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With continuous use, some people experience unexpected breakthrough bleeding or spotting, especially initially, but this usually improves over time, and many people do achieve amenorrhea or (the) cessation of menses.—Kameryn Griesser, CNN Money, 21 May 2025 During menses, low estrogen and progesterone levels help shed the uterine lining (endometrium).—Carley Millhone, Health, 13 Dec. 2024 Your hormones may also have started cycling, which will onset menses again.—Christin Perry, Parents, 26 June 2024 Using hormonal contraception to limit the number of lifetime menses does pose other risks: most forms of the Pill slightly increase the risk of breast and cervical cancers while slightly lowering the risk of ovarian, endometrial, and colon cancers, according to most observational studies.—Laura Kolbe, The New York Review of Books, 18 Jan. 2024 Early onset of menses and late menopause are also risk factors, according to Worley.—Ashlyn Messier, Fox News, 19 Sep. 2023
Word History
Etymology
Middle English menske honor, from Old Norse mennska humanity; akin to Old English man
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