How SEASONALE® Works
SEASONALE® is an extended-regimen birth control pill — which means it’s designed to extend the time between your periods so you get them once every 3 months instead of every month. The easiest way to explain how its extended regimen works is to compare it to a traditional monthly birth control pill.
When using a traditional monthly birth control pill: You take 1 active pill every day for 3 weeks, followed by 1 week of inactive pills. So you get your period about once a month, or 13 times a year.
With SEASONALE®: You take 1 active pill every day for 3 months (84 days), followed by 1 week (7 days) of inactive pills. The extended regimen lengthens the time between your scheduled periods. With SEASONALE®, you’re scheduled to get your period once every 3 months — 4 times a year.
| Number of active pills: |
21 |
84 |
| Duration: |
3 weeks
(21 days) |
3 months
(84 days) |
| Number of scheduled periods: |
1 every month or
13 per year |
1 every 3 months or
4 per year |
While you get the convenience of 4 periods a year, you are also more likely to have spotting and breakthrough bleeding (which varies from slight spotting to a flow much like a regular period) than with a traditional birth control pill. This is common and should decrease over time. During the first year, total bleeding days are similar to a traditional Pill.