Birth control pills may help mask menopause symptoms By TOM VALEO Published March 28, 2006 All women can expect to enter menopause sooner or later, but women taking birth control pills may not notice, at least for a while. In the meantime, they can expect several benefits from the pill beside avoiding an unwanted pregnancy: They will avoid some of the most conspicuous signs of menopause, such as hot flashes, night sweats and irritability. "A woman on the birth control pill is getting hormones at a level above what her ovaries would produce,'' said Dr. Catherine Lynch, director of General Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa. "When a woman goes into menopause, the ovaries basically shut down and no longer produce estrogen or progesterone in any significant amounts, so a woman taking the birth control pill in the standard fashion of three weeks on active pills, followed by one week of inactive pills, often won't have any symptoms of menopause until that pill-free week. She may not even realize she's in menopause because she's getting adequate estrogen and still cycling.'' During the week when she is not taking active birth control pills, the woman may even have a "withdrawal bleed" caused by the sudden drop in estrogen. A withdrawal bleed is easily mistaken for a normal period. And if the woman is taking continuous-use birth control pills, she will take inactive pills only one week out of every 12 instead of every four, so she will have a withdrawal bleed no more than once every four months. "So a woman who's, say, 51 and taking Seasonale one of the continuous-use birth control pills isn't going to have hot flashes or night sweats for 12 weeks, because she's having estrogen provided for her by the pills,'' Dr. Lynch said. "She may experience symptoms during the week she takes inactive pills, but just as symptoms start to climb, she starts taking active pills again, and she won't appreciate that these are symptoms of menopause.'' But that's not all. Taking birth control pills also seems to reduce bone loss. In fact, if the woman is also doing weight-bearing exercises and getting plenty of calcium, low-dose birth control pills may even help build bone density. Women on the pill also experience less iron deficiency anemia, and some studies suggest that the pill protects against benign breast disease, endometrial cancer and epithelial ovarian cancer. The Cancer and Steroid Hormone Study, the largest to investigate this last issue, found a 40 percent decrease on average of ovarian cancer in women who had taken oral contraceptives. The risk decreased as the amount of time on the pill increased, so women who had taken the pill for seven years or longer experienced a reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer of 60 to 80 percent. Some Women on the pill also experience less iron deficiency anemia, and some studies suggest that the pill protects against benign breast disease, endometrial cancer and epithelial ovarian cancer. studies suggest that oral contraceptives might even protect against colorectal cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Taking the pill has always meant an increase in the risk of blood clots, which can cause a stroke. But a woman who does not smoke, does not have high blood pressure, and takes a low-dose oral contraceptive can almost eliminate that additional risk. So why not just stay on the pill and enjoy all the benefits of hormone-replacement therapy, known as HRT? Because even low-dose birth-control pills deliver five to seven times as much estrogen as HRT. HRT simply gives the body back what the ovaries were producing before they were shut down by menopause. The birth control pill delivers a dose of hormones large enough to shut down the ovaries, and it's pointless for a woman to keep taking hormones after menopause has begun and she has stopped ovulating. She would be better off with hormone-replacement therapy, which would provide her with the same benefits but a lower dose of hormone. "The trick is figuring out when she is in menopause,'' Dr. Lynch said. "There are a couple of ways to test this, but they're not 100 percent reliable. She can go off the pill and see if she's still cycling, but if she's sexually active, there's an outside chance she could get pregnant. "While it's rare for pregnancy to occur at the age of 50 or 51, it can happen if you're still ovulating.'' Tom Valeo is a freelance writer specializing in medical and health issues. Contact him c/o Seniority, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail features at sptimes dot com. [Last modified March 28, 2006, 08:52:07] Here is a link that might be useful: from a Florida online newspaper

i would like to thank this site from the bottom of my heart i am suffering from all of the above and although i have tried to explain how i have been feeling to my family it has not come out quite right. i have often resorted to saying as many woman do theres nothing wrong im fine which has made them especially my partner whom i adore feel like they themselves are the cause of my unhappiness. i was thrown into the menopause five years ago at the age of 44 due to the sudden loss of my beautifull mom then due to her death two years on my dad deceided to join her. i knew i was in the menopause but in january i hit a low that i have not been able to claw myself back from i have tried to deal with it on my own but realised last week that i was unable to ihave to as you all above had numerous symptoms hot flushes during the day night sweats aches pains dizziness complete loss of sex drive(very active before) vaginal dryness crying hugh mood swings from one minute to the next but the loss of emotion is my worst symptom. i deceided i needed to tell my family what was happening but all i could muster was moans and groans and im old old old and so very sad. so i trawled lots of sites to help me find the right words and none of them helped, then i found this site and i rang my partner and read each comment to him i spent three hours on the phone with him as this enabled me to talk to him and show him how life had become for me i then went on to explain to my daughter last night today i got out of bed feeling happy for the first time in a long time that i have now shared how im feeling and that my family are going to help in everyway they can especially my beautifull partner who is kind sensitive and has felt that he was causing my unhappiness not only have you helped me but i have introduced a friend to the site and she breathed as she read it. im now ready to do battle and will combat this awfull stage in my life. but can i say to all ladies out there do not hold it in share it with your loved ones thankyou so much xxxxx

Hi joan, Poor you! I can SO relate with your situation. I'm sure you've probably checked your neck for pinched nerves, right? How about your vitamins? Have you read up on which ones, when deficient, might cause your symptoms? I honestly believe that some of us cannot physically handle menopause very well, because so many of our systems have become so dependent on our hormones. I'm thinking FSH has some funky effects on some of us. I even wonder if we have some ovarian-type cells in areas we shouldn't have, and they react to increasing FSH levels too, when they shouldn't. I just wish more research was done on this, but because it just affects aging women, I don't think they're interested. :( To be honest with you, I've been afraid to use acupuncture for my various problems. I went through about 5 years during perimenopause of having horrendous headaches. In retrospect, I am very suspect of the PPI I was on, since now when I try to use them, I get a bad headache. I have a friend who is on MAO inhibitors for her migraines, and she tried acupuncture, and it worked for awhile, but then she had the worst headache of her life. So I'm afraid to have that rebound problem with acupuncture. My whole body would go crazy with hormone fluctuations. One day I had an estrogen level drawn and it was something like 45. A few days later it was 440!! So I'm not sure testing those levels is helpful. Plus......some of us are fine with certain levels and some of us go crazy with them. I'm sorry if I'm rambling. I have major thinking problems too! When I was going through perimenopause, I had a hypertensive crisis type thing. My heart rate was about 110 at resting, and my BP went through the roof. I was eventually put on Toprol, a beta blocker, and everything calmed down. Last December I decided to come off the Toprol after being on it for 5 years, and my BP has been pretty good, but the rest of my body started going crazy. I started having lots of pains, GI problems, and now the dizziness and nausea. It makes me wonder if I need to go back on the Toprol......even though its not really meant for those symptoms. (unfortunately, the Toprol has its own set of side-effects that I hate). But.....my point is, perhaps there is a drug whose off-label use could help you? I would do this: 1. figure out what vitamins you're low on make sure you don't have neck nerve problems 3. Go on a test dose of an H2 blocker or PPI. 4. Keep a really good food diary, in case your having food intolerance problems 5. Maybe consider a beta blocker for migraine variants. When I was on Toprol, it was like a miracle, the way it took care of my headaches. Are you finding you have other symptoms anywhere in your body? your bowels? your nervous system? I'm really pursuing my GI tract as possibly causing these problems for me. Do you have any stomach problems? Our vagus nerve is very close to our esophagus and when irritated can cause some funky problems. I have fibromyalgia, and was just reading that nausea and dizziness is common. Is it possible you have fibro too? Again, please forgive me for rambling. I have ADD/fibro and am in menopause, so its sort of good that I can even talk at all! lol!

Hello All, I am currently in menopause stage. I have all the symptoms listed, I had suffer over 3 years now. Recently I feel better by using DIM for stabilized my hormone naturally and using supreme royal jelly to help my sleep. (this will knock you out within 1 hr, this is all natural and have a lot of protein but it quite expensive) along with this you have to use stress relieve supplement to help your adrenal. I have no problem with the dryness. My skin still glowing ,everyone thought I am in 40 but I am in mid 50. I only have mild hot flash sometimes if I forget to take DIM. Also keep up with vitamin supplements daily. It is hard to digest all of these supplements but it will help. i hope this will be informative for everybody that have to suffer. I