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The San Diego Union-Tribune

Lybrel can mean a lifestyle change for many women


May 29, 2007

Last week, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved Lybrel, a continuous-use birth-control pill that eliminates a woman's regular period. A period-free lifestyle could be attractive to women who suffer severe cramps, headaches and other symptoms, as well as women who just don't want to be bothered with menstruating. Lybrel's manufacturer, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, expects the pill to hit pharmacies in July.

Dr. Carrie Cwiak, medical director of Grady Memorial Hospital's Family Planning Clinic in Atlanta, shared some thoughts on the new drug:

QUESTION: Who is a candidate for Lybrel?

ANSWER: Any woman who is able to take birth-control pills that contain estrogen, who wishes to prevent pregnancy and/or not have monthly periods.

Do you think it will be more popular with women who have troublesome periods or with women who don't want the hassle of periods?

Because women are used to . . . having a period every month, the idea that you can skip your period every month safely is a relatively new idea. I think women with medical problems who are actively looking for ways to skip their period will probably be more accepting of it than women who are just trying to avoid it for convenience.

Won't many women think getting rid of periods entirely is an unsettling idea?

There are other medications – Depo-Provera – that have women skip their period safely, and this is just another example. If you open up a pack of birth-control pills, you have three weeks of hormone followed by one week of sugar pills. In that last week of sugar pills, you bleed because you stopped taking hormones for that week. Women are not having a regular period on hormonal birth-control pills anyway.

Does that mean the chemical composition for Lybrel is similar to other birth-control pills?

It's (about) the same as all other pills.

But didn't half the women in a Lybrel clinical study drop out because they still had bleeding?

Well, because they had breakthrough bleeding. When you have a period every month on birth-control pills, perhaps you have three to five days of bleeding once a month. Instead, (on Lybrel) you're going to have less bleeding, but you're going to have it at irregular times. Some women want the predictability of bleeding only one time a month, and other women say, “It's OK if it's unpredictable because I know it's going to be less.”

How much less? Does it depend on the woman?

It's typically the same number of days, it's just lower amounts. If you have to wear a tampon at the end of the month (normally), here you might need to wear a panty liner or nothing at all.

Are there any risks associated with Lybrel that are not associated with other pills?

Only because it contains estrogen, we need to be cautious with women who can't use estrogen. All birth-control pills have a tremendous effect on protecting us from uterine cancer, protecting us from ovarian cancer, protecting us from benign breast cysts, decreasing acne, decreasing anemia.

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