Skipping sugar pills to miss your period.

[dizzyjay.livejournal.com]

I spoke to my pharmacist about skipping out on the sugar pills and continue to take the hormone filled ones. He told me it would be perfectly safe to do so and that I start this month in order to ensure that next month I won't get my period at all. I was due for when our  scuba-diving escapades were booked in Florida and between bleeding in shark infested waters (not sure if they could even be interested cause it`s technically dead blood, right?) but I get HORRID menstrual cramps, it would be alot less enjoyable as I normally get sick with aunt flo visiting.. (Got a referal to a specialist finally, doc`s thinking I may have endimetriosis)
 

So I did just that. I tampered with mother nature. The pharmacist told me some break-through bleeding might happen. I assumed this would come when you were actually due for your period? I "would" have gotten my period at the beginning of last week. No cramps, no blood, no aching lower back. It was fantastic. Three days ago I notice I'm starting to bleed. It's very light, so I shrug it off. Next day the same. Yesterday bleeding more and starting to get terrible cramps. Today, still bleeding and cramping up like I actually have my cycle. 

I'm not sure if this is still *normal* or if I should go see my doctor? I`m ready to just stop taking the pills for a week so I will hopefully get the damned period properly and by now my next cycle would come at the very end of my trip.. does it work like this?

I`ve been taking my pills at the same time every morning and have never missed one.

Comments

[melodic-lyrics.livejournal.com]

Yes breakthrough bleeding is normal at any time during your pack, particularly if you're stacking your packs back to back without a break.

I think the decision to stop in the middle of your pack will depend on what kind of pill you're on, and whether you're sexually active. If you are, you will not have taken 21 active pills by the end of this pack, and will not be fully protected over your placebo week if you decided to do it that way, or you would have to stack the end of this pack and your next pack in order to have full protection.

[archangelbeth]

If she skipped her placebos already, though, she's taken more than 21 days of active pills and can stop any time, so long as she goes no more than 7 days off active pills, and makes sure to take 21 days (or more) of active pills before the next placebo week.

For the OP: Yes, the chances are high that your next withdrawal bleed would be reset. Not 100%, but probably better than 50%. It's very common for people to have breakthrough bleeding when they try stacking pills, especially the first time. The uterine lining has built enough, and/or the body's own internal rhythm is still in place enough, that the uterus starts whining and shedding. The fastest way to fix it is to say, "That wasn't a hormone drop, silly Uterus. This is a hormone drop!", take the placebo pills, and then resume the hormone-pills so the uterus shuts up.

[staceyloobug.livejournal.com]

But are you on a monophasic pill? Or tri? And did you just start up a new pack?

This never works for me, because I'm on a triphasic pill.

If you are on a triphasic pill, what CAN work (I've not tried it) is to go one full 3 weeks with pills, and once you get to where your sugar pills would be, instead of starting the new pack right away, start the new pack BACKWARDS.

Your period starts because there's a drop in the amount of estrogen you have been getting every day. If you're on a triphasic pill, that drop is still enough that your period can start (maybe not for everyone, but for me at least). But, if you step it back up and then back down, there wouldn't be a drop in the estrogen.

Here (http://thewelltimedperiod.blogspot.com/2004/07/skip-period-with-triphasic-pills-you.html) is a link that might help you by explaining it better. The way I figured - you'd just go low, medium, high, high, medium, low, low, medium, high if you wanted to keep skipping your period every month. But they explain it better than I can. :)

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

Very normal. To put it simply: not every user can skip every period using hormonal birth control. Breakthrough bleeding, even a full-blown period-like bleed, is always normal during or after attempting to skip a period.

It may continue until your next placebo week. Or you can take seven hormone-free days now, which may allow your body to bleed you. Or it might stop soon. Anyway, it's not necessary to see a doctor.

FYI, you didn't really "tamper with mother nature" by attempting to skip this bleed. When you're on hormonal birth control, you don't have a menstrual cycle, so the "period" you get on it is entirely artificial anyway.

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

This. I've been stacking for a year and a half, and the first four cycles (I go three months between placebo weeks) I started spotting 1-2 weeks before my placebo week. Annoying, but normal.

[natane.livejournal.com]

it's quite normal for your period to get a bit wonky when you do this. no worries.

and just so you know, you're right about period blood being dead blood. not only does it not attract sharks, iirc, but i seem to remember reading a study a few years back that said it actually mildy repels them.

[kt-rich.livejournal.com]

Very normal. Sometimes the first month a women stacks pills, your body doesnt respond appropriately.
continue taking your pills properly.

[dizzyjay.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the replies eveyone. I'll stop worrying and let it run its course. :)

[brigittefires.livejournal.com]

I was on a generic seasonale for almost two years, and I discovered that my body couldn't go more than 6-8 weeks without breakthrough bleeding. There is the possibility that by that time I'd accidentally miss or be late on a pill and cause the bleeding, but not always, and if I was late or missed a pill in the first 3-4 weeks, I wouldn't get breakthrough bleeding.

What I also discovered is that if I let that breakthrough bleeding just run its course, without "taking placebos" (just stopping for a few days), it would go on FOREVER... 14+ days. So as soon as the breakthough bleeding started, assuming it was 21+ days from my last "placebo phase", I'd just skip a few days, have a period, and start back up again 3-5 days later. That stopped the periods cold within 24 hours.

If I were you, I'd stop now, do the placebo thing, bleed, and then go on my trip and try stacking again. Your body is still used to 3 weeks between periods, so it's less likely to try bleeding when you would have if you hadn't stacked.

That being said, I also had a 32.5 day cycle (to the hour) before I started HBC. Before I started stacking, sometimes that would get my "natural" cycle completely opposite by medicated cycle, and I'd get breakthrough bleeding mid-pack. So I'd have a period week 1, no period week 2, period week 3, no period week 4, and period week 5, then back to 3 weeks between them. Your body doesn't completely stop making hormones, you just fiddle with the levels with the medication so that your body responds to larger fluctuations and ignores the smaller (by comparison) shifts in hormones.

So, it could go either way. But I personally would bleed now and go diving!