Can someone explain what birth control pills will do for my cycle?
I started taking the pill a couple of weeks ago for the hormone regulation and I’m realizing I don’t know much about it. I have always had irregular periods, so I wanted to give the pill a try to see what would happen.
So my cycles are usually around 38 days long, but occasionally I skip one altogether. I’d like to know anything from how the pill works to what it does to menstrual cycles. Will I be on a 28-day cycle now? Why/how can you have periods if the pill prevents eggs from dropping? Am I feeling really emotional as a side effect, or is that psychosomatic? :P
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They will regulate your cycle.
The pills you are taking are many times the normal dosage your body makes, so it puts your body on a cycle of it’s own devising, by overwhelming the hormonally responsive cells (in the uterus, ovaries, etc.)
Imagine your normal hormone producing cells are souting at the top of their lungs, but the pills are on stage amplified with sky-high speakers – which one would you hear? You wouldn’t even be able to hear the normal hormone producing cells.
The way it stops you from ovulating is simple – imagine about 500–1000 people have a responsibility, but only one of those people has to do. So a memo is circulating about, saying “I’m taking care of ovulating this month”. Well all the other 499–999 cells breath easy, and say “I’ll worry about ovulating next month”.
Well the memo is a sham created by the hormones you are taking by mouth. So no one ends up ovulating.
Yes, you will be on a 28 day cycle, because the last 5 pills in the pack are blank. When your body feels the sudden absence of hormones, you mentruate.
I hope this is clear.
@drhat77 – Great answer x5! Very well explained, thank you!
I have to disagree with some of the things @drhat77 is saying.
The pills are not really a high dose of hormones. They’re a pretty low dose of synthetic versions of estrogen and progesterone with a much higher binding affinity than endogenous hormones. So if you measure your hormone levels while you’re taking the pill, you actually have far, far less (almost zero) estrogen and progesterone than a naturally cycling woman.
In naturally cycling women, changes in estrogen and progesterone across the cycle trigger a surge of luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. These hormones instruct the ovary to release a mature ovum. Since estrogen and progesterone are held at a constant, low level in women on the pill, the egg never matures and is never released.
To answer your specific questions, you will be on a 28 day cycle. Many women experience breakthrough bleeding, especially in the first few months on the pill—this should go away, but if it doesn’t, you can try a different pill.
The periods that you have are not real periods. They are breakthrough bleeding caused by the lack of synthetic hormones. (If you keep taking the pills indefinitely, you will not have a period indefinitely.)
Mood changes are also a common side effect. These might go away with time. They might not. Again, you can always try another pill.
If you have more questions definitely post back. My lab is gearing up to launch several projects looking at the effects of hormonal contraception on cognition, so it’s something I am always happy to talk about.
@nikipedia – My #1 Fluther brain crush. Hee hee. GA x5 to you, too. Thanks for chiming in. :)
thanks @nikipedia . And you don’t hate disagreeing with me. you love it ;-P
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