- With Mayo Clinic internist
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, certified by the American Board of Family Practice, has been practicing medicine at Mayo Clinic since 1995 with special interests in breast diseases and women's health.
She is a consultant in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, and the Breast Diagnostic Clinic. She is an assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native stresses education and patient-related research and has been active in both areas since joining Mayo Clinic. She is the primary investigator at Mayo Clinic of several clinical trials evaluating new agents for the prevention of breast cancer and identification of biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Her other research and clinical interests include managing the health of women who are at increased risk of breast cancer, breast pain and hot flashes, and developing patient education decision-making tools for breast-related concerns. She is director of the Breast Diagnostic Clinic and is a member of the Women's Health Executive Committee. Dr. Pruthi has been newly elected as a member to the board of directors for the American Society of Breast Disease. She has assisted with a variety of articles for MayoClinic.com.
"Having an opportunity to share information with my patients in the way that will help them to understand and be able to make educated decisions about their own health is very important to me," she says.
"The Web has become a major information site for people, and I want them to get the best and accurate information to be able to make informed choices for themselves, their family members and friends."
Women's health (2)
- Lead in lipstick: A health concern?
- Birth control pills for acne?
Breast health (3)
- Sagging breasts: Inevitable after breast-feeding?
- Silicone breast implants: What happens if they rupture?
- Natural breast enhancement: Does it work?
Women's sexual health (10)
- Cosmetic vaginoplasty: Is it safe?
- Birth control: Can pre-ejaculation fluid cause pregnancy?
- Morning-after pill: Emergency birth control
- see all in Women's sexual health
Women's life stages (2)
- Menstrual cup: What is it?
- Asthma: Why are symptoms worse during my period?
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Question
Birth control pills: How long can I take them?
How long can I safely take the pill? I've heard that you shouldn't stay on birth control pills for more than five years.
Answer
from Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
There's no specific number of years that you can take birth control pills. You can take them for as long as you need birth control — provided that you don't have an underlying medical condition that makes it inadvisable to use birth control pills, such as a blood clotting disorder or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
Years ago, it was thought that prolonged use of birth control pills would interfere with a woman's subsequent ability to conceive a pregnancy after stopping the pill. But this has been shown to be false.
Women who had regular menstrual cycles before starting the pill return to having regular menstrual cycles when they stop the pill. Women who had irregular menstrual cycles before starting the pill usually return to having irregular menstrual cycles.
Some evidence suggests that prolonged use of birth control pills increases your risk of certain cancers, such as cervical cancer and liver cancer. But it also decreases your risk of other types of cancer, including ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer. If you have concerns about your cancer risk from birth control pills, discuss them with your doctor.
You shouldn't use birth control pills after age 35 if you smoke or have an increased risk of heart disease. However, if you are generally healthy and are a nonsmoker, you may continue using birth control pills until you reach menopause.
Next question
