Using Birth Control Pills to Temporarily Stop My Period

My periods would make me very, very sick so my OB started having me take my pills straight through about 10 years ago. I just skip the placebo week and it halts my fake period week. I'll do the period week maybe every 3-4 months to avoid spotting in between and the period is less severe than it used to be. I do know this strategy doesn't work at all with the triphasic brands.

My OB went to a conference where they discussed this strategy and the research showed it was totally safe. I had no problems at all conceiving when I wanted to and my gyn. health has been fine doing this long-term.

There are pills on the market now that just don't have the placebo week in them at all that do basically the same thing as I'm doing. You're not ovulating anyway, so the fake period week isn't a real period anyway, so there's no medical benefit to having it.

i take lybrel... everyday. it's designed to be taken so you don't have a period. at all. 365 pills, 365 days a year. i love it. i'm very even with my moods and i certainly don't miss my period.

i say go for it.

my periods used to be very, very heavy. i always seemed to get it in the middle of our vacation trips. i once spend days holed up inside a hotel in prague! it was awful.

they were so heavy that i became dangerously anemic. i was stubborn and tried to eat enough healthy food that was loaded with good iron, took iron supplements, etc. but i was loosing more blood than i could make. there was no way i was ever going to catch up. i even looked at iron infusions!

my counts were around 6 when i finally broke down and decided to try the lybrel... as my doctor was suggesting. normal hemoglobin counts are between 12-16. i was at 6. i was running on about 50% oxygen... red blood cells carry oxygen. my heart was starting to beat irregular. my brain was totally fuzzy.

so.. taking a pill to avoid my period has been good for me.

I take birth control back to back so that I don't have a period more than twice a year. I do it because my periods are EXTREMELY painful (i've had 2 kids and did both natural, so i can take pain, but geez these suck!)
My doctor said that there really isn't any medical reason that would require a woman to have one every month, and no harm should be done by skipping.
you simply don't take the inactive pills, and start right away on the next pack. its pretty simple

When I was a high school swimmer, several of us used to do this a lot before high school swim champs. There was a way to adjust the pills to avoid a period right before and during championships.
I also did this before my wedding.

I wouldn't do it all the time, and I am not sure what the long term effects are of having no period---ever---but I don't think a couple of adjustments are a problem.

Dont take the "sugar pills" jump right into your next pack of pills ! It does the trick you can do this ALL the time if you wish, why not try it for like 2 months before you go and see how it works out for you ! Good luck and Have Fun in the Sun :-)

My doctor has told me before that this is an effective way to prevent your period from coming in for such events (she suggested my wedding was a good time to do this if I so chose =). However she said that it is not healthy to try this all the time and that once in while would be just fine. In your case though, Im not sure what would happen seeing as how you are currently not on the pill. I dont see it being an issue but I dont know that only being on the pill for one month this trick would work. I would bring it up with your doctor and take it from there.

Good Luck and have a great trip

It is possible to use the pill to stop your period. However, the pill can also make you bleed more when you first start taking it.

I have skipped the sugar pills for the last week of the pack and started a new one before to "rearrange" my period. It did change the timing of my next period, but I did have a shorter period during the first week of the new pack (the one I was "skipping".

Everyone's body is different, so I hope it will work for you. If anything, going on the pill should make your period more manageable if you do have it on vacation.

I have used them to skip a period by continuing to take them during the "period week" but that was when I had been taking them continuously. Im not sure if taking them the week that you will start your period will have the same effect, but good luck!

What other women have said is right about how to take the pill to stop your periods.Check with your doctor about the that you take that you never take a sugar pill. I can't remember the name of it. :(
But I have another suggestion,get an ablation done,if you are done having children. Novasure is what I had done three years ago and I love it. It works with 90% of the women that have it done and 10% it doesn't work.But, 10% of the women that have it done ,have to have a hysterectomy later on.

Have fun on your vacation.

Yes, definitely ask your gynecologist but you can skip the different colored pills (typically the last 7) in the pack. In doing so, your body will still be getting the hormone/drug and that will tell your brain to hang on to the lining of the uterus. However, don't depend on any of us to properly guide you unless someone here is presenting with a medical degree and a specialty in gynecology!

If you can have him give you a pill pack, take it back to back for the next 2 cycles and that will stop/minimize it. My sister tried this with her Oring and it didnt work so well. I did it with OrtoTriCyclin and it worked well

I also didn't take birth control pills for a long time, but I did do this a couple times due to vacations...like when we went to Disney & I knew that we'd be walking forever & taking care of myself would be a big issue..LOL I think I started a pack about 2 weeks into my cycle so that I took the regular bc pills during my period. I didn't skip my period, but it was much lighter than normal.
If you ever know anyone who travels over to Europe (not sure if it's everywhere there or just Italy)...they can buy medicine at the pharmacy with no prescription to stop a period. Someone I worked with went in just to see if it was true & bought the pills. They are just hormone pills, and they worked :)
enjoy your sunshine!
D.

I didn't find it to be a very reliable method. I tried this once - all it did for me was to delay my period a day or two. Ended up on a cruise ship with no hygene products, and only travel-sized packs in the onboard shop. And I had been on the pill (not the mini-pill or the low-estrogen, either) steadily for about three years at that point. It works better for some than for others, I suppose.