This all sounds very interesting, but I think I will stick with my patch...even though it's not the prettiest sight on black women :eek:

Tune to 20/20 on ABC right now!

I agree. I do this with my pills now. I move when my cycle starts based on vacations, special occasions, etc. I typically do every other month instead of every three. I ma a much happier camper that way.

I have also read articles speculating that this may help in the fight against breast cancer. Rates of breast cancer are higher in women who do not have kids before thirty. Part of the theory is that we are being exposed to different levels of certain hormones because we are not suspending our cycles due to child birth and nursing. This method will reduce the number of cycles and make it more similar to that "norm" you described. This is all very early on in the theory stage but interesting none the less.

When I go on vacation, I do manipulate my period so I won't get it. One time I didn't take the placebo pills and started a new pack. The first day on the new pack, I felt sick and had spotting. When I got back home from vacation, I stopped taking the pills because I felt I needed to have a period. After stopping the pills, I felt better. Do you feel sick when starting a new pack?

Pills Rendering Menstrual Period Optional


Excerpt:

Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old Stephanie Sardinha.

She hasn't had a period since she was 17.

"It's really one of the best things I've ever done," she says.

A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away instead of following instructions to leave the ring out for a week to allow bleeding. She says it has been great for her marriage, preventing monthly crankiness and improving her sex life.

"I would never go back," said Sardinha, who got the idea from her aunt, a nurse practitioner.

Using the pill or other contraceptives to block periods is becoming more popular, particularly among young women and those entering menopause, doctors say.

"I have a ton of young girls in college who are doing this," says Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, a gynecologist in Little Silver, N.J., who did it herself for years. "There's no reason you need a period."

Such medical jury-rigging soon will be unnecessary. Already, the Seasonale birth control pill limits periods to four a year. The first continuous-use birth control pill, Lybrel, likely will soon be on the U.S. market and drug companies are lining up other ways to limit or eliminate the period.

Most doctors say they don't think suppressing menstruation is riskier than regular long-term birth control use, and one survey found a majority have prescribed contraception to prevent periods. Women have been using the pill for nearly half a century without significant problems, but some doctors want more research on long-term use.

The new methods should be popular. A non-scientific Web survey for the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals found at least two-thirds of respondents are bothered by fatigue, heavy bleeding, "really bad cramps" and even anger. Nearly half said they would like to have no period at all or decide when to have one.

That just doesn't seem...natural. :(

CT4 you know my cousin Donna would have stroke if I did some mess like this, lol. I'm going to send her this article.

She will faint and cleanse your chakras post haste. LOL

As much as I dread that week from Hades...I'd miss it if it were gone. Maybe I'm lucky but something about my cycle makes me feel like a woman. Not that I enjoy the cramping, flipping out on poor honey-do and crying for no reason, but it's a weird kind of love.

Definitely NOT for me...as much I don't like coming on my period, I'm not going to block it from coming. As quick as it comes it goes..

I wonder, since you're not releasing eggs as you should, will this prolong your time until you hit menopause?? I am under the (possibly wrong) impression that menopause happens when you release your last egg, and therefore no longer have a menstrual cycle. Would never having your period cause your body to store those eggs longer?? This is so confusing and very unnatural!:confused:

There's a new birth control pill, Loestrin24Fe that's supposed to give you shorter (about 3-day long) and lighter periods.

I would never. I don't know what it is, but just having my visitor lets me know that everything is going as it should. Even though I've been dealing with it since age 10 and have cramps at night that make me dream I'm in labor, I'd rather deal with that then mess with things. Besides, my hormones mess me up enough......start putting extra in my body and I might mess around a kill somebody. :mad:

And in response to the last 2 posts:

There are 300-500 million eggs in your body when you are born, so NO, menopause does not come after the last is released. It just comes when it comes, just like puberty.

And that Loestrin deal also increases your risk of heart attack or stroke or something, so I wouldn't mess with that either.

I thought I remember reading something like that. But then I wondered what happens to the rest that aren't released??

Would I take Seasonal and/or suppress my period? Yes! As soon as I find a new doctor, this is the first thing I'm going to ask about.

I remember my doctor telling me a while back that not having a cycle increases the buildup of estrogen and too much can be harmful to you...I need to research it.