Post pill amenorrhea: definition
Following the interruption of a hormonal contraceptive treatment, the menstrual flow could delay to appear for some months: it is a disorder known as post pill amenorrhea.
The contraceptive pill is useful to regularize the menstrual cycle, as well as, obviously, to ensure the contraceptive effect: it is therefore clear how - following an estrogenic suspension, although respecting the rules dictated by the gynecologist - the body may be affected suffering alterations about the rhythm of menstruation.
Post pill amenorrhea is considered a real syndrome, unrelated to either the duration of estrogen treatment, or any particular substance, nor to the dosage of the pill used.
Incidence
It is estimated that a percentage varying from 30 to 50% of women who used the contraceptive pill, for a relatively long period of time, complained of post pill amenorrhea; other women, in conjunction with the post pill amenorrhea, have also found situations of galactorrhoea (milk secretion outside the period of breastfeeding).
Related disorders
According to the hypothesis of some authors, post pill amenorrhea, in some cases, could be synonymous with slow return to fertility, but a direct correlation between the three factors (amenorrhea, interruption of the pill and slow return to fertility).
Scholars believe that post pill amenorrhea should be considered a secondary amenorrhea, caused not so much by a suspension of the estrogen-progestin preparation, but by the hypocaloric regime undertaken by women at the time of birth control therapy. In the common mentality, in fact, taking the pill is linked to an "inevitable weight gain, added to a marked water retention": in this regard, women begin a desperate race to maintain their weight ideally, in order to counterbalance the alleged negative effects derived from hormonal treatment. In doing so, however, women do not realize that they worsen the situation, because the body becomes accustomed to a new diet, promptly terminated at the time the pill is stopped. Among the possible consequences of such behavior, the post-pill amenorrhea also stands out, whose cause is often wrongly attributed to the suspension of the contraceptive treatment.
But that is not all. Many women use the contraceptive pill to counter the effects derived from polycystic ovary: in the absence of estrogen-progestin preparations, women suffering from this disorder often have menstrual irregularity disorders, including oligomenorrhea, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, etc. It is clear that even the amenorrhea, kept under control during the use of the contraceptive, can resume following the suspension of the same: in this case it is correct to speak of post pill amenorrhea.
Even an altered production of the quality and quantity of mucus produced by the cervical cells could cause amenorrhea: during the taking of the pill, the production of cervical mucus is altered (the body of each woman responds in a subjective way, causing leucorrhoea or dryness vaginal), but with continued estrogen-progestin therapy, mucous secretions stabilize. It is therefore clear that, after stopping the pill, the cervical cells are subjected to a further hormonal jolt, which can also be reflected in the amenorrhea. Moreover, the contraceptive pill could cause the destruction of some cells involved in the production of mucus, located in the upper area of the cervical canal: in this case, the interruption of the progestin aimed at pregnancy could generate problems for the fertilization of the egg, since the alteration of the mucus makes the passage of the spermatozoa hostile. In the latter case, post pill amenorrhea is combined with a possible delay in fertility recovery; however, it remains an absolutely reversible situation.
Care
Post pill amenorrhea generally resolves in a few months, without the need for special therapies; in any case, it is good practice to ask your gynecologist all the doubts related to this condition.
In post pill amenorrhea, the definitive therapy is non-specific and the doctor will direct the patient towards the most suitable treatment, which can change from woman to woman based on the factors that favored the amenorrhea.
