Happy New Year, Shebrew! While everyone’s making their resolution to lose weight, save money, and clean their apartment (whoops, that one’s me), how about making one more: to learn to control your period, instead of it controlling you? Maybe you have a special event, maybe you have painful periods or other problems during that time, or maybe you just don’t like bleeding every month. Who would blame you? In fact, there are safe and effective ways to skip your period using hormonal birth control.

By now you’ve probably heard of Seasonale, the pill that gives you four periods a year. Seasonale is a monophasic (one phase or one level) birth control pill containing both estrogen and progestin, with 84 straight days of active (hormone) pills, and 7 placebo (blank pills).

But did you know that you don’t have to be on Seasonale to have fewer periods? Seasonale’s dirty little secret is that women can try to skip their periods this way on any pill. Monophasic pills – pills which have one hormone level the whole month, work best: take all 21 active pills, and then go straight to the first active pill of a new pack with no break.

Let’s talk about other monophasic methods: Nuvaring and OrthoEvra (the patch). It’s the same idea. With Nuvaring, keep your ring in for 3 weeks, and then immediately put a new ring in. With OrthoEvra, put on a new patch every week until you’re ready for your period.

What if you’re on a tri-phasic, pill where your hormone level changes every week? There are two ways to try – when you get to the end of your third week, go straight to your next pack, and take it backwards: week 1,2, 3, then 3, 2, 1, or try doubling two packs: take week 1, 1, week 2, 2, week 3, 3.

When you want your period, take a break of 7 days or less – never more – even if you’re still bleeding.

The basics:

Is it safe for my body? Yes. Skipping your periods is absolutely safe to do. There’s nothing bad about not having your period occasionally or longer. As long as you take at least 21 active pills and no more than 7 days off, you’re protected from pregnancy. It doesn’t affect your future fertility, or delay menopause.

Is it guaranteed to work? Unfortunately, no. Some women can skip sometimes, some women can always, and some women never. Also, monophasics are easier to try to skip with than triphasics; if trying to skip your period is important to you and you’re on a triphasic, talk to your doctor.

What side effects are there? The most common side effect is unusual bleeding – anything from spotting to a full period. Sometimes women find other common side effects appear when they skip.

When should I stop? A good rule of thumb is to listen to your body. If it seems like it wants to bleed, let it. In order to keep your protection you always have to have at least 21 days on and no more than 7 days off. Anything else and you may not be protected. Your doctor may also have a preference on how long you should skip.

What’s next? Coming soon: Seasonique – like Seasonale, but with a bit of Estrogen during the placebo week, it’s for women who experience side effects during the no-hormone week. Also, fresh out of testing: Anya/Lybrel – a pill with no period break for one year.

Want to do some reading?
Visit http://www.noperiod.com, http://www.arhp.org/menstrualsuppressiontool/,
and http://thewelltimedperiod.blogspot.com, and talk to your doctor.

Happy skipping, and see you next time!