Seasonale Birth Control
January 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Seasonale is a “mid-way” product between the bother of taking pills every day (which you still do), and the bother of a period every 21 days. What it relieves you of, is most of those periods, since you will only have four in a year.
Generically, Seasonale is the same drugs as regular birth control pills, levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol; in the same amounts, and with the same risks. There is no increased risk for taking more “active” pills over the course of the year, than there is on the 21 or 28 day program.
With Seasonale, you take 84 pink active pills, and then take 7 white pills, during which your period occurs. It will not be any heavier or longer than your period was on other programs.
The one noticeable detraction, is that you will likely have breakthrough “periods” with about the same flow as a normal period, or spotting in varying degrees. This should be reduced significantly if not totally eliminated after your first year on Seasonale. During that time, do not stop taking your pills or alter the regimen in any way. About one-third of women report more than 20 breakthrough days (in addition to scheduled periods) in their first year of use.
Side effects for Seasonale are exactly the same as other more traditional birth control pills and include headaches, nausea, dizziness, and the inability to use contact lenses. Women using Seasonale should not smoke, as it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, which are the most common health dangers for women using birth control pills.