What Do Doctors Say?
That first menstrual period may be cause for celebration at sixth-grade slumber parties. But for many women, the thrill fades fast when they’re beset with monthly bouts of pain, discomfort, bloating, crankiness, and the blues. Some women are so debilitated that they miss work or school. Menstrual suppression can often ease troublesome periods or conditions that worsen around that time of month, says Sharon Mass, MD, an ob-gyn in Morristown, N.J. She has suppressed her own periods and often helps patients to do the same. “Initially, it was for patients who had medical indications, for example, a history of endometriosis, menstrual migraines, symptomatic periods with bloating, breast tenderness — things like that,” she says. The convenience factor is a newer concept, and women are slowly coming around, says Leslie Miller, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington. Miller stopped her own periods for “convenience” during a grueling medical reside
