Lybrel the “new” birth control that stops your “period” completely is on store shelves this week.

The pill uses the same hormones as traditional birth control pills, but does not include the placebos that “fake” a period every month. (The bleeding one experiences from taking placebos is not, in fact, a menstrual period. It is just bleeding caused by withdrawal from hormones.)

Nevertheless, some women like their faux periods, according to the Houston Chronicle:

“That scares me,” said Melinda Perez, 35, of League City. “It plays too much with the way your body naturally needs to work.”
…
“Not that I always enjoy my cycles, but I wouldn’t want to get rid of it,” said Kiara Ward, 17, of northeast Houston. “It’s there for a purpose.”

But gynecologists say that’s not necessarily true. Women are designed to be pregnant or nursing, which causes menstruation to cease, during their child-bearing years, said Dr. Patricia Sulak, a professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Instead, because of the availability of contraception and women’s modern roles in society, they’re having periods every month, year after year.

“Women are having too many periods today,” said Sulak, who specializes in menstruation suppression.

Good news for the 8% of women who experience painful side-effects from their periods and would just as soon do without.

New pill is a true test of women’s love-hate relationship with periods [Houston Chronicle]
(Photo:Steve Campbell: Chronicle)

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