyle reasons to be “completely legitimate”.
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“The current scientific data shows a comparable benefit-damage ratio between classic pill intake and long-term intake”, explained Ingrid Mühlhauser. However, study data on the long-term effects were missing. The pros and cons as well as the uncertainty about long-term consequences should be explained in detail by the doctor. “The pill is not a homeopathic placebo, but a drug that significantly interferes with the hormonal balance of women.”
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