*I was talking to some friends and the question came up:  When taking bc
*pills for three months at a time (active tabs for 3 packs, then off one
*week), will it delay menopause?  If you are actually ovulating only
*one-third as often, it seems to make sense.

Interesting question. But first of all, the pill prevents ovulation when
used in the historical way, too - you're not ovulating each month when you
use the pill intermittently with the placebo week! I always thought that
using the pill would have some kind of "egg preservation" effect on a
woman's fertility. I believe the latest studies suggest that this may in
fact be the case, as women who took the pill for many years had increased
fertility and lower rates of birth defects than similar aged women who had
not. Of course, now that I go and try to FIND those studies, I can't. But
I *swear* I not only read something about it, but discussed it with an
obstetrcian, some time in the past calendar year....

Now I'm going to be looking for backup on this for the next week. Darn it.

--
    hillary israeli vmd  http://www.hillary.net  info@hillary.net
               "uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
                not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large :)