Menstrual Suppression

by Jane Bennett, published in Byron Child  April 2006

The elimination of periods - called menstrual suppression - is an objective the pharmaceutical industry has been chasing for several years. Late 2003, Barr Laboratories in the US, released Seasonale as the first extended-cycle contraceptive pill, with the slogan "Fewer periods. More possibilities." Unlike traditional oral contraceptives, which a woman takes for 21 days, followed by seven days of placebo pills, Seasonale is taken for 84 consecutive days, followed by seven days of placebos, which gives a woman four periods (withdrawal bleeds) a year instead of the usual 12 or 13.

Despite widely reported side effects, including irregular bleeding,
Seasonale has quickly emerged as a popular option in the U.S. Last year alone, Barr recorded Seasonale sales of US$87 million.

This year, a new oral contraceptive called Anya, developed to "put women in control of when or if they want to menstruate," is expected to hit the Canadian and U.S. markets. Anya is the first pill designed to be taken 365 days a year, without placebos (the hormone-free sugar pills taken at the end of every 28-day cycle).

About menstrual suppression the experts - doctors, feminists, bioethicists and women themselves - are bitterly divided. On the one hand, advocates say, it's all about providing women with choices and giving them control. We've already been manipulating Mother Nature for decades, so why stop now? But detractors say menstrual suppression is a reckless and profit-driven enterprise, or, as one women's health expert calls it, "the largest uncontrolled experiment in the history of medical science, hands down."

Dr. Jerilynn Prior, an endocrinologist and the scientific director of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research at the University of British Columbia has commented, "Menstruation, this amazingly intricate, carefully crafted cycle, is a vital sign of our health…to wantonly disrupt it is a horrifying thought. The continuous-use pill is just a way for pharmaceutical companies to revive flagging products - to find fresh ways to market them by giving them a new face and a new name."

Geraldine Matus, a holistic reproductive health care practitioner from
Edmonton, Canada, adds,  "From a cultural perspective, I think it's misogynistic. Women's bodies are a marvellous thing to commodify. We have all sorts of processes that can be turned into diseases and disease models: pregnancy, nursing, menstruation and menopause. I could make the same argument about men and ejaculation. I could say, 'Men don't need to ejaculate. It's messy; it means a loss of essential nutrients; it's embarrassing when you have a wet dream. So take a pill to suppress it.' But that would change everything about how a man works… that's how ridiculous this is." And perhaps the bottom line is, such as pill wouldn’t sell and therefore wouldn’t be researched and developed.

Women's conflicted feelings about menstruation (the mess, the fuss, the pain) are stoked by centuries, if not millennia, of superstitious rhetoric that has, in many ways, reinforced the perception of women as the ‘weaker’ sex, and caused women to despise their own cycles. (Feminist writers have also largely ignored the issue of menstruation, not wanting to draw attention to what they also accepted, without question, was a weakness.)

Studies from UK and US researchers have turned up with rather enlightening findings on this subject.  When symptoms, generally attributed to women and the menstrual cycle - mood swings, depression, energy fluctuations, food cravings, headaches, mental confusion, bloating etc. - were recorded over monthly time-periods, by men and women, (and eliminating sex-specific symptoms like breast tenderness) it was found that the men reported these at least as often as the women. Strong variations occurred between individuals but not between the sexes overall.

We need to make a clear separation between menstruation and menstrual problems. Menstrual problems and hormonal imbalance can be mildly to severely debilitating but eminently treatable (with natural therapies and lifestyle), and once treated reveal a natural healthy menstrual cycle that, for many women, is a profoundly satisfying and soulful experience of their feminity and sexuality.

Understanding cyclic changes, and working with them in a positive way is not only healthier for women but also enriches their relationships - the more we understand about how our fertility works the more amazing the whole process and design can appear to us, and the more the Pill, and all its relatives, becomes counter intuitive.

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