Sick of your period? Then you might just love the news of Seasonique extended cycle birth control pills getting the FDA approval and hitting the pharmacy shelves! These pills are a sister product to Seasonale birth control pills (FDA approved in 2003), produced by the same company, Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (subsidary of Barr Pharmaceuticals)

Those of you who already heard about or are using the Seasonale birth control pills, which also insure only four periods a year, might be asking where is the catch? Instead of taking 84 pills and than taking 7 sugar (placebo) pills, Seasonique plan is taking the last seven with low estrogen levels: Keeping women on estrogen instead of dummy pills during the menstrual cycle limits hormonal fluctuation, bloating and breakthrough bleeding. says the company.

One other reason for Barr releasing the new pill might be that the Seasonele generic version (much cheaper) is expected to be available in the second half of the year, so the company is expecting a drop in sales.

If you are skeptic to the thought of having only four periods a year, this might hit you as a shock: if you're on the pill, the 'period' you get after taking the 21 pills from the box is not real, and therefore has no real purpose. When the pill as a method of birth control was first introduced some 40 years ago, male gynecologists thought that women might grasp the concept easier if it imitated the natural cycle. There's a good article about it on I Village, go read it!

And, if you're still skeptical, go read the No Period website and the Well-Timed Period blog to learn how thousands of women got rid of their periods, or made them fewer.