Using birth control in med school to eliminate periods?

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fluoropHore

fluoropHore

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Hi, I was wondering if any lady students take hormonal BC just to stave off periods just so that they can perform better in school or not miss class or rotations if they experience painful periods that leave them feeling disgusting and ill? I have never been on bc and am considering it for the first time due to the worry of school obligations (oh and not getting preggers)...
 
Not all kinda of BC eliminate periods and those that do don't eliminate them for all people. In my experience (well girls telling me) BC lowered their sex drive or sex "readiness"
 
I really hated being on hormonal bc (made me extremely depressed and made me act like a stereotypical comic strip "crazy girlfriend" ) and I definitely wouldn't recommend it unless your periods are so painful you're incapacitated.

If you want bc to prevent pregnancy, I totally recommend an IUD.
 
IUDs for the win! I swear you can't get a group of 5 women medical students together without having IUDs come up within the first hour. We're like lemurs off a cliff with those things.

I didn't have periods for a long time since I was on Depo. After getting tired of needing to go in every 3 months for the shot, I switched to a Mirena and haven't had a period since. A lot of women who get a Mirena (the company says ~20% but anecdotal evidence from the Family Planning department says it's a lot higher) have no periods 1 year after insertion. And they lighten the periods of women who still have them. Seems like a great option for you if you're worried about period nonsense.
 
I have an IUD. Haven't had a period for 4 years. I absolutely love it. Yes, I use this method of birth control only to stop my period.
 
I underwent elective orchiectomy to remove all distracting sexual urges. I also have a high-capacity colostomy and ileal conduit so I only need to leave my study desk once every few days.
 
VisionaryTics said:
I underwent elective orchiectomy to remove all distracting sexual urges. I also have a high-capacity colostomy and ileal conduit so I only need to leave my study desk once every few days.
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Me too. I also have line through which I receive TPN daily. I have a nurse come out and switch bags when needed. Using this method, I haven't left me desk in 5 months.
 
D elegans said:
Me too. I also have line through which I receive TPN daily. I have a nurse come out and switch bags when needed. Using this method, I haven't left me desk in 5 months.
Click to expand...

Do they let you in the OR with that hardware?
 
Last year I started a heavy, painful period the day I shadowed a long surgery. It was hell. BCP for the win.
 
startswithb said:
Last year I started a heavy, painful period the day I shadowed a long surgery. It was hell. BCP for the win.
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L1O1HbG.gif
 
Hormonal birth control can lighten up and reduce the pain of periods even if you do still choose to have them. If your periods are as catastrophic as you're making them sound, you should probably consider HBC.
 
theshellyb said:
IUDs for the win! I swear you can't get a group of 5 women medical students together without having IUDs come up within the first hour. We're like lemurs off a cliff with those things.

I didn't have periods for a long time since I was on Depo. After getting tired of needing to go in every 3 months for the shot, I switched to a Mirena and haven't had a period since. A lot of women who get a Mirena (the company says ~20% but anecdotal evidence from the Family Planning department says it's a lot higher) have no periods 1 year after insertion. And they lighten the periods of women who still have them. Seems like a great option for you if you're worried about period nonsense.
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Sounds like heaven-- to not have a period for a year.
 
BLACKMD said:
I have an IUD. Haven't had a period for 4 years. I absolutely love it. Yes, I use this method of birth control only to stop my period.
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I going to the doctor tomorrow, I should ask abt this.
 
maybemed2013 said:
Sounds like heaven-- to not have a period for a year.
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To clarify- meaning that at the point of your 1 year anniversary of getting your IUD, many women have NO periods from that point forward (until it comes out). Some women take a while from having normal periods to them weaning off once the IUD is inserted, hence the stat being "Do you have periods at the 1 year mark"

It's not just no periods from insertion until your 1 year point.
 
Thanks dudebros I wasn't asking so I could make AOA. Was for wards because, yes, some months it is "catastrophic." Anyway- just curious if any students have gone on Bc who would normally otherwise not have had they not been in school.
 
JuliusSeizure said:
Abstinence? Nevermind that's 99.9999999999999999999999999% effective.
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I was just minding my own business, walking down the street with a puddle of jizz in my hand when I tripped and dropped it in some lady's vagina and poof, baby. People need to understand abstinence isn't 100% effective like those religious propagandists have you believe.
 
loltopsy said:
I was just minding my own business, walking down the street with a puddle of jizz in my hand when I tripped and dropped it in some lady's vagina.
Click to expand...

Wait is that what the bible says happened to Mary?
 
loltopsy said:
I was just minding my own business, walking down the street with a puddle of jizz in my hand when I tripped and dropped it in some lady's vagina and poof, baby. People need to understand abstinence isn't 100% effective like those religious propagandists have you believe.
Click to expand...

Outercourse is a freebie on the sinner's bingo.
 
I don't have time to read all of the replies, but I just have a few things to say. Medical school is not the hardest thing you will ever do. I personally found the first year easier than any of my years of working. I socialized, cooked, and exercised more than I ever had in my post-college life of working 2 jobs. I think you have an adjustment period--like anything else--and then you figure out what you need to do, and then nobody dies (except maybe your patients!). So doing crazy things like stopping your period or whatever are not necessary. We do have to live for, like, the next 70 years after all. Nothing can be THAT impossible to reconcile with our daily lives.

Having said that, it's good to freak out for the first couple of months so you get solid grades and can ease back gradually. Better to take it seriously at first than to have to repeat a class or a year. But very very few people fail classes/years, most of us do just fine with plenty of balance in the first year.
 
As a guy, I'm curious. If you're on a birth control that eliminates periods all together. How do you know if something happens and you're pregnant? Would it just surprise you 9 months down the road and you end up on the "I didn't know I was pregnant" tv show or just wait for the baby bump. Or do you just pee on a stick each month to make sure everything went as planned...

note: I'm just wondering if women on these type of birth control find other ways to check or do you have enough confidence in it working that you don't worry about it.
 
DrZed said:
As a guy, I'm curious. If you're on a birth control that eliminates periods all together. How do you know if something happens and you're pregnant? Would it just surprise you 9 months down the road and you end up on the "I didn't know I was pregnant" tv show or just wait for the baby bump. Or do you just pee on a stick each month to make sure everything went as planned...

note: I'm just wondering if women on these type of birth control find other ways to check or do you have enough confidence in it working that you don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

Mostly people don't worry about it if they've been consistent with the pill. I suppose if you started seeing all the other signs of preggersness you'd probably end up at the doctor...and then get a surprise Dx, hopefully in time to consider options :shrug: I only mention that because otherwise I can't see the advantage in finding out early.
 
Have you thought about 15 mg prozac? Since you're not actually concerned about birth control...but you want the pain of periods to stop - I believe this is pretty effective.
 
Lefty Doodle said:
I don't have time to read all of the replies, but I just have a few things to say. Medical school is not the hardest thing you will ever do. I personally found the first year easier than any of my years of working. I socialized, cooked, and exercised more than I ever had in my post-college life of working 2 jobs. I think you have an adjustment period--like anything else--and then you figure out what you need to do, and then nobody dies (except maybe your patients!). So doing crazy things like stopping your period or whatever are not necessary. We do have to live for, like, the next 70 years after all. Nothing can be THAT impossible to reconcile with our daily lives.

Having said that, it's good to freak out for the first couple of months so you get solid grades and can ease back gradually. Better to take it seriously at first than to have to repeat a class or a year. But very very few people fail classes/years, most of us do just fine with plenty of balance in the first year.
Click to expand...


First year is easy.
 
If your periods are that bad, consider some sort of hormonal birth control. In high school and undergrad, I had majorly ogre-like periods that the prescribed Naproxen couldn't take care of. I'm talking fetal position, nausea, extreme pain, 8-14 day periods ... It was insane. I'm a very active, busy person and this was a major buzzkill for my life.

Whatever your reason for taking birth control, have a meeting with your doctor to go over them all, as you might not be a great qualifier for some.

Regarding pills though, you might have to try more than one to get it right. I've been taking BCP for almost a decade, problem free. Then I wanted to try Seasonale (4 periods a year, apparently lighter). Turned me into a right crazy person. It was awful. Like being stuck behind glass in your head. I will never doubt that hormones can play with your mind again,

I went off that after 2 months and switched back to the monthly BCP.
 
Stellar Clouds said:
Is Nexplanon more effective than Implanon? Because I know for certain that Mirena is more effective than Implanon.
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I don't think that is right.

Nexplanon is a .05% failure rate while mirena is a 0.2% failure rate.

The OB/GYNs during my rotation basically told us nexplanon is basically 100%. The one or two people who got pregnant were probably already pregnant prior to being enrolled in the studying according to our attendings.

Also FYI nexplanon is just implanon with something radiopaque so it cannot get lost in the pt's arm.
 
DrZed said:
As a guy, I'm curious. If you're on a birth control that eliminates periods all together. How do you know if something happens and you're pregnant? Would it just surprise you 9 months down the road and you end up on the "I didn't know I was pregnant" tv show or just wait for the baby bump. Or do you just pee on a stick each month to make sure everything went as planned...

note: I'm just wondering if women on these type of birth control find other ways to check or do you have enough confidence in it working that you don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

Just as an aside, I don't even get how this happens unless you're really fat or in denial. The stories I've seen about the women who weren't so overweight they couldn't tell usually go like "Oh yeah I missed my period but I thought it was just stress and I gained like 15 pounds but I didn't think it was because I was preganant".
 
dont know if it will eliminate your period totally, but i say go ahed, do it for the sex, if nothing else
 
Got a Mirena right before school started. Highly recommend it.

Also I know someone who had the didn't-know-I-was-pregnant full term baby. Near psychotic-level denial is how it happens, apparently. Like she was the only one who didn't know.
 
ive always been tempted by Mirena but the insertion doesnt sound fun..
i just use my regular birth control and take it for 3-5 months without getting a period and then just get it during a light week or some other somewhat convenient time.
 
Mirena and continuous OCPs don't eliminate everybody's periods. Some lucky women just spot for several months straight.

Definitely talk to your PCP about your options. There are also medications other than OCPs that can help with periods if you decide you want to get pregnant later in school.
 
calvnandhobbs68 said:
Just as an aside, I don't even get how this happens unless you're really fat or in denial. The stories I've seen about the women who weren't so overweight they couldn't tell usually go like "Oh yeah I missed my period but I thought it was just stress and I gained like 15 pounds but I didn't think it was because I was preganant".
Click to expand...

On my ob rotation a 250lb babe self delivered in the ER. Had no idea that she was pregnant. Ob didn't even get a consult before it went down.
 
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