missing periods?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2004
missing periods?
3
Wed, 11-03-2004 - 8:20am
I'm on ortho tricyclene, and im on the 4th day of the placebos. this is only my second month of them, but i believe i got my period earlier than this the first month. when is it usual to get your period on the placebos? is it possible to skip periods? i really really don't want to have it over the weekend, is there anything i can do to make sure i don't get it? any help would be greatly appreciated.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-14-2004
Wed, 11-03-2004 - 8:49am
During your first three months on birth control, your body is going through a lot of changes with adjusting to these new, unusual synthetic hormones. It can take up to three months for your cycle to get regular, so to speak, and for some women their periods never come at exactly the same time on their placebos. Some start the first day and some don`t until the last day.

On the pill, sometimes you do skip a period, but that only seems to happen to most women when they`ve been on the pill for a while and their period flow gradually lessens.

If you`re already on day two of your placebos, that means the amount of hormones in your body has dropped, which is what triggers your period. Well, not really a period because you don`t ovulate but withdrawal bleeding.

Anyone else here on the board feel free to correct me on this, but I`m pretty sure that you could get another pack and start taking the third week in it to maybe suppress it. I`m not sure if it would work very well since you`ve already been two days without hormones, though. Buuuut...you still could get it, even if you do start taking another third week. The ideology behind this is you take another round of week three pills to keep your hormones level, so that the dip doesn`t occur that triggers your bleeding. Maybe it`ll work and maybe it won`t; it`s really kind of a gamble.

As for a sure fire way to "make sure" that you don`t get it, there`s not really one. Aunt Flo will kind of just show up when she feels like it on your placebos and it`s hard to skip a period after you`ve already had a drop in your hormones since, like I said, that`s what brings AF on in the first place. Next month, if you need to skip a period, try the extra week-three thing. Although it`s not guaranteed that you`ll have much luck skipping (some women can`t skip at all and it`s easier to skip on a pill that has the same amount of hormones every month, as where ortho tricyclene has three levels) maybe it`ll work for you.

Hope this wasn`t too confusing!

Lena

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Wed, 11-03-2004 - 9:51am
Hi sunshine1030, welcome!

I agree with Lena. Since you have been off hormones for 2 days already I don’t think there is anything you can do now to prevent having your pill-period. Usually, Aunt Flo arrives sometime during the 2nd through 5th day of your placebo week but she can be earlier or later. Since you are new to your pill it can take 3 or 4 cycles for your body to develop a pattern so you’ll know when to expect AF. If you have something planned for the weekend you might try using Instead, http://www.softcup.com/ a menstrual cup that catches your flow. You can have IC while wearing Instead which works quite well for some women. Instead cups can be found with the feminine hygiene supplies in most pharmacies. As a fallback plan you might find candlelight and dark towels to be a help.

Triphasic pills, like OTC can be complicated to use for skipping periods. If you want to try skipping (which doesn’t work for everyone even under the best of conditions) try taking the third week pills from a new pack of OTC immediately after the third week pills from your last pack. That way the dose of hormones will be the same for those two weeks, but you can only delay your period one week that way. If you stay on OTC and want to skip for a longer period of time get two packs of OTC and take the first week pills from one pack, then the first week pills from the second pack. Then take the second week pills consecutively from both packs and do the same for the third week pills. That way you will be on the same or increasing doses of hormones for six consecutive weeks. Or, get a pack of Ortho Cyclen (which has the same dose of hormones in all twenty one active pills as is in week three of OTC) and after the third week of OTC immediately begin the active pills of Ortho Cyclen. Let us know when AF arrives and how you’re doing, ok?

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2004
Wed, 11-03-2004 - 11:23am
Thanks for your help! It actually so happened that as soon as I posted my question, I went to the bathroom and AF came. So everything worked out well. But your advise and information was very helpful for the future! Thanks again.