Perimenopausal and menopausal women who continue to use contraceptives containing estrogen may benefit for reasons other than preventing pregnancy. In a 2006 St. Petersburg Times article, Dr. Catherine Lynch, director of General Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Florida, says these contraceptives may help women using estrogen-based birth control in their 40s or 50s to receive hormones necessary for reducing symptoms, such as night sweats, irritability, hot flashes and even bone loss.
However, women who smoke, are overweight or have high blood pressure risk increased blood clots that can result in a stroke if they use estrogen-based birth control.
Benefits in Menopause
In years leading to menopause, a woman's hormone levels are unpredictable. Using birth control hormones, by pill or by use of a patch, helps keep hormones even. Small doses of estrogen and other hormones can relieve hot flashes, depression, sleep problems and other symptoms for some perimenopausal women, according to New York University Medical Center's HealthWise.
Low-Dose Birth Control Treatment
A nationwide test of a low-dose birth control patch was launched in 2010. Just as the low-dose pills have helped some women, this low-dose patch may prove to be another way to treat uncomfortable symptoms of menopause and perimenopause.
Some doctors already prescribe low-dose birth control pills to women who need help regulating fluctuating hormone levels during early menopause, premenopause or perimenopause. Dr. Craig A. Winkel, a professor and chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Georgetown University Medical Center, says women who are having unpleasant symptoms associated with menopause do not need to suffer. Winkel, quoted in Barbara Tunick's article, "Perimenopause: Surviving the Transition to Menopause," published in The Female Patient on OBGYN.net in 2000, says that for women who do not smoke or have a history of breast cancer, low-dose birth control pills containing 35 micrograms or less of estrogen may be the treatment of choice because they can alleviate perimenopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings. In the same article, Steven R. Goldstein, physician and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, advises perimenopausal women to look at low-dose birth control pills as "cycle regulators" that work by turning off the ovaries' natural estrogen production and replacing it with a small amount of estrogen and progesterone throughout the month. He says fluctuating hormone levels cause common perimenopausal symptoms and for some, low-dose birth control doses eliminate these unpleasant symptoms.
Side Effects and Warnings
In a 2010 article, "Did Johnson & Johnson Hide the Dangers of Its Birth Control Patch?," William W. Hurd, M.D., professor of reproductive biology at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center, says hormone treatments and contraceptives present risks, but that the birth control patch is even riskier than most forms of birth control. This may be because of the high levels of estrogen that the patch delivers. With a pill, the estrogen dissolves into the system, but with the patch there's no relief from the constant flow of estrogen into the bloodstream, according to Dr. Sidney Wolfe, medical director of the group Public Citizen.
Hurd says the patch is the last form of birth control he would consider prescribing. He will not prescribe any kind of hormonal birth control to a patient who smokes, is overweight, or has any history of heart attack, blood clots or stroke, because all of these factors increase the risk of dangerous side effects from contraceptives containing estrogen.
Estrogen Skin Patch
Some women use estrogen skin patches or estrogen and progesterone skin patches because of convenience. Once the patch is affixed to her skin, a woman can forget about it until it's time to change it, every few days or weekly. Dr. Nancy Teaff, a North Carolina reproductive endocrinologist, is quoted in the OBGYN.net article, "Perimenopause: Surviving the Transition to Menopause," as saying that the gradual absorption of estrogen into the body helps alleviate symptoms at various stages of menopause with few side effects. Because the estrogen patch doesn't raise triglyceride levels the way estrogen pills do, it may be a better choice for women at risk of certain cardiovascular problems. Unfortunately, some women using the patch do not absorb enough estrogen to relieve their perimenopausal symptoms.
