When you take an inactive pill, it allows for bleeding that mimics normal menstruation. There are also packs that allow for 24 days of active pills and a shorter menstrual-like bleeding period. They can either reduce the number of periods you have or eliminate your period entirely. In general, women today experience many more menstrual cycles over their lifetime compared to women of previous generations, says Bustillo.
There are a few reasons for that, including the following:. According to Lisa Dabney, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , the monthly period that traditional birth control pills allow for may have had more to do with marketing than anything.
You may want to consider a birth control option that allows you to shorten or eliminate your monthly period if you have any of the following:. There are a lot of potential positives for skipping your period, but there are also some downsides. According to Bustillo, regular ovulation and menstruation could increase your risk for diseases such as endometriosis and ovarian cancer.
Breakthrough bleeding can randomly occur. However, it generally only happens within the first few months of starting a no-period birth control regimen.
If this does happen, make sure you do the following:. You should talk to your doctor or pharmacist so they can show you which pills are active and which are the placebo pills.
Dabney recommends that you allow this to happen once every three to four months. Dabney says some birth control pills have a higher risk of abnormal bleeding than others. You should check with your doctor if you want to start skipping your period. They may recommend that you change the type of pill you take. You should not be off of the birth control longer than 7 days, or you will lose contraception efficacy. Extended-cycle or continuous regimen pills are designed to skip or eliminate your period.
The following pills combine the drugs levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol:. This works best with monophasic pills, which have the same amount of hormones in every pill. If you don't have unpredictable bleeding or other significant side effects, your doctor might suggest you take the active pills continuously for nine weeks in the next cycle and 12 weeks in the cycle after that.
The choice of birth control pill is up to you and your doctor. Keep in mind that you can reduce withdrawal symptoms and unscheduled bleeding by taking inactive pills for only three or four days rather than the full seven days or by replacing inactive pills with low-dose estrogen pills.
SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. How does it work? What are the benefits of delaying your period?
Is it safe for all women to delay menstruation? What are the drawbacks to delaying your period? Stay on schedule. Missing a pill makes breakthrough bleeding more likely. Keep taking the pills as directed. Breakthrough bleeding isn't a sign that the pill isn't working.
If you stop taking it, you risk unplanned pregnancy. Track breakthrough bleeding in a calendar or diary. Typically, careful tracking offers reassurance that breakthrough bleeding is decreasing. Some pills are monophasic —meaning they have the same dose of hormones in each pill. Other pills are multiphasic —meaning that the number of hormones in the pills changes throughout your pack. Your birth control package will indicate which kind of pill you have. If you are taking a monophasic combined hormonal birth control pill.
Once you reach your placebo pills hormone free pills at the end of your pack— these are normally indicated on the package , then simply skip over those and start your new pack the next day as Day 1. Monophasic dose birth control pills allow flexibility since you can technically schedule your period for whenever you wish. You can stop taking your pill for a few days to have a withdrawal period One study found that if you experience three days of consecutive breakthrough bleeding, choosing to start your period at that time would result in fewer bleeding days throughout the entire year If you are taking a multiphasic pill:.
Once you reach your placebo pills, simply skip over those and start your new pack the next day as Day 1. Finish your current pack and take the placebo pills to bring on your period. Skipping your period using multiphasic pills is not as well studied as monophasic preparations, which should be taken into consideration when thinking about skipping a period. In one study, although there were no adverse health outcomes related to continued period-skipping with a multiphasic pill, 4 out of 10 participants reported side effects, including breast tenderness and breakthrough bleeding Ideally, there'd be a quick fix to tell your body to hold off for a second and wait on the whole menstruation thing.
But finding a natural method to delay your period, like eating special foods or drinking apple cider vinegar, is more of a hopeless pursuit. You should know that the most reliable way to delay your period is with medicine. You can use birth control pills to keep your period from coming, whether you want to postpone it for a week or skip it entirely. To get the medicine, you'd need to ask your doctor for a prescription. If you are looking to avoid taking pills to delay your period, there is yet to be any conclusive evidence on natural remedies.
However, we took a look at some of the common natural suggestions to give you more context. You may have heard certain foods can delay your period. Some websites point to things like lemons because of vitamin C, or bananas because of potassium, or some spicy food. Although some of these ingredients are good or can benefit a balanced diet, it does not affect your period timing. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that while diet can be relevant to a woman's period, there is no research on lemons, bananas, spicy food, or any other food as a way to delay a period.
People may tout all kinds of health benefits of apple cider vinegar, but the truth is, there isn't enough medical evidence to support them. You may have even heard that apple cider vinegar could possibly help to delay periods. However, similar to diet choices, there is no research confirming that apple cider vinegar has any effect on your period. Exercise, of course, has many benefits, one of which is to subside cramps and other period pains, but it does not affect the timing of your period. It is also commonly known that for some women, excessive exercise or low-calorie intake can altogether skip their period, but this causes other health problems and is not advised to delay your period.
The surest way you can prevent or delay your period is to actually skip your period by taking the birth control pill, though you'll need to plan ahead as it takes time for your body to get used to the pill. You would need to use the combined birth control pill, which combines two hormones, progestin and estrogen, to delay skip your period.
Anecdotally you might have heard that Ibuprofen can delay your period. However, the amount of ibuprofen required to delay your period is significant and far past the recommended amount. That's why the Cleveland Clinic doesn't advise their patients to try this on their own. If you are currently on some type of birth control pill, you may have the ability to limit, skip, or delay your period.
0コメント