Going off the pill at perimenopause? Talk to your doctor.

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The greatest number of unplanned pregnancies occur in teenagers. The age group with the second largest number of unplanned pregnancies is…. women in their late 30s and early 40s. This might be less surprising if you understand what is going on at this time.

Why you should not go off birth control pills during perimenopause

From the age of 35 your fertility begins to decline and some women may start to experience perimenopausal symptoms in their late 30s but more commonly in their 40s. As you age the quality of your eggs decreases. This is one of the reasons that congenital abnormalities like Down’s Syndrome are more common in older mothers. Ovulation becomes irregular i.e. some months you ovulate and some months you don’t. (Read more about symptoms of menopause and perimenopause).
Unfortunately there’s no way to know for sure if you’re going to ovulate in any given month and if you’re not consistent with your birth control, effectiveness is greatly reduced.
So if you don’t want to get pregnant you need to continue with whatever birth control method you are currently using until menopause, i.e. when it’s been 1 year since your last period. Stopping your birth control pill before menopause greatly increases your chances of getting pregnant.

Other advantages of not going off oral contraceptives before menopause

Before menopause there is marked fluctuation in the level of sex hormones in the body as ovarian function begins to wind down. One of the benefits of staying on your birth control pill is that it helps to level out your hormone levels so they don’t see-saw up and down as they would otherwise. This means that you will be protected from some perimenopausal symptoms you would have experienced otherwise.

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Tags: 40s, birth_control_effectiveness, birth_control_method, birth_control_pill, birth_control_pills, congenital_abnormalities, last_period, menopause health, oral-contraceptives, ovarian_function, ovulate, perimenopausal_symptoms, perimenopause, sex_hormones, symptoms_of_menopause, unplanned_pregnancies

July 18, 2007 by Ada
Filed under: General Health issues 

Comments

2 Comments on Going off the pill at perimenopause? Talk to your doctor.

  1. Bladder Control Pads on Wed, 14th Jan 2009 6:34 pm

    2. I find Urologists, especially mine, to be very competent in all technical aspects of removing your bladder when it is discovered that you have bladder cancer. In my case, I was told that the bladder needed to be removed because the cancer was very aggressive and it was growing back as faster than he could remove it from the bladder. He also stated that there was some cancer growth very close to the mouth of the bladder.

  2. Jacqueline on Wed, 30th Sep 2009 9:54 pm

    3. I think that whenever you do decide to go off birth control pills, you have a plan in place to take care of your hormones. You are already on enough a roller coaster with perimenopause! Here is another helpful article on birth control options for perimenopausal women (from Women to Women dot com)… Answers to common questions about birth control

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