this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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The primary purpose of the sugar pill is to maintain the habit of taking a pill daily.
The Team that Invented the Birth Control Pill - The Atlantic
https://archive.ph/enn5j
He told Rock to have his patients stop taking the pills for five days each month. Their hormone levels would return to normal, their symptoms would ease, and they would have their periods. Rock liked the idea. It would make the pill seem more natural, like a scientific version of the rhythm method.
So yes, your right, the sugar pill was added to help people count the 5 days of no hormones correctly.
But the only reason for the 5 day hormone gap in the initial recommendations was to make users feel more natural, and not think they were pregnant.
Though the history is fascinating, always worth a read!
My gf does this, but eventually starts bleeding despite the continued (non-sugar) pills. Usually takes several months of skipping the sugar pills.
She then stops taking them, has a normal cycle or two to reset things as it were and starts over.
We're also still young enough that no doc agrees on sterilization, but old enough to know we're never changing our minds.
The pill works by tricking the body into thinking you're pregnant. There is no reason why you could not take the pill (with hormones in it) for nine months straight.