STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

blubirde · Chanel

seasonale

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

I completely agree. I have been on this for about 6 months now and it is fantastic. My hubby gets a little freaked to think that we can only truely confirm that I am not preggo 4 times a year. But we're okay so far. It havent noticed any side effects either. and the Savings on fem products and prescriptions is the best reward!

crystal · Kate Spade

does it come in generic? actually u can do this w/ regular pills too just by skipping the placebos & going straight to the next month. i talked to my gyno & she ok'd it so i get to use my generic ortho-tri to do it (it's only $20 for 3 packs w/ my insurance). but if seasonale is better at preventing pregnancy, then i'd like to try it in generic!

blubirde · Chanel

crystal wrote:

does it come in generic? actually u can do this w/ regular pills too just by skipping the placebos & going straight to the next month. i talked to my gyno & she ok'd it so i get to use my generic ortho-tri to do it (it's only $20 for 3 packs w/ my insurance). but if seasonale is better at preventing pregnancy, then i'd like to try it in generic!

I don't actually know if it comes in generic. My gyno told me you could do the same with regular ortho pills too but I can only buy mine once a month on my insurance and that was my problem (I kept forgetting to buy them in time and then I'd have to rush around or take two at once). But maybe if you take ortho continuously, it has the same increase in pregnancy prevention as the seasonale? I don't know but it's something your doctor could tell you.

And I tried to take my ortho continuously but for some reason I still had my period, not just break-through bleeding or spotting. It was a bit annoying and I haven't experienced that with seasonale yet. The doc said it could happen in the first 6 months but so far so good!

bex · Chanel

crystal wrote:

does it come in generic? actually u can do this w/ regular pills too just by skipping the placebos & going straight to the next month. i talked to my gyno & she ok'd it so i get to use my generic ortho-tri to do it (it's only $20 for 3 packs w/ my insurance). but if seasonale is better at preventing pregnancy, then i'd like to try it in generic!

nope- not a generic yet. when a drug is released and approved by the FDA- they have the rights to that drug for 10 years at which time it becomes released and a generic can be made. (my friend is a pharm. microbiologist and knows all this jargon)

anyway- i was on alesse and asked to be switched to seasonale. i didn't end up doing it b/c the prescription costs were so astronomical. for 3 months supply, mine was going to be $110!! with my reg. BC my 3 month supply is only $10... i decided to just take my reg. back to back instead. :(

twinkle · Coach

i'm not on seasonale but also do the skipping thing- only get my period once every 3 mos. (on levlite)- it has improved my quality of life!! :) no worries about being pregnant- i know if i am, i will be majorly sick, i don't need my period as reassurance!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Crystal - My gyno actually said not to skip periods if you are on a triphasic pill. Something about the hormone levels in the pills. She said you could use regular monophasic pills back to back to skip periods. You would have to get yours to write a continuous prescription or call in when your refills run out.

I'm going to the gyno at the end of the month and I'm not sure which route to go. I'm on alesse but like yasmin last year (student health carried alesse but not yasmin). I have no clue whether or not my new insurance will cover bc pills so I'm at a loss as to what to do. Right now my insurance doesn't cover any of them so it would be $40 a pop if I do yasmin and I don't know the price of the seasonale. If its in the $110-120 range then it would be the same. So frustrating. Plus my gyno won't write a continuous prescription even though she knows I skip periods and stuff! I'm always having to call in for refills.

Elle · Hermes

Sigh, I Seasonale. I was on it for over a year, but my insurance hardly covered it, leaving me to pay $150 every three months. When I went in for my yearly appointment, I asked my doc about skipping periods on a 'regular' pill to save myself the cost of fancily packaged Seasonale and she said no problem. I went back on Alesse because I'd liked it in the past.

Everything was hunky dory for the first three weeks, but as soon as I would have had a normal a period (if I hadn't been skipping), the spotting began. It has continued without stopping since then, so I have effectively had my period for 9 weeks. At first I thought it was because I wasn't being consistent enough with when I took my pill or it was stress, but now that both of those things have been ruled out I just don't think my body understands what I'm trying to do and the Alesse doesn't have enough hormones to completely suppress a period.

FWIW, my first cycle on Seasonale I spotted for the last 2 weeks leading up to my first period (after 3 months on the pill continuously) and the actual period itself was substantially more painful than usual - felt like my body had forgotten what to do! After that, my body adjusted and it was positively blissfull. Everyone reacts differently though, so of course your results may vary .

crystal · Kate Spade

lsubatgirl wrote:

Crystal - My gyno actually said not to skip periods if you are on a triphasic pill. Something about the hormone levels in the pills. She said you could use regular monophasic pills back to back to skip periods. You would have to get yours to write a continuous prescription or call in when your refills run out.

hey LSU, sorry, i'm so used to saying "ortho tri", i'm actually taking the monophasic version (generic, of course). ya, i used to use ortho-tri to skip periods on my own (i got it from planned parenthood before i could afford to pay for it) but when i got a regular gyno she said that could cause problems. i never had any, but switched to ortho-cyclen anyways. she's really cool, she writes me year long prescriptions since that's how often i go to her & she's even switched it (i tried out ortho-lo but there was no generic so i wanted back on ortho-cyclen) over the phone for me! and my insurance is really sweet too, if i buy it online i get 3 months at a time & it's only $20. plus, it arrives in like a day or two so if i forget to order it the day i open my last pack, i have some time.

halleybird · Hermes

I have been on continuous BCP for 2 years...I love it! I don't think it works for all pills, though. The first one I was on (I think it was Yasmin) gave me terrible breakthrough bleeding, but I have had no problems with Loestrin at all.

I actually had much worse breakthrough bleeding when I was taking the pill the regular way, which is why I switched to continuous BCP, and now I only have a period 2-3 times per year. It's wonderful!