Birth Control in the case of amenorrhea (missing menstrual cycle)?

[MademoiselleRue]

Hi, everyone. I apologize if this question is a little long-winded, but I want awfully to hear from other Catholics on this matter. I know that birth control to prevent conception is wrong, and I would never want to use it for that purpose, and preferably not for any purpose. However, I’m starting to be very concerned about my period…

I’m 18, I had my first period at 10 years old and since stabilizing it’s always been strong and regular, until last year when I lost weight down to a BMI of 14.2. Anyway, my last real period was in October, I think, then it was really light in Nov, and last month it was hardly there at all, just some occasional spotting, with only one day of actual flow. This month I haven’t had it yet, or maybe I did- there was this one day of a pale brown fluid.

I’ve researched on the internet and found that to treat amenorrhea, which I’m praying won’t happen to me, but I am really afraid, doctors often prescribe some kind of birth control, to give a “false” period and hopefully to jumpstart the menstrual cycle again. In such a case would it be against the Church’s teaching to use birth control?

 

[TraderTif]

It’s not against the faith to use birth control pills for medical purposes.

However, that said, there are almost always other (often better) treatments available if you look. There’s a place in Omaha called the Pope Paul VI Institute (and they have affiliates all over the US, and beyond), and they specialize in treating this sort of thing without using birth control pills.

(I share your problem, and have successfully found treatment with them, without birth control pills.)

 

[kentuckyliz]

This is an illustration of the principle of double effect. You are taking a medicine (a good or neutral thing) for a good purpose (treating a medical problem), and if there are contraceptive effects, that is unintended secondary consequence.

If you are living chastity (as you should until you’re married), you aren’t practicing contraception because you aren’t having marital relations.

I agree with the above answer about seeking more thorough medical treatment. It’s easy for a doc to write a scrip but that only treats a symptom and not the underlying problem. The Omaha clinic mentioned above is a great recommendation.

If you use contraceptive hormones (for whatever purpose), limit your lifetime exposure to less than 5 years total use (continuous or intermittent)–long-term use skyrockets your breast cancer risk. I’m a survivor myself. At my diagnosis, I was asked about family members who have had breast cancer, and the second question was how long have I used the pill or other hormones. Breast cancer used to be an old woman’s disease, and the epidemic is reaching down into the 20s and 30s age range, because of contraceptive hormones and abortion.

Teen women for the first several years of their fertility can have unsettled menstrual patterns but it settles into a proper functioning after a while. If you take the pill for a couple years, then stop, and you have a regular cycle, you’d credit the pill for fixing it–but your body may have resolved its cycles on its own regardless.

Sometimes young women are prescribed the pill for medical reasons but the hormones aren’t at a contraceptive level. One of my besties has three children conceived on the pill that she was taking to control ovarian cysts. It would be a good idea to abstain, or if you marry, practice NFP if you and your husband cannot be open to life this month–even if you are using the hormones. You don’t want to start trusting in the false idea of absolute control over your fertility and end up resorting to the plan B when the contraception fails.

Best of luck to you! I hope everything works out. I was very fortunate–99.9% of the time I never had cramps or negative perimenstrual symptoms, didn’t keep a calendar, always sensed where I was in my cycle, intuited my fertile times (without training or even religious motivations), and never had an oopsie pregnancy. I had it easy!

 

[Bookcat]

Hi, everyone. I apologize if this question is a little long-winded, but I want awfully to hear from other Catholics on this matter. I know that birth control to prevent conception is wrong, and I would never want to use it for that purpose, and preferably not for any purpose. However, I’m starting to be very concerned about my period…

I’m 18, I had my first period at 10 years old and since stabilizing it’s always been strong and regular, until last year when I lost weight down to a BMI of 14.2. Anyway, my last real period was in October, I think, then it was really light in Nov, and last month it was hardly there at all, just some occasional spotting, with only one day of actual flow. This month I haven’t had it yet, or maybe I did- there was this one day of a pale brown fluid.

I’ve researched on the internet and found that to treat amenorrhea, which I’m praying won’t happen to me, but I am really afraid, doctors often prescribe some kind of birth control, to give a “false” period and hopefully to jumpstart the menstrual cycle again. In such a case would it be against the Church’s teaching to use birth control?

The experts are here:

popepaulvi.com/

they can help!

 

[WetCatechumen]

Hi, everyone. I apologize if this question is a little long-winded, but I want awfully to hear from other Catholics on this matter. I know that birth control to prevent conception is wrong, and I would never want to use it for that purpose, and preferably not for any purpose. However, I’m starting to be very concerned about my period…

I’m 18, I had my first period at 10 years old and since stabilizing it’s always been strong and regular, until last year when I lost weight down to a BMI of 14.2. Anyway, my last real period was in October, I think, then it was really light in Nov, and last month it was hardly there at all, just some occasional spotting, with only one day of actual flow. This month I haven’t had it yet, or maybe I did- there was this one day of a pale brown fluid.

I’ve researched on the internet and found that to treat amenorrhea, which I’m praying won’t happen to me, but I am really afraid, doctors often prescribe some kind of birth control, to give a “false” period and hopefully to jumpstart the menstrual cycle again. In such a case would it be against the Church’s teaching to use birth control?

Keeping your reproductive system active requires a lot of energy, and you are apparently too skinny to support that. That seems to be the underlying issue here.

But yes, a dose of hormones might kickstart you enough to get it going again, and that would be a good thing.

Medicine is good. Some medicines induce sterility (estrogens, progesterone, progestins, chemotherapeutic drugs, and so forth) and that is unfortunate.

However, fertility is not an illness. You can’t “treat” it with a pill. But the side effects of some drugs like some hormones (temporary infertility) are acceptable.

 

[angelerulastiel]

A BMI of 18 is considered underweight and 14 is significantly lower than that. Being underweight and cause women to stop having their period. I would talk to a doctor.