Member- 12_Elle
- 4 years ago
I just wanted to post my story in case it might help other women or encourage them to give period-free a try. I have to admit I’ve become a bit of an evangelist on the subject to all of my friends, so please forgive me. It just feels like I’ve discovered an amazing secret!
I started BCP (Yaz at the time) when I was very young, 13-14 because of horrible hormonal migraines that would cripple me 2-3 weeks a month. Taking BCPs brought that down to only about 1 week (during the sugar pills and a few days after), which was still a huge burden on my life. I also generally had pretty bad periods- cramping and mood swings like woah.
I lived with it until I was 16, when a new OBGYN told me it was possible to skip your period for a few months at a time with a new medicine (seasonique). The skipping periods thing was great, but the Seasonique didn’t work well for me, so I went back to Yaz but just started skipping the sugar pills. My doctor wrote “for continuous use” on the prescription so my insurance would cover the extra pill pack every 3 months. Then she told me research said it was ok to just always skip your period.
Fast forward 6 years, and I NEVER EVER GET MY PERIOD!!!! It’s AMAZING! In that time I’ve tried the patch (never took it off) and am now on Loestrin (my insurance stopped covering Yaz), and I’ve had relatively few issues. I just always skip the sugar pills.
The only time I ever have spotting is if I miss a pill. It seems like my body has a really hard time getting back on track after that, so usually I take a break for 4 days in order to get my period and “reset”. Usually, I’m pretty anal about taking the pill at the same time every single night (set an alarm and keep it in my wallet so I always have it), so this definitely helps prevent spotting problems.
At first, I was really paranoid I would get pregnant and not know, but that seemed like a terrible reason to willingly bleed for a week straight. So I just buy pregnancy tests in bulk and set a calendar reminder to take one every month- it’s cheaper than a box of tampons!
The one caution I will give is that switching generics without taking the sugar pill break really seems to mess with me, even though everyone swears it’s the same. So I am very careful to always go to the same pharmacy, order it in 3 month bundles, and open the bag to make sure they gave me the same one before checking out.
I was also extremely concerned at first about how “unnatural” it was, or hurting my ability to have children in the future. My doctor was able to provide me with extremely valuable information about how periods you get on your pill aren’t real periods anyway, they’re withdrawal symptoms from the medicine. She also told me that the half life of the hormones is very short, which is why it’s so important to take it at the same time every day. So that means that it’s not like I’ve got all these crazy hormones building up in my system over the years because I haven’t been taking “a break”. She said there is 100% no medical reason we know of to get your period every month.
So I guess I’m just saying, if you’ve ever just sat around thinking about how much periods suck, why not try skipping it for a month and see how it goes? (Obviously, it’s always best to have a conversation with your doctor before changing your medication).
I just simply don’t understand why this isn’t advertised as like the primary benefit of BCPs lol.