Lybrel is a recently FDA approved birth control pill containing compound combination of the progestin levonorgestrel and the exogenous estrogen ethinyl estradiol or just ethinylestradiol the same hormones as other “pills” only in lower amounts than normally seen in oral contraceptives. It is taken every day at the same time and has been proven to quite effective at preventing pregnancy but with a marked difference from other birth control medications – you will not have your period while taking Lybrel.

There has been some controversy since the arrival of Lybrel on the market. Some have said that it is just unnatural for women not to have their period. Others have hailed Lybrel as another step forward in the women’s movement freeing women from the burden of their monthly cycle. The experts have said the controversy is unwarranted since birth control itself is an unnatural situation and men and women have been practicing it in some form or another for years.

Lybrel was the next logical step forward in the evolution of hormonal use birth control. There are some women who have a terrible time with their periods and menstruation is a debilitating time for them every month. Lybrel is not for everyone for sure but to refer to it as anti-female is stepping over the line of common sense. When you consider a women who has painful PMMD or Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, Lybrel and its no period element is a Godsend.

PMMD can be so acute in some women that they need hospitalization and pain control measures for comfort. They lose time from work and caring for family and themselves is nearly impossible when they are doubled over in pain. A total of five percent of women suffer from incapacitating symptoms during their period and another seventy five percent have some form of discomfort associated with their periods or the more “mild form” of PMS.

Most women would be thrilled to put an end to their periods every month. Some women experience such a heavy flow that they must double up their protective layers and frequently change their sanitary protection throughout the day during heavy periods lasting up to 3 days. One might think that men a behind some of the controversy but other women who have lesser challenges at menstruation time seem to categorize all females.

“I’m not bothered by my period; it’s a fact of life so why should others be any different. They should quit complaining”. The lack of empathy from men, women and even some physicians comes from a lack of understanding and education about the subject. Natural or abnormal, a women’s monthly cycle is a personal thing and every situation should be looked at based on its severity and what can be done to improve the condition of an individual’s existence. If Lybrel can assist with this than it is worth having the “no period pill’ available.

Lybrel was approved as the first nonstop usage medication designed to prevent unintended pregnancy in May of 2007. This breakthrough medication was developed and manufactured by Wyeth based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There currently is not a generic brand of Lybrel available and with Wyeth holding the rights to it via patent until 2018, there likely will not be a generic version available for a while.

That said there is a row brewing over the Wyeth patent and lawsuits are beginning to make their way around the pharmaceutical world. Another drug company has filed suit against Wyeth regarding the patent and is hoping for an opportunity to market a generic brand of Lybrel if even for the short period of time that a court may intervene, perhaps 180 days.

Often a drug company will have license agreements in different countries and drugs will be marketed to those countries under a different trade name. That is to say, different trade names for the exact same drug only in a different country and usually for less money. Therefore, in theory you could find Lybrel for sale in a different country’s pharmacies under a different name and selling for fifty to eighty percent cheaper than for the brand name, in theory of course.

Lybrel is sold in a twenty-eight day packet of low dosage pills that include 90 micrograms of levonorgestrel, the progestin part of the compound combination and twenty micrograms of the synthesized estrogen, ethinylestradiol. These two hormone derivatives make up the active ingredients in many other FDA approved oral birth control pills on the market currently.

Everyone reacts differently to medication and it is no different with Lybrel. One women’s experience was noted online when she offered that she had been ingesting Lybrel for 4 months and her periods were quite light with spotting after the first month. About three and a half months into her Lybrel regimen she began to bleed heavier but was still only spotting then within a week or so of that she began to bleed excessively passing large clots for a half hour.

She was aware of the cautions and called her doctor but this has left her wondering if she perhaps miscarried or was developing something more dangerous. She has by now likely seen her doctor and is being well treated but this amplifies the point that Lybrel may not be for everyone. Everybody’s tolerance to drugs is different and so they should be treated and prescribed to as individuals.

Another women wrote that she had been taking Lybrel for three months and was having a raft of side effects ranging from mood swings, spotting and weight gain. She experienced many similar side effects when taking other brands of oral contraceptives so the problems is being narrowed down to intolerance to hormonal medications overall and perhaps a physiological condition as yet undiagnosed but suspected endometriosis has been speculated. Regular exercise was started and this seemed to alleviate the symptoms somewhat overall but things are still far from better.

Both the drug manufacturer Wyeth and the FDA have noted and made clear that their research data gives no indication that there are any long term health hazards or added risks with Lybrel. There is no reason to think otherwise based on the active ingredients in Lybrel and the history of other oral contraceptives that contain the same active elements. Lybrel is after all a low dose birth control medication when compared to others on the market. The question then needs to be asked if the protocol or regimen of nonstop, continuous medicating with no placebo interval giving the body a recuperative phase, is this a factor in severe, hyper symptomatic side effects?

Certainly many women have found Lybrel to be an incredible relief. One women wrote that she was having an extremely difficult time with her period ever since she was thirteen years old and had her first cycle. She was now a young woman attending university and when she began missing classes and found her grades were suffering because of the debilitating effects of her period, she consulted a physician.

She was placed on a regimen of Lybrel and after some initial adjustment to the new medication her painful periods that kept her bedridden in the fetal position were no longer an issue. She felt like a new women and the freedom she was now realizing made her feel like “shouting from every rooftop” about how great her experience was with Lybrel, she called it her miracle. Clearly there is a place for a new drug like Lybrel and the debate will continue while it finds itself a place on the shelves of pharmacies around the world.

Contraceptives

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