How Taking the Pill Affects Your Period and Changes Your Menstrual Cycle

The development of birth control pills, often known as the pill, was unquestionably one of the most remarkable and liberating innovations in the history of medicine. Back then, women didn’t have the power to separate sex from pregnancy and childbearing.

But with the creation of the pill, a vast number of women were given the incredible freedom to exercise greater control over their own bodies and make rational choices about their reproductive health and lives.

Birth control pills are very effective when it comes to preventing unintended pregnancy. When you are sexually active but do not want to get pregnant, the pill is certainly one of the best weapons you can have.

The pill prevents pregnancy primarily by preventing the process of ovulation. Most birth control pills contain potent levels of synthetic hormones that mimic the two sex hormones, estrogen, and progesterone.

These synthetic hormones trick the body into believing that it is pregnant, thus preventing the release of the egg from the ovary.

Surprisingly, pills do more than just prevent unplanned pregnancies. A new survey indicates that a huge proportion of women take birth control pills for reasons other than avoiding the nightmare of unintended pregnancy.

The most common reason is to relieve menstrual issues. Birth control pills powerfully influence the menstrual process in a lot of ways.

Here’s how taking the pill affects your period and changes your menstrual cycle.

1. Irregular Periods

Normally, a female’s menstrual cycle is influenced by the ebb and flow of various hormones in the body. Each month, these hormones encourage the lining to grow and thicken to prepare it for the possibility of receiving a fertilized egg cell.

When fertilization does not occur, the uterine lining is shed in the form of menstrual flow. When you take the pill, you introduce synthetic hormones into your system.

These artificial hormones in the pill suppress the pituitary glands to inhibit ovulation or the release of the egg from the ovary. They also prevent the uterine lining from growing.

These hormonal changes caused by the pill can significantly affect the regularity of your menstrual cycle. When your uterine lining doesn’t thicken, there is very little to shed, so you bleed less than usual.

On the other hand, when you’re on the placebo week, there are no hormones in the pill, so you get your period. If you are on the pill, chances are you will experience irregular bleeding, bleeding between periods, or no period at all.

2. Skipped Periods

While menstruation is often seen as a sign of health and a reason to celebrate womanhood, it is actually a constant source of agony for most women.

Periods are not fun. Being on your period can be very inconvenient and downright upsetting, especially if you are enjoying a weekend at the beach, spending your honeymoon in a beautiful and tranquil setting, or looking for a new job.

The good news is, by going on the pill, you can delay your period or skip it entirely. In fact, a lot of women nowadays use the pill to do away with the annoyance that comes with their cycle.

There are certainly loads of reasons to skip your cycle every once in a while, but is it really safe to skip periods?

Well, reproductive and fertility experts say it is absolutely fine to do so, as long as you are qualified to be on a birth control pill, you are physically and emotionally healthy, you are not over thirty-five, and do not smoke.

So if you see your period as a curse rather than a blessing and fit into these criteria, you can skip your monthly flow by taking the pill.

There are different ways to suppress your cycle with conventional birth control pills. One is by taking only the active pills with no breaks in between. This is best if you are using a combination pill pack.

Simply take the active pills continuously and you will no longer have to worry about menstrual periods and their disgusting symptoms.

3. Less Painful Cycle

Women are good in tolerating pain. not all the time. In fact, a lot of girls and women find it difficult to deal with their red and painful days. 

Menstrual discomfort, also known as dysmenorrhea, is one of the most common concerns women face in their reproductive years.

It is actually a normal part of the cycle. However, when the pain get too sharp and severe, it can affect the quality of your life.

Taking birth control pills doesn’t only help is suppressing periods, it is also a good way to ease menstrual pain.

Having periods is unarguably an important, natural part of being a woman. While some women celebrate their periods, others dread the occurrence of their monthly cycle because of the pain and horrible discomforts that come with it.

The good thing about the pill is that aside from giving women the capacity to free themselves from the fear of unwanted conception and the horrors associated with it, taking the pill also helps women deal with their periods.

But before you take the pill, make sure to talk to your doctor first to avoid life-threatening complications.