Birth control to regularize monthly periods?

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Mayita30

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I have a friend whose gynecologist told her to take birth control to regularize her menstrual period. Is this even possible?

I know it is a sin to take birth control but is it a sin in this case?

Isn’t regularizing your monthly period making you fertile again therefore whatever medication she is taking is not birth control?
 
The Church teaches that it is not sinful to use the Pill as a medication for health reasons, even if the unintended consequence is the loss of fertility.

However, as a nurse who suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), I respectfully suggest that your friend may want to consider NaPro Technology instead. The problem with the Pill is that it will treat symptoms only; it will neither assist in diagnosing nor correct the underlying problem. NaPro Technology is a form of medical and surgical technology that is designed to identify and correct the underlying problems causing irregular menses and subfertility.
 
Mayita30 said:
I have a friend whose gynecologist told her to take birth control to regularize her menstrual period. Is this even possible?

I know it is a sin to take birth control but is it a sin in this case?

Isn’t regularizing your monthly period making you fertile again therefore whatever medication she is taking is not birth control?
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Birth control is hormones.

When you have irregular periods your hormone levels are inconsistent. So taking artificial hormones will override the system.

On birth control you have to stop taking it to have your period (or take the dummy pills for the last 7 days in the pack)

Birth control pills work differently but generally they make your body think you are pregnant thus preventing ovulation, or in some cases they prevent implantation.

They do not affect fertility at all they just affect the environment.
 
What does “regularize” mean? Why is it important for her to have a specific number of days in her cycle? It’s not a sin to use the medication to solve a legitimate medical problem, however, it sounds like this is more of an issue of convenience. The pill has alot of serious side effects and I think it is really unwise to use it without a good medical reason.
 
It probably depends a lot on the situation.

After I had a late miscarriage a couple of years ago, I had a really bad medical recovery from it. I was suddenly having long and extremely heavy bleeding, to the point of anemia (I realized I had a problem early one morning when I was so faint from the blood loss that I couldn’t walk back from the bathroom–my husband said I was greenish). My doctor prescribed about a month of iron and BC pills (taken on a somewhat different schedule than for BC–double doses initially, then single doses, and no break). That did seem to reset me. On the other hand, it also made me VERY depressed, so I had to bail out a week or so early from the BC regimen, but it did do what it was supposed to, and I was able to successfully conceive a baby about two months later.
 
My gynecologist did something similar with me. I don’t know that it worked. My problem for decades, I think, was actually fibroids! I’d actually become anemic from it all.

So while I don’t think that it’s sinful for a woman to use the pill to control her cycle, I would tend to agree with His__helpmeet that there is probably something underlying which is causing that. If posible, it’d be good to find out what’s happening. I prefer to get at the root of problems, if/when possible, rather than just mask symptoms.
 
Mayita30 said:
I have a friend whose gynecologist told her to take birth control to regularize her menstrual period. Is this even possible?

I know it is a sin to take birth control but is it a sin in this case?

Isn’t regularizing your monthly period making you fertile again therefore whatever medication she is taking is not birth control?
Click to expand...
there is no sin.

I think it may be better to classify “birth control” pills as hormonal control pills.

But one other thing I would suggest going to find a doctor who uses naprotechonlogy. From what the people associated with this new technology have told me is that many times secular OBGYNs will just give women a pill and not try to diagnouse the infertility problem or the hormonal problem. I’m not saying your doctor is doing this, I don’t know him or her I just want to warn you about some doctors in general. Going to se a NaPro doctor could change your life. I hope you have the chance to at-least get a second opinion about it .

but again nothing wrong with using birth control pills for medical reasons that aren’t to prevent birth.
 
NaPro technology doctors can discover the underlying causes of irregular cycles, and correct them. They rarely, if ever, need to prescribe the Pill. 😉
 
This friend is actually single , has a boyfriend and is not chaste. She is a Catholic and she tells me that she is only taking “birth control pills” to solve the problem of her irregular menstrual cycle… so thank you all for the clarification 😃
 
Allegra said:
What does “regularize” mean? Why is it important for her to have a specific number of days in her cycle? It’s not a sin to use the medication to solve a legitimate medical problem, however, it sounds like this is more of an issue of convenience. The pill has alot of serious side effects and I think it is really unwise to use it without a good medical reason.
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an issue of convenience? maybe? anyway I just wanted to clarify what she told me…
 
Mayita30 said:
an issue of convenience? maybe? anyway I just wanted to clarify what she told me…
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Why the question? What does “regularize” mean? Is it a life of death matter if one cycle takes 23 days and the next takes 26? Is that a medical emergency? Carry extras in your purse. Problem solved. Based on the way you describe her lifestyle, it sounds like a weak excuse for contracepting, in order to engage in consequence-free, premarital sex.
 
regularize means it should show monthly…some women have their period after 2 months or after 5 monthls
 
From what I understand (as a nurse and having had menstrual irregularities) the only requirement, physically, is that the uterine lining be shed at least every 3 months. If it goes any longer than that, there is a risk of endometrial hyperplasia (the lining gets too thick) and it could become cancerous.

I have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a metabolic disorder in which insulin resistance causes my ovaries to produce too much testosterone. Consequently I was having trouble ovulating regularly. I was offered the options of the Pill (which I tried before marriage - women in our family don’t react well to the Pill and it gave me horrific mood swings), progesterone daily for a week every 3 months so that I would get a withdrawal bleed when I went off it, or do nothing. We had thought about trying for a pregnancy so my doctor started me on metformin, which I’ve been on for a few years now. Interestingly, it seemed to regulate out my cycles so that I do ovulate and menstruate on a fairly regular basis. While we have not been successful at conceiving (we think I had a miscarriage at 9 weeks at one point) I have stayed on it.

I’m not necessarily saying that metformin is what’s going to work for your friend as I don’t know her situation or her medical history. She’ll need to speak to her doctor. However, you might consider encouraging her to ask her doctor to look for the reasoning behind her lack of menses. Normally, the tests for this are fairly non-invasive - ultrasounds and blood tests to start with. Introducing her to NFP might also be helpful so that she can identify her body’s normal cycles; this can assist in determining whether or not she’s ovulating.
 
Thanks for the information His_helpmeet. I also have another friend who has PCOS so now I understand what she is going through… so I guess what the right term for this is just a Hormonal Pill…she isnt taking a Birth control pill since she is trying to regularize her period.
 
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