Hey all,

i'm having a really hard time deciding what to do! you see, i'm going on vacation in december from the 25th till january 2nd. i estimate my period to hit somewhere around the 31st of december (new years eve, great), but i just don't know if its enough of a bother to have me use my birth control pills to skip it.

on one hand i'm like, ehh..it's only a couple days toward the end of my vacay..how much could it possibly ruin?

on the other hand, i'm like UGH, new years eve, really? i'll have to watch the clock and my crotch at the same time? plus, the first day or two is always the most painful.

BUT..i've never used this method to skip a period either..so i don't even know if i'll be putting myself in a whole new wave of crappiness by doing so. (i certainly don't want to blow up like a balloon for a whole month after this). not to mention, i'm fully aware spotting can occur..so what's the point anyway..i'd still have to wear "protection". which, in beach wear terms = tampon, anyway.

HALP! i need opinions from those of you who have braved periods for "special events" and how it went for you. or those of you who chose to defy mother nature, and how did that work out?

it figures..by the way. for some reason, a couple months back i was feeling good because i thought it wouldn't hit, but i guess my calculations were off.

I was on BC for nearly 10 years, and a good handful of times I skipped my period for special occasions. One being my honeymoon, and a couple of other vacations. I would say overall I usually regretted skipping my period as it always seemed to really mess with my mood and overall feeling of well being, but yet knowing that I would still skip it on those special occasions.

I have been on BC for 3 or 4 years, I can't remember. I have endomitriosis which is the main reason I use it. My GP and my gyno recommended I take BC continuously and then schedule in 4 periods a year (or 1 every 3 months). The first 2 months of this, I had major and continuous spotting problems. That being said, my body took a good 6 months to find it's rhythm with BC. It's not something I would try without protection in your clothing/swimsuit!

Old babe checking in here. Back in the 60's and 70's, I used to adjust my BC pills quite frequently with no ill effects.

I have done this a couple of times over the years with no ill effects. You do need to make sure that you are on monophasic pills (not bi or triphasic) or else it won't work.

mine are tri-phasic. guess that answers this one! lol! i was thinking the possible ill effects weren't worth it anyway... but just .. *SIGH* it sure does suck that this once in a lifetime event can't be cramp-free.

If you are on bi or triphasic then you can keep taking the same pills that your pack ends with in order to skip a week or whatever. If you started a new pack from the beginning, with the slight hormone differences, you might have break through bleeding, so it would not be worth it. I have monophasic and have skipped whenever I feel like it, no problems.

I have no problems with skipping periods- the first time I did it I had spotting the whole month, I guess while my body got used to it, but after that it was fine. My advice would be skip one before then and see if you get any effects!