posted
Ok i read in a couple magazines that when your on the pill you can skip your period safely for up to 6 months... well i dont want 2 do that for 6 months but i am supposed 2 get it this week but with a dance show, halloween parties and the costumes im wearing etc i thought id skip it. so today instead of starting the placebo row i started a new pack...and i think im getting it anyway!!!!! but is this ok? normal? i dont think i can go back now cuz im missing the first one of my new pack....advice?
posted
ok so i just found another post on skipping periods... so i changed my mind!!!!!!!! ahhhh do i need 2 go back 2 the placebos... and get a new pack 2 start next sun?? or can i continue when my period is done, altho ive taken the first one!!! pleeeeeease answer!
posted
Magazines contain lots of misinformation, as well as a lot of fluff. It's generally wise to make medical and health decisions by consulting with your doctor, not with an issue of Cosmo, in the future.
Really, we do NOT advise skipping placebos here at ST, never have. While some sources okay it, there have not been long-term studies done on such, and it isn't sound or responsible in our opinion to generalize health matters in that way. And periods are just not that big a deal. Really, they aren't. Life goes on with them just fine, and if yours result in terrible crmaping or the like that makes that diffoicult, there are lifestyle changes that can help with that, as well as medications. Again, talk to your doctor.
If you already started your next pack, you need to stick with that now and finish that cycle. Just understand that skipping placebos means you may make this cycle less effective as birth control, and backup is advised.
------------------ Heather Corinna Editor and Founder, Scarleteen
My epitaph should read: "She worked herself into this ground." -- Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Posts: 63261 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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posted
if i alreayd started my new pack... but my period is starting then i dont understand!! y is it doing that if im not taking the placebos!! or will it stop by 2nite?
posted
Controling your body and your cycles is not something that can be guaranteed with any pill.
Skipping placebos does NOT guarantee you will not still have withdrawal bleed or breakthrough bleeding. So, there is no telling how long that bleed will continue for.
(I don't use the word "period" because technically, women on oral contraceptives don't have an actual period but withdrawal bleed.)
Posts: 63261 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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posted
so it isn't safe to skip periods? my gynie said it was if I didn't do it for more than 3 months in a row.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
There's really no telling because again, to date, long-term studies have not been done, as in, studying older women who did such for at least several years, both in terms of their health AND in terms of birth control remaining effective by itself.
I feel confident saying, mysef, that every once and a while, it is okay, with a docs permission. But that's all.
I feel more confident -- and I recognize in some places now this is seen as outmoded -- saying that in women not remaining pregnant all the time, periods are normal, natural and should just be gotten used to because they're no big deal AND menstruating is one of the ways your vagina cleans itself to keep you free of infection and free of conditions like endometriosis.
Not too long ago, doctors also told women to do things like douche, which now doctors say clearly is not healthy, and which they really only endorsed because of somewhat anti-female beliefs which mistrusted the pretty brilliant natural design of the female anatomy. Ultimately, as with douching, with menses, I think it's smartest to trust your body to do what it's designed to naturally, even when you're altering your cycles chemically already with hormonal contraceptives.
Posts: 63261 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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posted
so ya... i did get my period but it was weird... on and off, and strange cramps but i guess when u mess w/ that stuff it happens. altho i have been on an antibiotic for a uti the same week! maybe ruined things a bit lol i thought it was gone 2day tho since its been 6 days but this afternoon.. more blood... geeez i hope i didnt ruin my uterus...
posted
Don't worry, you have not ruined your uterus
However, please know that taking antibiotics will mess with the effectiveness of the pill, so you MUST use a backup method if you're sexually active until your next pack of pills.
posted
OK well now its been 7 days...and it started to slow down yesterday and then my boy and i had sex. well halfway thru it got really heavy, thank god hes not squeamish with blood! but then it went away until this afternoon and i just ruined really pretty yellow lace panties! btw i finished takin antibiotics yesterday that i started last sunday for a uti. i dunno if that affects my period... but i did use a condom yesterday because i kno my pills arent as effective when im one that medication but then again, they dont seem effective right now n e way... im starting the 2nd week now and im bleeding...
posted
OK I went to the doctor and got some info I thought I'd share, just incase other girls fall into this trap.
The pill can be used safely, (told to me by my doctor)to skip your period but only if it is completly necessary. They don't recommened doing it often. If you are on a same dose pill, meaning all of your pills contain the same amount of hormones yes you can skip the placebo week and start a new pack. My problem was that I am on tricyclen and i skipped to a lower dosage, still casuing my period to happen. If you want to skip using pills that up the amount of hormones each week until the placebo week, you must waste a whole pack and use the last week of a new pack to keep the same rate of hormones in your body. The drop in hormones is what causes your period to start, so by taking the lower dose, mine came anyway. My doctor told me that my body is confused and that this period should only last as long as one would if I hadn't been on the pill. Lucky me, mine used to sometimes last 2 weeks. So I just have to wait it out, but I will still get my period again when i take the placebos, so it looks like I will have about a week w/ no period this month. goody All I can say to other girls out there is do ALL the research before you try soemthing like this or don't do it at all. In the words of a good friend, "Dont' EVER mess with the cycle."
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