Get Your Period Four Times a Year Pills

Seasonale and Seasonique are extended cycle regimens

Birth Control Pills
(Image credit: Jeff Westbrook)

Seasonale and Seasonique are also "extended cycle" regimens that offer the same amount of estrogen and progestin every day for three months. Some women choose these Pills over Lybrel because they find it reassuring to get their periods, even if it's only once a season, says Dr. Melissa Gilliam, OB/GYN at The University of Chicago. Others prefer this because they think occasional scheduled periods and a higher dose of estrogen (Seasonale and Seasonique contain 30 micrograms versus Lybrel's 20) will lessen breakthrough bleeding. Seasonale and Seasonique differ in a minor way: Seasonale, which came first, gives you active hormones for 84 days and seven days of placebo, whereas Seasonique contains seven days of low-dose estrogen instead of placebo. The idea behind that estrogen: It may push the risk of unscheduled bleeding even lower.

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