3 BC-related Questions.

[merkel-123.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm rather clueless to the ins and outs of BC.
I've read around but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I'm going camping for a week and unfortunately it falls on my period.
I'm on Ortho Tricyclen Lo.
I know you can delay your period by skipping the placebo week but what should I expect?
Will I still have spotting?
Is there anything dangerous about doing this?
Also, should I only do it for a week instead of the full month? Or no?
I don't want to make a habit out of this or anything, will this mess up my cycles for awhile?


Also, I've been on it for almost a year now.
And the past two periods have started early.
Like I will still have 3-4 pills/days and I will start lightly bleeding.
It never used to do this.
Can I only attribute that to not taking them at the same time?
I usually don't miss pills completely...


One more that I have been curious about-
I take fiber pills and it warns to not take medications with the fiber pills.
Will it affect BC if I take them at the same time?
I haven't been because I'm worried it would lower the effectiveness.
But if I could take them all at the same time it would help me to take BC at the same time everyday.

Comments

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

Nothing dangerous at all about stacking. If you're relying on your pills to prevent pregnancy, I wouldn't do it for a week since then you won't have 21 days of pills to see you through your next placebo week unless you stack that pack too. I'll let VPers who have experience stacking OTC Low advise you about the best way to go about it, because it's a triphasic pill it can be a bit trickier to pull off without having spotting. But I say it's at least worth a shot - worst that can happen is you'll bleed when you'd have been bleeding anyway. :)

[bylandl.livejournal.com]

On triphasics, it's best to stack light to dark to light. That is to say, once you would normally have finished your dark blue pills and moved to your placebo week, start taking the dark blue pills from your next pack and finish the pack backwards. This way, you don't "shock" your body with a sudden drop in hormones, and this can help lower the risk of spotting.

[slutty-pants.livejournal.com]

This is just my experience, but when I was taking OTC-lo and tried skipping my period, it didn't work. I ended up bleeding for about two weeks, most of it being a moderate-heavy flow and not spotting. I would have preferred to have my normal 6-7 day withdrawal bleed than the two weeks that it ended up being. After that failed attempt, if I didn't want to have my period for a certain day/week, I would stop taking my active pills a few days early (thus starting my placebo week early) and start a new pack after 7 days, but this is NOT safe to do if you rely on your pills for birth control. I only took OTC-lo to regulate my periods, and was not sexually active, so stopping my pills before taking 21 active pills didn't really carry any consequences for me.

Long comment short, skipping your period on OTC-lo might be difficult because it's a triphasic pill. Some women have had luck with stacking two packs of pills but by taking the second back backwards to avoid the abrupt drop in hormones (so pack one would be week 1-2-3, and pack two would be week 3-2-1), but I'm not sure if this method protects you from pregnancy if you rely on your pill for that. Maybe someone else will know more about stacking in this way.

[bylandl.livejournal.com]

As long as you're getting hormones at the same time every day for at least 21 straight days with no more than a seven-day break afterward, you're protected from pregnancy. This is generally called the "no less than 21; no more than 7" rule.

[archangelbeth]

Another way I've heard of triphasic-stacking is to have both packs open at the same time -- take week 1 from pack A, then week 1 from pack B, 2-A and 2-B, 3-A and 3-B, and then a single placebo week. (No more than 7 days of placebos. O:> )