Is it ok to fool mother nature?(AD WATCH)(extended-cycle contraceptives )

Reduced PMS. Fewer periods. No periods. These are the respective marketing promises of the makers of Yaz, Seasonique, and Lybrel, a trio of oral contraceptives currently starring in TV, Web, and print ads. They're called "extended-cycle" contraceptives because they either shorten or reduce the number of hormone-free (placebo) intervals that produce withdrawal bleeds, or periods. Lybrel, the newest of the three, is the first pill approved to eliminate placebo days--and thus periods--completely.

Is it safe to use pills to suppress menstruation? Yes, according to most of the 375 obstetricians/gynecologists and primary-care doctors surveyed by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. We surveyed only doctors who prescribed birth-control pills, and 85 percent of them had prescribed an extended-cycle drug in the past year. But the majority of those had also had patients use conventional birth-control pills in longer cycles to achieve the same effect.

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Almost 90 percent of the specialists who prescribed extended-cycle drugs said they were highly confident of the long-term safety of short or eliminated periods. That's encouraging, although there is no long-term data on the safety of such regimens.

Patient convenience was a common reason for choosing the pills, but doctors also frequently prescribed them for medical problems affected by hormonal fluctuations. These included acne, endometriosis, irregular or very painful periods, ovarian cysts, abnormal uterine bleeding, and migraine ...