I am not humorless I swear! But I have to defend seasonale as it saved my life. REally! If your period is just dirty panties and cramps, great! Lucky you! I have hormone swings that make me very deeply depressed (Ocasionally suicidal), mood swings that have destroyed friendships and relationships, bloat in access of ten pounds, have severe cramps and diarhea (How severe? When I got the stomach flu that landed me in the hospital, I just thought it was my period), cystic acne, and more minorly huge bags under my eyes and skin so sensitive tears caused a histamine reaction that burned streaks into my skin. Which happened constantly due to the mood swings and depression.  Seasonale ended that after one month. All of it. The king of lame commercials "Yaz" did not. It not only saved me from my period, but made my one period far less severe.  When Annuale comes out, I am on it.  Better yet, I want to get on that pill that STOPS your period. Believe me, there are worse things than the side effects to seasonale.  I would swallow a happy fun ball if it ended my period. HMm, I actually think it does end periods..

We did a boatload of stories involving Tina Fey yesterday, but none of them covered her bizarre endorsement

Unless all hormonal birth control freaks you out, there is no reason to be freaked out by Seasonale (except maybe its marketing). All hormonal birth control messes with the menstrual cycle. That's how it works. I don't have the medical expertise to explain this; please go to a reliable source and look it up, but any period one has while on birth control pills isn't a real period. Before the pill was first put on the market, it was decided that women would not be comfortable with not having periods, and the week of placebo pills, which induce some withdrawal bleeding, were added for that reason. And we women continue to prove these condescending ad men right, with posts such as this one. You don't need Seasonale to control when you have a "period" if you take any birth control pill. Simply take it continuously instead of swallowing sugar pills every fourth week. There are still debates about the healthfulness of the hormones in birth control pills (and hormonal inserts), but having a fake period every month isn't helping your health if you're already using such a method. Since my comment is coming in late and is unlikely to be seen by many, I hope that you, Emily, will do some kind of post in the future stating that there's no reason to be "freaked out" by fewer periods on birth control--again, unless you're "freaked out" by all birth control pills. Please stop spreading ignorance. This is a site that should know better.

i have to say, back in the 90's i knew a few gals who were on birth control like this, and they both had crushing pain and debilitating mood swings when their periods would eventually hit. like scary. so here's hoping they've gotten it right finally.