In this modern living, time is money and there are some women who are interested to delay, skip, or stop their menstrual period temporarily. This idea can help boost the productivity since you don’t have to experience some menstrual symptoms that sometime can be very bothersome. How to do it safely?
Getting regular period is so expected when you are trying to get a pregnancy easier with your partner.
But due to certain reasons, some women are interest to skip it. For instance, when you have a special event such as vacation, honeymoon, athletic event, or an exam for your graduation – you may want to delay your period in order to make sure that you can do and enjoy these events optimally.
This idea might also be worth considering if you have one or some of the following conditions:
- Your menstruation is often followed with very uncomfortable or even painful symptoms that can be very bothersome such as prolonged headaches, stomach pain, mood swings, and heavy bleeding.
- You have a certain health condition that can get worse with menstruation. These may include asthma, epilepsy, migraines, anemia, and endometriosis [1].
- You have a mental /physical disability. With this problem, you are more likely to become very poor in using sanitary napkins /tampons.
In addition, it may also help reduce the use of pain relievers or hygiene products – this means you can save more money.
The answer can vary. While some women take lots of advantages with this idea, others don’t. Furthermore, there are also some drawbacks you need to concern before trying it.
To keep safe, it’s so recommended to discuss first with your doctor or a gynecologist before stopping your period temporarily!
If your doctor says that you are safe to take birth control pills, this may suggest that you are also safe to delay your period. He /she also can give the appropriate recommendation about ‘what and how’ to delay the menstruation effectively and safely.
While the idea of temporarily stopping period can provide some benefits, there are also some drawbacks or disadvantages you need to concern.
These drawbacks may include:
Some experts concern that menstrual suppression may be potential to affect the bone strength and increase the risk of some health problems such as female fertility problem and blood clots!
However, these issues are not confirmed yet and sill debatable – the kind of method for menstrual suppression also can play a key role.
Another popular issue is about the risk of breast cancer. As well we know, while the cycle of menstruation is a sign of women in their reproductive age, it is also needed by the breasts to get a break from hormones every month.
And therefore, when you delay the period, this means that your body can get a continuous hormones and there will be no a break for the breasts [2].
However the issue of increased risk of breast cancer due to routinely delaying period in long term is also still debatable. Even the exact cause of breast cancer is still not known.
Unfortunately, there is not enough information to confirm that menstrual suppression is safe for most women. Therefore again, you need to talk first with a doctor before trying it.
It is a kind of spotting or bleeding that occurs between periods. It usually occurs in the first few months after taking the pills.
Typically, it will decrease over time – once your body gets used with the new regimen, this kind of bleeding will go away on its own.
Menstrual-suppressing pills can acts as well as birth control pills if they are used according to the instructions.
However, there is still a chance for a pregnancy to occur when you are taking your menstrual-suppressing pills – particularly in the first months after taking the pills. And since the cycle of your menstruation begins to change, it’s recommended to take a home pregnancy test if you are experiencing some early pregnancy signs.
Not all women are allowed to take the option of delaying period or prevent a pregnancy with menstrual suppressing pills /birth control pills.
Women (especially those older than 35 years-old) with a history of smokers, heart disease, stroke, and blood clots are commonly not recommended to take oral contraceptives [3].
Furthermore, the use of the pills to routinely delay period in young women (those aged 18 to 22 years-old) also should be avoided. The reason is due to their bones are continuously growing. And the use of the pills may affect the bone density.
Occasionally delaying period is commonly considered safe – particularly if you don’t have any health condition that can interact with the use of the pills.
Furthermore, there are also some special birth control pills or menstrual-suppressing pills with FDA-approval that can help lengthen the time between periods. These include Seasonale, Seasonique, Lybrel, and an option called Depo-Provera.
While traditional birth control pills are commonly used to prevent a conception of pregnancy, it also works to stop menstrual periods temporarily.
With this option, you can change the inactive pills /placebo pills with the active pills. In other words, you can skip the inactive pills and then starting right away with new active pills in order to prevent withdrawal bleeding.
If you choose to use traditional birth control pills to delay the period, typically it will work best if you choose monophasic pills that contain the same amount of hormones in each pill [4].