STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Kelly · Hermes

extending the third week of BCP

laken1 · Hermes

I guess I'm confused - if you picked up the 2nd pack where you left off don't you have one complete pack now? You should have the first 2 weeks from the new pack & the 3rd week from the pack you forgot?

I would completely advise against taking them out of order. Unless they are all the same pills (some brands I have been on were the same all month long) then to me it would be like not taking them at all & if you are active right now, I'd consider you not protected. But you could always check with your doctor - I'm no expert but I also don't believe in messing with birth control.....unless you have a full pack between the 2 parts of a pack if that makes sense.

jacL · Coach

If you are on a monophasic pill, that is fine. It would be like skipping the placebos and going straight to your next pack, which is perfectly fine (it is my opinion that there are not any health reasons women need to get their periods every month).

Like Laken1 said, it may be different if you have a triphasic pill. I would definately ask your pharmacist in that case (I have found that pharmacists know so much more about drugs than doctors--which they should since it is their job).

Kelly · Hermes

jacL wrote:

If you are on a monophasic pill, that is fine. It would be like skipping the placebos and going straight to your next pack, which is perfectly fine (it is my opinion that there are not any health reasons women need to get their periods every month).
Like Laken1 said, it may be different if you have a triphasic pill. I would definately ask your pharmacist in that case (I have found that pharmacists know so much more about drugs than doctors--which they should since it is their job).

I did call a pharmacist! But she was no help at all, she rambled for a while saying contradictory things that didn't really have a standard answer - she said that it would be a good idea then that it would be a bad idea.

I know I should know this, but I don't, what's the difference between monophasic and triphasic? I use Ortho Tri-cyclen... does anyone know which one that is? I'm guessing it's triphasic because of the name... I can't find it on the website.

-- Edited by ttara123 at 17:13, 2006-05-02

Elle · Hermes

Ortho-Tri-cyclen is a Tri-phasic pill - Each week of pills has a different hormonal makeup to them, so you CANNOT skip around/extend/mess with your cycle. I'd keep the unfinished pack that you forgot just incase you happen to lose a pill out of a pack later down the line (like down the drain or something). If you mess with your cycle on a Tri-phasic, it could leave you unprotected or bring on your period.

Monophasic pills are a different story - every pill in the pack has the same hormonal makeup, so you could skip around all you want and it makes no difference. You can also extend/skip cycles on those pills.

Kelly · Hermes

crap... I guess I figured I wouldn't be able to fool around with it, I just really wanted to....thanks guys!

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

I use to do that all the time on OTC and my doctor knew. I did eventually change to a monophasic pill so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to switch.

Elle · Hermes

Aurora wrote:

I use to do that all the time on OTC and my doctor knew. I did eventually change to a monophasic pill so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to switch.

Aurora - Where you piggybacking pill packs with Ortho-Tri or extending individual cycle weeks?

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

Elle wrote:

Aurora - Where you piggybacking pill packs with Ortho-Tri or extending individual cycle weeks?

piggybacking the packs. I thought like Laken this is what ttara was thinking of doing.

But yeah I know it was wrong and it took a fight with the gyno to change to a monophasic so I could skip without worrying. She must have been getting a kickback from them because she was quick to prescribe OTC but almost impossible to get off of it.

Kelly · Hermes

Aurora wrote:

Elle wrote:
Aurora - Where you piggybacking pill packs with Ortho-Tri or extending individual cycle weeks?

piggybacking the packs. I thought like Laken this is what ttara was thinking of doing.

I was just trying to extend my one week, because I talked to my friends who have tried to just skip the placebos altogether, and they said that sometimes it worked but sometimes they were spotting all month...which I definitely didn't want!

I'm just going to suck it up and have my period. Sometimes I severely hate being a woman.

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

ttara123 wrote:

I'm just going to suck it up and have my period. Sometimes I severely hate being a woman.

maybe you should check into something like alesse or yasmin or even seasonale. Then you can skip your periods.

If your insurance company has a mail order pharmacy bcp pills will be covered and fairly cheap. Seasonale is only $60 vs. $120 at the normal pharmacy. Something to check into.

Elle · Hermes

Aurora wrote:

ttara123 wrote: I'm just going to suck it up and have my period. Sometimes I severely hate being a woman. maybe you should check into something like alesse or yasmin or even seasonale. Then you can skip your periods. If your insurance company has a mail order pharmacy bcp pills will be covered and fairly cheap. Seasonale is only $60 vs. $120 at the normal pharmacy. Something to check into.

FWIW I wasn't able to skip periods using Alesse, though I'm sure others have been able to. My period started on time anyway and I spotted for the rest of the next month .

Aurora - I had no idea Seasonale was so much cheaper via mail order! I'm going to check into it right now!

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

Elle - I've gone through both express scripts and medco and it was the same price on each and much cheaper than in the store. It comes within a week of you ordering it online too.