delaying period?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-27-2004
delaying period?
4
Tue, 07-27-2004 - 9:27pm
I just made a last minute reservation to visit my boyfriend, whom I see only rarely, but I'll be having my period for about half the time I'm there. We're fine with having sex during that time, but really I'd rather not be dealing with it. I'm on Ortho-Tricyclin, and I've been told that skipping the placebo week on Ortho won't work. Is there ANY way of delaying my period for about a week??? Or any suggestions about how to do this with as little mess as possible?
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Wed, 07-28-2004 - 12:12am
Hi paepstein, welcome!

Not every woman can skip or delay her period successfully however there are some things you can do to have the best chance of doing it. The problem with skipping on a triphasic such as OTC is when going immediately from week three (with the highest progestin level) to week one (with the lowest progestin level), your body might interpret the drop in progestin as a signal to begin your period. There are several ways to delay this drop. If you have time it would be best to try this out before you needed it

You could get a pack of Ortho Cyclen, (a monophasic pill with all 21 active pills having the same dosage of hormones as week three of OTC) and begin taking the Ortho Cyclen immediately after finishing the last active week (blue pills) of OTC. This might give you as much as a three week delay in your period.

Or, you could get another pack of OTC and in combination with the active pills in your present pack delay your period. How you would do that depends where you are in your current pack. Say you are finishing week two for example. After finishing the week two pills of your current pack, take the week two pills of the new pack. When you have taken all the week two pills in both packs then take all the week three pills from both packs. Then take the placebos to get your period. The thing we are trying to do is to keep the progestin level equal or increasing from one week to the next. This might give you between one and three weeks delay depending where you started in the pack.

Depending on how your body reacts there may be enough progestin in the pills to delay your period the entire time or there may not, so take your supplies in case you need them. Let us know how you’re doing, ok?

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-27-2004
Mon, 08-02-2004 - 9:18am
Thanks Jill! I just want to double check on this -- there's no increased risk of pregnancy on this from playing around with medications?
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Mon, 08-02-2004 - 10:07am
There should not be any reduction in your protection when skipping periods. Ovulation suppression is easier to control than irregular bleeding.

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-17-2003
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 2:25pm
you should probably check with your doctor to find out the details of this with your particular pill, i use a different brand and often skip the placebo pills, i've never had any adverse effects and if anything it probably increases your protection since you maintain the hormones continually. i don't know why it wouldn't work with your brand but you should call your doctor just to check if there are any issues you should know about.