Happy Birthday to The Pill

Photo by Jenny Lee Silver

The birth control pill turns 50, people rejoice, and the AP writes an overall good article on the Pill's anniversary.

Two things to keep in mind when you read the article. First:

There are Yaz, Yasmin, Seasonale, Seasonique and Lybrel — all with slightly different packaging, formulations and selling points. Lybrel is the first pill designed to eliminate menstrual periods entirely, although gynecologists say any generic can do the same thing if you skip the placebo and take the active pill every day.

For the bazillionth time, no matter which Pill brand you use, you don't have a menstrual period while on the Pill for the duration of use. All that brands like Lybrel or Seasonale do is they either eliminate or shift the frequency of the withdrawal bleeding episode.

Photo by sealibra75

Second:

Female doctors use IUDs twice as frequently as the general population of women and many recommend it to their patients.


"The future of birth control is not pills at all," said Dr. Lisa Perriera, 34, of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland.


"The best birth control is easy to use, highly effective at preventing pregnancy and has few side effects," Perriera said. "The methods that fit those criteria best are IUDs and implants. I think that's where birth control is going."

I couldn't agree more with Dr. Perriera. The Pill is a good method of birth control but other methods, the IUD (ParaGard or Mirena) in particular, are far better. Always keep that in mind when deciding which birth control method to use.