in brief: new contraceptive pill allows women to forgo monthly period
A new oral contraceptive pill hitting pharmacies in Australia this week will allow women the freedom of going four months without a period.
Yaz Flex is the first pill in Australia designed to be used continuously, and comes in packs of 120.
Family Planning NSW medical director Dr Deborah Bateson assures women that skipping periods will not result in health consequences.
‘What happens in continuous regimes is the lining of the uterus gets thinner over time and there is nothing much to bleed,’ she said.
Dr Rod Baber, associate professor and gynecologist, stated that skipping periods has been declared safe by medical studies, and could be useful for women who find periods uncomfortable or troublesome, noting problems such as heavy periods, pain and migraines as examples.
Yaz Flex is not without its side effects, of course. Nausea, depression, headaches, breast pain and unscheduled bleeding are all possible. Furthermore, women who use it face twice the risk of a blood clot compared to women using older versions of the pill. The risk is still low though: 2.7 in 100,000 women.
Health effects aside, Yaz Flex comes packaged in a palm-sized dispenser that records usage, notices missed tablets and provides alerts that alternative contraception is required. It can also be set to sound daily alarms. As forgetting to take the pill is a problem for many, the ‘Clyk’ digital tablet dispenser could be a life saver.
By Cory Zanoni
Would you use Yaz Flex? Tell us below!
Women have already been doing this for decades. I took two months at a time for a good 15 or so years until other issues arose from it and I had to see a gyno who told me to go back to every month. Now, I barely have any period at all. Remember, just because you can doesn’t mean you should, or that you’ll be successful at it.