Birth Control Pills To Regulate Period And Acne
Dear Alice,
My doctor suggested to me that I start on birth control to regulate my menstrual cycle and also to help with my acne problem. I have gone to a dermatologist for four years and my face still breaks out. Do you think that I should try the birth control pill or would the side effects outweigh the benefits? I worry about the weight gain mostly.
Dear Reader,
Your decision about whether or not to take birth control pills is both a medical and a personal choice. It is important that you speak with a health care provider to voice your concerns and get all the facts. Yes, birth control pills can regulate periods, and some are effective in controlling acne. You may want to consider the following questions: What are the pros and cons of taking birth control pills? How long would you need to take the pill to get the desired effects? Could you try them out to see if you experience any positive or negative effect? Other factors to consider are your age, whether or not you are having sex, and whether or not you are a smoker.
Remember, you do not have to make a decision in a jiffy. Make sure that you communicate with your health care provider and get all the information you need in order to make a carefully caculated decision.
Symptoms Of Irregular Periods
You have irregular periods if the length of your menstrual cycle keeps changing.
Your periods may come early or late.
The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, but its normal for it to be a bit shorter or longer than this.
After puberty, many women develop a regular cycle with a similar length of time between periods. But it can vary by a few days each time.
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Will The Pill Make My Daughters Cramps Better
For girls who experience severe menstrual cramps and over-the-counter medications do not help, birth control pills may be the solution. Birth control pills can help to decrease menstrual cramps. Because the combined birth control pills prevent ovulation, they also get rid of pain that your daughter may experience with ovulation in the middle of her menstrual cycle.
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Why Is It Important To Determine The Cause Of Irregular Periods
If one the above problems is identified, your doctor or a fertility specialist can talk about ways to treat the underlying issue to allow for more predictable ovulation and more regular periods. Some of these underlying conditions can have other effects on your overall health as well. For example, patients with PCOS are at higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and overgrowth of the uterine lining.
Women who are not trying to conceive: Your doctor may recommend birth control pills to help regulate your periods. This is so that your period comes monthly.
If you are trying to conceive: Your doctor can help determine if you would benefit from taking a medicine to assist with ovulation. Clomiphene citrate is the most commonly used ovulation-inducing fertility medicine. It is taken orally for 5 days of your cycle. This helps induce an egg to grow within the ovary so that you can ovulate and potentially become pregnant.
Original post February 2016 Updated May 2021
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Black Cohosh To Regulate Periods
Natures Way Black Cohosh Root is a dietary supplement that some women take to regulate periods, ease PMS symptoms, and induce labor. Black cohosh has also been used to relieve arthritis pain and help lower blood pressure. However, research has not verified how effective black cohosh is in regulating menstruation. It might be effective for some women, but ineffective for others.
How much black cohosh root do you need to take to get a regular cycle? It depends on your body and health issues. It also depends on your height, weight, age and reason that your hormones are out of balance. Taking a black cohosh dietary supplement without knowing what your body needs is not the best way to regulate your cycle. If you arent taking prescription medications and are otherwise healthy, research the effects of black cohosh on hormones of a woman your age. This supplement may affect your body differently at your age than it might in five years, or 20.
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How To Track Ovulation When You Have An Irregular Period
While women with regular cycles can simply assume theyre ovulating at the same time each month, its a bit trickier for those with irregular periods. Fortunately, there are a few ways to figure out your bodys schedule.
The first sign to look for is mucus. If you get a lot of clear, sticky mucus in the middle of your menstrual cycle, then youre probably ovulating, says Beth Taylor, an OB/GYN with the Vancouver-based Olive Fertility Centre. The mucus, which is secreted thanks to an increase in estrogen, means your cervix is ready to be penetrated by sperm to get pregnant.
Another way to determine if youre ovulating at all is to track your temperature each morning with a basal body temperature thermometer, which can hone in on small changes up to 1/100th of a degree. After the egg is released in your body, both estrogen and progesterone are flowing. The progesterone causes your bodys temperature to increase by half a degree Celsius .
But this method is a bit tricky for women with irregular cycles. Because the temperature change indicates the egg has already released, it means you need to have sex just before the increase in order to hit your fertile window. Most women track their temperature and use the data to predict when its going to rise in future months. But even if your cycle is a little unpredictable, It can be useful in looking backwards to see: am I likely to ovulate? And when? says Carson.
Natural Remedies For Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
If youve been diagnosed with a health condition such as polycystic ovary syndrome, your natural remedies definitely need to help correct your hormonal imbalance. PCOS interferes with ovulation and fertility. Polycystic ovary syndrome is caused by unbalanced hormones, which can lead to irregular menstrual cycles and problems getting pregnant. Symptoms can include small cysts on your ovaries, infrequent or irregular vaginal bleeding, excess male-type hair growth , and acne.
I was diagnosed with PCOS when my husband and I went to a fertility clinic because we couldnt get pregnant. It wasnt the ovarian syndrome that was preventing pregnancy, it was the fact that my husband has azoospermia and doesnt produce sperm. Nevertheless, the fertility specialist gave me natural tips for balancing my hormones and getting regular periods. She said the most important things are regular exercise, a healthy diet, no smoking, and weight control are keys to treating polycystic ovary syndrome successfully. Prescription medications are also helpful for some women, but it depends on her body, age, and goals for a future family.
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But I Do Get My Period When Im Taking The Pill
You may wonder that if these arent real hormones you get on the Pill, then why do you get your period?
Actually, you dont get your period Yes, you do bleed every month, but this isnt real period. No real hormones, no real period either.
The bleed you get when youre on birth control is caused by a sudden drop of hormones that happens during those seven days when you dont take the pill, or take placebo pills.
You may also think that your period is super regular because your cycle seems to always be 28 days long Thats not true either because the sequence is just set up that way so that it seems normal to you. The drug companies could choose any other number too if they wanted. It really doesnt matter because again, the bleed you get on the birth control pill doesnt have anything to do with your own hormones.
When Should Women Not Take Birth Control Pills For Perimenopause
While hormonal birth control can be extremely beneficial, it can increase the risk of blood clots in some individuals with a uterus. More specifically, it is recommended that those with a history of blood disorders, heart disease, and/or cancer stop taking hormonal contraceptives as they enter their late forties. This also applies to individuals who smoke.
Instead of using high-dose hormonal birth control to alleviate the symptoms of perimenopause, individuals with a uterus can try hormone therapies or low-dose birth control pills. With that said, there are pros and cons to these methods, so individuals should consult a doctor in order to determine the best path for their lifestyle.
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Removal Of The Lining Of The Womb
Another option is to remove the lining of the womb . Here the tissue is removed using surgical instruments or destroyed, for instance using laser beams or microwave energy . After the procedure, the woman often stops having periods, or her periods are much lighter. This makes pregnancy unlikely.
But the lining of the womb can grow back. If heavy periods start again as a result, the procedure can be repeated. About 20 out of 100 women have this kind of surgery again within two years.
Endometrial ablation or resection can sometimes be performed as outpatient surgery. Women recover relatively quickly afterwards.
The Pill May Actually Help Some Women Get Pregnant
April 6, 2000 — Women who take birth control pills to prevent their ovaries from producing an egg for a month — a process called anovulation — prior to in vitro fertilization experience an enhanced rate of pregnancy, a study in the current issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility reports.
“When oral contraceptives are used to induce anovulation before IVF treatment, the second IVF cycle after anovulation seems to favor pregnancy more than the first cycle,” writes Misao Fukada, MD, of the Fukada Ladies’ Clinic in Ako, Japan, and the study’s lead author. “Anovulation may therefore provide improved conditions for the development of a healthier with an increased pregnancy potential up to two menstrual cycles later.”
Fukada and colleagues used oral contraceptives to induce anovulation in more than 30 women who had each undergone a number of unsuccessful IVF attempts. All of the women had both ovaries and had developed a pre-embryo in a previous IVF cycle, indicating that their chances for a successful pregnancy were good. The pregnancy rate per cycle in the second cycle after a period of anovulation and the first and second cycle combined after a period of anovulation were significantly higher than that before anovulation .
“The present study shows that a period of anovulation enhances conception rates of IVF treatment compared with the rates obtained when continuous ovulations occur,” Fukada writes. Why this occurs was not explored in this study.
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If You Just Cant With Your Period Anymore Talk To Your Doctor About The Options At Your Disposal
Dont wait until youre looking to stop your period for a specific window of time, like for a wedding or vacation. Try to give yourself some lead timeif you can give yourself three months, thats better than the month before, Dr. Shirazian says. The longer youre trying methods to stop your period, the more likely they are to give you no bleeding.
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Getting Pregnant With Ovulation Problems
Once your doctor has ruled out other medical conditions, they may prescribe fertility drugs to stimulate your ovulation.
The drug contained in Clomid and Serophene is often a first choice because it’s effective and has been prescribed to women for decades. Unlike many infertility drugs, it also has the advantage of being taken orally instead of by injection. It is used to induce ovulation and to correct irregular ovulation by increasing egg recruitment by the ovaries. The drug letrazole is also used to induce ovulation.
Clomiphene induces ovulation in most women with anovulation. Up to 10% of women who use clomiphene for infertility will have a multiple gestation pregnancy — usually twins.
The typical starting dosage of clomiphene is 50 milligrams per day for five days, beginning on the third, fourth, or fifth day after your period begins. You can expect to start ovulating about seven days after you’ve taken the last dose of clomiphene. If you don’t ovulate, the dose can be increased by 50 milligrams per day each month up to 150 mg. After you’ve begun to ovulate, most doctors suggest taking Clomid for 3-6 months before referring to a specialist. If you haven’t gotten pregnant by then, you would try a different medication or get a referral to an infertility specialist.
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When Are Menstrual Cycles And Periods Considered Irregular
Womens menstrual cycles commonly vary in length. An average menstrual cycle is considered to be 28 days long, but cycles ranging from 24 to 38 days are also considered normal.
Periods are generally considered irregular if any of the following are true:
- Menstrual cycles that are shorter than 24 days or longer than 38 days
- having periods in which cycle length varies by more than 9 days
- Bleeding or spotting between periodsmenopause
Warm Compress Or Bath
A warm bath can do wonders for relaxing tight muscles and relieving emotional stress. Perhaps this is the reason for anecdotal reports that this can help to bring on your period.
Try adding some relaxing scented oil to a bath for added effect. You could also try using a warm compress such as a hot water bottle by applying it to the abdomen.
The heat isnt only relaxing. It may also increase blood flow to the area, thus gently accelerating the menstrual cycle.
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The Pill Is An Effective Way To Prevent Pregnancy
If you follow the instructions and use the birth control pill correctly, it gives you great protection against pregnancy.
All you have to do is stick to your daily pill schedule, and make sure you start your new packs on time thats it. But if you miss or forget pills, it wont work as well. You can use our birth control reminder app to keep you on track.
You can use condoms along with your birth control pills to get extra protection from pregnancy. Bonus: condoms also help protect against STDs.
Do Birth Control Pills Regulate My Period
Contrary to popular belief, hormonal birth control pills do not regulate your period, but rather suppress ovulation by shutting down hormone production at the level of the brain.
Hormonal birth control pills do have a profound impact on the reproductive system and it may take a period of time for your cycles to return after stopping them.
If you are taking hormonal birth control pills to try to regulate your period, be aware that once you come off of them, youll likely still need to address the underlying cause of your irregularity.
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Take Hormonal Birth Control
Hormonal birth control is often prescribed to help with irregular periods.
There are different types of products, but they all work to keep hormone levels more steady. They may also regulate cycles and provide relief from symptoms, like severe cramping or acne. Some products may eliminate your period altogether.
A doctor can help you to select a hormonal contraceptive that may work best for you. You may experience some side effects, including nausea, weight gain, or headaches.
Be sure to tell your doctor if you smoke. It may increase your risk of blood clots.
When Should I Take A Pregnancy Test With Irregular Periods
Irregular periods can make it hard to judge when to take a pregnancy test. According to the FDA, as many as 20 women in 100 will not detect a pregnancy on the first day of their missed period, partly due to irregular cycles.
One option is to test 36 days after the start of your last menstrual cycle or 28 days after having sex. By then, the level of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin should be high enough to detect a pregnancy.
If you dont want to wait that long, one OB/GYN suggests taking a pregnancy test 14 days after having sex. If its negative, repeat it in about a week.
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When Will I Get My Period After Birth
In the postpartum phase, youll experience a vaginal discharge of blood, mucus, and uterine tissue. This discharge, known as lochia, starts off heavy and bright red. Within the next six to eight weeks, it will lighten, become more irregular, and turn dark brown/yellow before tapering off.
Although lochia resembles a periodand youll need to wear a pad to control the blood flowits not the same thing as menstruation. Your actual period wont return for a few weeks or months after giving birth. The timeline largely depends on whether or not youre breastfeeding.
If youre not breastfeedingyour period will probably return four to eight weeks after childbirth, according to Amina White, M.D., clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
If you are breastfeedingyoull likely get your period much later, since prolactin wards off ovulation. Menstruation may take weeks or months to return. Irregular periods while breastfeeding are especially common if youre doing a combination of formula-feeding and breastfeeding.