Norethisterone and stopping a period!

[Nonway]

Hi all

I've known for a while I REALLY need to not be on my period this weekend (for reasons I won't go into, but it involves a holiday!) As such, I got some norethisterone a few weeks ago in preparation. I was told to start taking it 3 days before my period. Im not hugely regular but my periods start on cycle day 38 usually so I planned on taking them cycle day 35 (tomorrow).

However, last night I noticed a pale brown discharge and thought I was getting my period. I thought this may have worked quite well for me as my periods are usually 5-6 days so there is a chance i'd be done by the weekend.

Annoyingly, the blood has remained really very light today so i'm not even sure if this is my proper period (I had a smear last week and spotted for a few days after so could be a continuation of that)

What the heck do I do for the best? Do I start my course of norethisterone anyway? Is it likely to shorten period? I've read SO much conflicting information about whether or not it works to stop if period has already started so ideally looking for someone who has experience of using it.

Check you're not pregnant

Literally no possibility whatsoever.

Ok
Then take the period stopping pill
I always spot like a brown discharge or peach coloured discharge about 4 days before period then my period comes on. My cycles are from 31-43 days and vary massively and it's a pain.
Is that period stopper ok to take it you were pregnant? Unless you have not had sex since your last period I would 100% want to check that I wasn't pregnant first

@Monkeychickenpig Thanks, there is 0% I am pregnant. Have you taken this pill before...?

No never taken it but I only read about it on here a few weeks ago and I would probably take it too if I was going away and could manage to pin point when my period was to come which would be so helpful. My periods are really painful.
I understand how frustrating it is having an irregular period

I’ve taken it to stop a period that was already in full flow (was a very odd never ending period hence why it was prescribed) and it worked within 48 hours. I have to say the period I had when I stopped taking it though was fairly horrific! Back to normal the cycle after that though. HTH

@haribohippo Interesting, thank you. I think what I will do is wait until tomorrow to see if I am actually on my period or not. If I am, I'll let it be. If I'm not, I will take it for 5 days.

Still interested to hear other people's experiences though

I took it to stop my period arriving the day before my wedding. I had a 10 day course which covered the wedding + honeymoon.
Towards the end of the ten days I felt very bloated and had PMT like mood swings. Once I stopped taking the tablets I had a 3 day wait before my period finally arrived and when it did it was extremely heavy.
The tablets permanently changed my cycle from the middle of the month to the end so my next period arrived 28 days after the heavy one.

@jimmypestojunior thanks for your experience! My issue is that my period appears to have come early, so I’m wondering if there’s any point in me starting Norethisterone now :/

I’m on day 3 of my period now and it’s still so light. I just want it to hurry up naturally so it can be gone by the weekend and I don’t have to worry about taking anything at all! Argh!

Woke up this morning (period day 3, technically) and I pretty much hadn’t bled at all over night. Gave it until this morning and again barely any blood, just very light brown. Decided to take the plunge and take Norethisterone, I’ll update this to let people know how I get on as I’m sure it will help someone at some point

Why are you trying to stop it artificially when it's doing so naturally anyway?

@user2929 I wouldn’t say it’s doing it naturally, given that Ive had 3 days of very very light bleeding. Usually I start light for a few hours and then get heavy. I was worried my period wouldn’t have wrapped up by the weekend

Hi, I know this thread is a fair few years old. But did it work for you in the end?
I too thought I would start it 3 days before my cycle (my cycle varies) but I started having brown discharge which I normally get before I’m due to start a period. I’m now on my second day of tablets and unsure whether to continue with them or not?

Hey, did you end up continuing your course or norethisterone in the end? Currently going through the same thing. Around 4 hours after taking my first tablet I started getting brown discharge. Now I'm wondering whether they are actually going to work or not.

Hi

jimping on this. What happened in the end ? This is me right now

Hi Grace and Sxo
i did continue with tablets and the discharge did stop and no period so for me it worked. But what I would say as I have used the pills twice on two different occasions to delay it, is when I was given the generic pills I had a horrendous period after ( and I’m usually heavy anyway and it last 11-14 days) but the time when I was on the generic pills was nothing like I’ve ever experienced - so much worse!
good luck hope it all works for you :-)

Can confirm anyone reading this. The brown discharge went and I had no period for my holiday!! Success.