Lifting the curse

Any woman would say that periods are a pain. So it might come as a relief to hear that a new contraceptive pill could cut the annual period-count by two thirds, without affecting future fertility - and that it could be coming to a pharmacy near you by 2003.

Seasonale, developed at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, contains progestin and oestrogen - the most common hormones currently used in oral contraceptives. Women will take it for 84 days consecutively and then skip a week - giving them exactly four periods a year.

One hundred and fifty years ago, women began menstruating well into their teens and, by the time they'd breastfed their 12 or so children, were plagued by periods over the course of 13 years or so. We, however, suffer for our improved nutrition and living conditions, and start menstruating at 11 or 12. In addition, social changes (and effective contraception) mean that we have on average only 1.7 children, whom we breastfeed for a mere couple of months. All of which means that we suffer some 35 years of period-related disruption.

Are we having too many periods?
John Guillebaud, Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at UCL, is in no doubt that so many periods can be bad for a woman's health. He says: 'Thirteen periods a year for 30 years increases the risk of anaemia, endometriosis, ovarian cancer and endometrian cancer. While some people may worry that it's not "natural" to suppress menstruation, it's actually more natural than having so many periods.'

But isn't it also risky to suppress them to Seasonale's degree? A Family Planning Association spokesperson believes not. 'There are no specific health concerns that I'm aware of,' she says. 'Seasonale has the same benefits and problems as all oral contraceptives.'

Professor Guillebaud agrees. As he remarks, Seasonale does nothing new: women on the Pill know anyway that their monthly bleed isn't a 'real' period. And, he reminds us, women have long been 'tri-cycling' pills unofficially, yet safely, to suppress menstruation for, say, a holiday or a job interview. So, while Seasonale may be marketed as a radical new departure, it simply legitimises an existing practice. 'It's an argument for the Pill, not for Seasonale,' he says.

Still, he advises a slight degree of caution. 'With Seasonale, you're taking more of these hormones,' he says. 'So you could say there's a theoretical risk - although there's no evidence to prove it.'