Im 51 and also taking loestrin. It’s great — no period, sleep is great ( most nights). No other symptoms. I do have high blood pressure, but gyn and primary are fine with my taking blood pressure pills. It’s been almost 2 years.

No but I am about to make an appointment with my gyno to ask about it. I went back on birth control in my 30s even though my husband had a vasectomy because of heavy/frequent bleeding. I went off it during the pandemic. Am now in my early 40s and the bleeding is as bad as it has ever been. I get periods every 3 weeks, and they last more than 2 weeks. I'll of course get the ultrasound I know they will ask for and see what they say (they didn't see anything when I had an ultrasound done in my 30s), but I suspect more BC or something similar is in my future.

Anonymous wrote:Why does loestrin stop people’s periods?

PP: It does not stop my periods. It significantly reduces the amount of bleeding and clotting, and the length of my periods. Pre-BC, I would bleed through a super tampon AND super pad in less than an hour. This would last 2 days. I literally could not go to my office bc I would regularly bleed through clothing. It also regulates my PMS symptoms which included mood swings of severe depression. Hard to describe but I never had mood swings during PMS until I was about 47. Then, I regularly contemplated how much better it would be to leave my family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I just started LoEstrin (?spelling). So far it’s evened out severe mood swings and significantly decreased the clotting and heaviness in my periods. 3 months in and I have a follow up soon to check blood pressure, etc.

has it contributed to weight gain or loss? that is a big issue for me. also my boobs are huge and sore at all times now.

OP of this post — I’ve steadily gained significant weight over the past 2 years of peri and do not attribute anything different since being on the pill. Weight gain is being addressed separately. In case anyone wants to know, I had about a 15 year gap in BC, so did not have concerns about taking the pill at my age (49). YMMV

Anonymous wrote:How old are you guys on the pill, if you don't mind me asking?

PP: I’m 49, just shy of 50

I've been on BCP for most of my life due to severe cramps, nausea, muscle spasms, and other various bad effects from my period that affected my day-to-day life. I'm 51 and a few years ago I started having menopause symptoms (not sleeping as well, sweating, etc). My Gyn told me to stay on the BCP in order to regulate things. My peri symptoms have not gotten better or worse, and while I do have more belly fat now, I haven't gained tons of weight. I know there is a concern of being on BCP as an "older" woman, but my Gyn doesn't have concerns at this time and I trust her completely. She's been my doc through a lot of stuff over the last 15 years and I trust her completely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I just started LoEstrin (?spelling). So far it’s evened out severe mood swings and significantly decreased the clotting and heaviness in my periods. 3 months in and I have a follow up soon to check blood pressure, etc.

I did this med for a few months and was pleased - overall mood help, took away hot flashes, but it did raise my blood pressure so I had to stop. Very disappointed. After many months now two months in to trying HRT.

Does HRT have much less hormones than LoEstrin?

You’ll need to research this and/or talk about it with your gyn. It’s not apples to apples. Birth control suppresses your own hormones and replaces them completely. HRT adds to the hormones you already have.

What? BCP supresses your own hormones completely?? That can’t be right.

Birth control tells your ovaries to stop making estrogen and progesterone, and you instead get what is in the pill.

You can google sources, but here’s one with some information.

https://www.earlymenopause.com/information/topics/hrt-vs-birth-control/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not exactly the same thing, but I have a Mirena IUD- I really think the low dose progesterone is helping me with perimenopause… I’ll be 48 in a few months and love having no periods, some light spotting every couple months.

When did you get it?

I got my second one put in at age 44, and now that they are FDA approved for eight years I can stay on until 52.

Anonymous wrote:Someone upthread, asked what BC I am on and it's Junel. I'm now 49, started when I was 47 because I was having hot flashes and night sweats. Only downside is that my boobs got bigger. I was told I can stay on it through 50.

Op - I really could do without my boobs being bigger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does loestrin stop people’s periods?

It has 3 weeks or active pills and 1 week of placebo pills. If you skip the placebo pills and go straight to the next pack, you don’t get a period. I don’t know the science behind it but I haven’t had a period since 2019 and I don’t miss it one bit (I’m recently 43).

DP who didn't get a period on Loestrin but I didn't skip the placebo pills. I suppose it's different for everyone.

Someone upthread, asked what BC I am on and it's Junel. I'm now 49, started when I was 47 because I was having hot flashes and night sweats. Only downside is that my boobs got bigger. I was told I can stay on it through 50.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I just started LoEstrin (?spelling). So far it’s evened out severe mood swings and significantly decreased the clotting and heaviness in my periods. 3 months in and I have a follow up soon to check blood pressure, etc.

I did this med for a few months and was pleased - overall mood help, took away hot flashes, but it did raise my blood pressure so I had to stop. Very disappointed. After many months now two months in to trying HRT.

Does HRT have much less hormones than LoEstrin?

You’ll need to research this and/or talk about it with your gyn. It’s not apples to apples. Birth control suppresses your own hormones and replaces them completely. HRT adds to the hormones you already have.

What? BCP supresses your own hormones completely?? That can’t be right.

Anonymous wrote:Why does loestrin stop people’s periods?

NP. It didn’t stop my period, kind of the opposite - I had three weeks of bleeding every month while on it. Didn’t have this issue with other BCPs.

Anonymous wrote:Why does loestrin stop people’s periods?

It has 3 weeks or active pills and 1 week of placebo pills. If you skip the placebo pills and go straight to the next pack, you don’t get a period. I don’t know the science behind it but I haven’t had a period since 2019 and I don’t miss it one bit (I’m recently 43).

Why does loestrin stop people’s periods?