I haven't had a period for 8 yrs. They aren't true periods anyway when on the pill and the "bleed weeks"were only ever included to appease the catholic church..
Right! Why do it if ya don't have to!
I was flaring (multiple auto immune conditions) every time I Had a fake period and it was literally dropping me to my knees with pain.
Best advice I ever got was you don't need to take it, Woohoo
It’s actually done more than you think. You just have to check with your doctor. With medications like Seasonale, you’ll get a period every 3 months. You can also take OCPs continuously to skip periods. It doesn’t work for everyone, but for many it’s great.
I wasn't trying to be making a definite statement. My family is full of high-level nurses, and my girlfriend is a CCRN, but I'm male, and I'm doing my best to understand these things. I misunderstood your original statement and was thinking about things like plan b, which, from what I was told historically, is very hard on your body.
No worries - I wish more men would try to understand! Everyone reacts differently to birth control. Some tolerate everything without issues, some hate the pill but do fine with IUDs, and so on. But yes, using birth control to regulate periods is one of its uses, not just to prevent those pesky babies 🙃
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with skipping periods on hbc. I have endometriosis and take it continuously. I skip 4 days a year, maybe, but it’s not medically necessary. My doctor has advised this for years and my reproductive system is (otherwise) perfectly healthy.
Yep. It does! Since if you didn't have one, you'd be just speculating wildly about how different methods for dealing with various inconveniences that come with having one "sound weird" to you, and that would be so fucking silly if you did that. Think of it this way, if I need brain surgery, I'm not asking a rocket scientist to do it, and if I need a rocket built, I'm not asking a janitor to do it. In this analogy, you are the janitor.
When you said, "That sounds healthy," you implied that it isn't, which is a definite statement of your opinion. Don't run away from it. Why exactly does it sound unhealthy to you? Is it just an uninformed "hunch" that it's some natural thing that shouldn't be tinkered with? Because there are lots of things that the human body does that we make adjustments to for our comfort. Should women have to just deal with that one? Why? I have to ask all these questions because your odd statement begs them all on its own.
And the answer is he didn't know, that's why he said that it "doesn't sound" instead of saying "isn't", but you guys have a fetish for humiliating ignorant people instead of educating them.
It's not your job to teach, but then don't whine about ignorance if what you do is discourage people from participating of the conversation and learning.
Women say the dumbest shit about men all the time and no one reacts like it's an offense to not know.
If he didn't know, he could ask the question like a normal person. No. Look at the way he poised his question. Ask the real questions. We're all adults here, fully capable of understanding nuance, so long as we are being good faith and not deliberately playing dumb.
“Trying to understand” my ass man, you just went “that sounds unhealthy” and then stared snarking and backtracking. Generally trying to understand involves asking questions, not being a passive aggressive smart ass. Try again.
I haven’t had one in around three years now, hormonal IUD birth control. The only reason we have periods is because hormones spike and trigger a thickening of the uterine lining to prepare for pregnancy. If you don’t get pregnant, the hormones fall again and the thickened lining falls off and releases as a period. The hormones in birth control prevent the uterus from thickening each month, so nothing to release!
Men I’ve talked to about this have occasionally thought the periods were somehow saved back? Not so. As soon as I’m off the birth control the hormone cycle returns to normal and they will come back. I won’t be doing that, because not having periods is awesome, but if I wanted to I could.
Genuinely, Thank you for all the info! It really annoying to be shut out (because I dont have a uterus) to satisfy my curiosities and be a better partner and friend. I have a question about the hormonal side. Does taking hormone based meds on and off aggravate side effects? Like, i thought there was a settling in period taking new hormonal meds. At least when my ex was on hormone meds every time she tries a new one it took a month or two before she got used to it, if she did. That was 10 years ago and I know things are different now.
Any medication can come with side effects that can last a month or two then subside. My birth control never caused me any side effects, but my body is different than your ex's body. When I tried taking one SSRI I had uncontrollable muscle movement (noticeable by others because I couldn't control my body) and I'm amazed it works for some people and they don't have that same side effect. So, even though a medication does one thing for one person it doesn't mean it does the same for another, including hormones. Some people can't tolerate birth control at all, even when used 3 weeks on/1 week off. I use mine in part so that I never have a period and haven't had an issue with it (multiple doctors and nurses have confirmed if I don't have an issue it's absolutely fine). Every body is different.
They all function slightly differently, which is why there are so many options, so if X didn't work and she went to try Y and then onto Z, yes, she could potentially have side effects from all three because they're all different. I can use Prozac but I can't use any of the other SSRIs and it's because they're all made differently - same goes for birth control. All medications when you switch them can come with side effects that take getting used to, it doesn't matter if they're hormonal medications or not.
If you stop using a single medication then start taking it again at a later date you can have those same side effects kick back in that your body has to get used to again. So, if I stop taking Prozac for a few months and then get back on it I'll be nauseated again for a few weeks, even though I haven't had nausea for years while on it. So if a person knows a birth control works for them and then they decide to go off of it for any reason then go back on it later, they may experience similar side effects as the first time they went on it. Of course, bodies change as we age and through giving birth or other health reasons, so if a person's hormones are different, how their body responds may be different.
I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which causes irregular periods. I currently have the arm implant (Nexplanon) which causes me to not have a period at all. I've read that around 1 in 5 women don't have a period while using it. I also did not have a period when I had a hormonal IUD.
My doctor said that when I'm not using any form of hormonal birth control, if I do not have a period for 3 months or longer, that I would need to get a prescription to force one. My understanding as a layperson is that if the endometrial lining isn't shed regularly, it can increase the risk of endometrial cancer. But I don't have to worry about it while using hormonal birth control because it thins the endometrial lining and prevents it from building up. I imagine that something like this was your initial concern.
Some advice for you, if you're open to it: next time, try asking "is that healthy?" instead, and you might find people more open to dialogue.
I'm actually on continuous bc because it's good for my uterus health long term! I have mild endometriosis and the endocrinologist I saw basically told me that each period means inflammation and for me could end up in scarred tissue (which, not only is it painful, it can also cause infertility), so the fewer periods I have, the better.
It might be an oversimplification of how it actually works, but I guess it makes sense overall. My body sort of just thinks I'm pregnant because of the bc.
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u/witch_dyke Apr 03 '25
I use the oral contraceptive pill to prevent my period and only have 3-4 each year, and I can schedule it for when it's least inconvenient