Moving my period
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| Thu, 06-17-2004 - 12:03am |
I'm in a long distance relationship and I'm on the pill (a generic of Ortho-Cyclen).
My boyfriend has been planning to visit me for about a week in August and he just recently told me that the only time he can make it is Saturday the 14th - Friday the 20th.
As of now, my period is due to arrive on the 20th. He leaves that afternoon, not a big deal, BUT even though I know it should be safe, I'm a little bit uncomfortable at this point with the idea of having sex during my week of inactive pills.
I don't want to skip my period all-together because I've heard that can cause spotting, and that just defeats the whole purpose. So what I'm thinking of doing is trying to move my period around, starting this month, so that I'll be starting a new pack of pills just a day or two before he arrives and my period should be just about over.
So currently, I start each pack of pills on a Tuesday night and my period arrives some time on Friday. If I'm figuring this out correctly, in order to move my period to where I want it, I'll have to switch my start day to either a Thursday or Friday -- meaning I'd only take two or three of the placebos and start a new pack before my period even arrives.
So basically, my question is.. is it ok to do this? Will it have the desired effect or is it likely to somehow mess up my cycle? Or should I just leave it alone and go ahead and have sex during my placebo week?
Sorry for making this so long, I'm just suddenly very stressed out about the whole thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: Thinking about it some more.. I think I must have done my math wrong. No surprise there. Maybe I'm just tired and not thinking clearly but now I don't think there is ANY way to move it around to a more convenient time. Maybe someone else can figure this out a little better for me, I've just gotten myself all confused.
Edited 6/17/2004 1:01 am ET ET by maliceinwonderland

1. You could --try-- skipping your period altogether, maybe you'll have bleeding, maybe you won't, with Ortho Cyclen it's possible that it would work just fine.
2. If you can get an extra pack of pills, like a sample from your doctor, you can take an extra week (or two) of pills at the end of this pack (so four or five active weeks in a row before taking a week off) and move your period to one (or two) weeks later, then if you have bleeding it will be for a short time. You may need the extra pack if you don't have enough refills to get you to your next annual, but if you've got enough refills it should be okay.
3. You do have the option to shorten your inactive week. This can get a little tricky if you lose two or three days out of June and then two or three days out of July (which should be enough, right?), you'll have to pay close attention to when you want to start the new pack. It doesn't cause any harm to shorten the inactive week, but you might not stop bleeding right away when you restart the active pills--don't let that alarm you, she's just got business to finish! I've noticed that when I shorten my inactive week, I don't get the post-period spotting, it goes right from period to no period.
Make sense?
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