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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Period delaying pills - is it now normal ...

128 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 29/05/2015 11:00

...for young people to use these to delay their period so they can eg "swim while on holiday"? I'm pretty shocked to be assured this is now normal - (and of course taxpayer funded, as they are in education).

This is not a contraceptive. According to NHS choices, it is a pill available on the NHS to treat menstrual disorders, also used when treating some breast cancers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly its listed uses do not include "delaying your period to have a nicer holiday".

OP posts:

butterfly133 · 29/05/2015 13:11

I think YABU if you don't understand this. If you are regularly subject to floods, it is a genuine medical issue and one that can potentially spoil years of your life when you add it all up. If someone wants to avoid it for any reason at all, that's fine and I consider it fine to be paid for on the NHS as well. No one chooses to have crippling floods of a period.

DuelingFanjo · 29/05/2015 13:11

to be fair, I have only ever had cramps twice and no nausea so I son't get effected by that side of it. As a peri-menopausal woman I AM suffering from very heavy and long periods every 23 days so it's a real pain in that respect.

I still wouldn't take a pill to stop them though, but I respect another woman's right to. I just feel personally cautious about putting that stuff into my body.

Didntseethiscominghelpplease · 29/05/2015 13:15

Norethisterone Was prescribed for my daughter when she as 14 and going on a school sports tour for 3 weeks to the Caribbean. I went to GP with her and it wasn't even an issue. she totally understood the reasons for asking and as it worked out it was perfect for this reason. The tour went great, DD wasn't fretting about her period starting or hindering her experience on the tour. Other girls did have periods and it was unpleasant for them. If there is something to make life easier then why encourage kids to be martyrs. She has used it a couple of times since but isn't too keen on the knock on effects of the change in cycle after ceasing the tablets. Frankly what business is it of anyone's to judge how you deal with this part of your life!

OddBoots · 29/05/2015 13:18

If this is about cost to the NHS I just checked the NHS formulary and it is 'norethisterone 5 mg, net price 30-tab pack = £2.35' - I don't think that is a huge cost but you may disagree.

butterfly133 · 29/05/2015 13:32

I think the cost of the alternatives is often worse. Historically, my mother, aunties, sister and cousins as well as myself spent a lot of time in the GP surgery on account of flooding. Then there's school hours missed, work time missed while you change what you are using every hour, having to slip out of meetings and workshops....terrible really. That said, even if you don't have flooding, I would still say you should be allowed to sort this in a way that maximises your well being and I'm happy for the NHS to pay for that. It's bad enough that we are still paying tax on women's sanitary products.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 29/05/2015 13:43

I knew this drug could delay a period, I didn't know it could lessen the impact of one. Has anybody here taken it for that? If so, did that work? I have heavy periods sometimes and I'd be very happy to pay for something to sort that out.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 29/05/2015 13:50

It's very natural to delay periods actually, in evolutionary terms we have far too many periods, we should be having maybe one or two a year rather than the 12 most of us have so there is nothing unnatural about reducing that number.
I used to do this when I was on micrygynon, now I'm on Yasmin I don't because I don't want them to say I can't have it anymore if I get through my packets too quickly!

HamishBamish · 29/05/2015 13:53

I do't think this is a new thing. I remember my friends doing it more than 20 years ago. One of them was an athlete and didn't want to have her period in the middle of an important event. Quite a few people did it when due to holidays too.

carabos · 29/05/2015 13:56

When you are someone for whom the only effective sanitary protection is a folded up copy of the Sunday Times (all sections) then a bit of norethisterone for your holidays is a blessing not a luxury. Having said that, it can have some slightly unpleasant side effects so its not all plain sailing (or swimming).

MrsMook · 29/05/2015 13:58

I took Northisterone to hold off my periods while doing my A-Levels, and continued a little longer to cover my holiday shortly after. My periods were very irregular to the point that I didn't know which month I was due, and the pain was to the extent of curling up in a ball on the floor. It was probably the one following this when I collapsed on the filthy stock room floor at work and had to be picked up. Better there than a Greek street.

I've always found the concept of people accurately predicting which days they'll be on their periods to be mind boggling, but that's obviously their reality.

viva100 · 29/05/2015 14:30

YABU!!!! When I'm on my period, in the first 2 days I have terrible cramps, nausea, back ache and need a tampon change every 1.5 hours. I manage to get myself to work but I'm just miserable for those 2 days. And my period lasts 7-8 days. It would ruin my holiday, might as well stay away then. When I was younger it was just so humiliating I would just say no to a holiday with friends. Not to mention it would ruin an important day like graduation or wedding day. So if there's something available to help women with that, why not? And there's loads of stuff given by the nhs that is meant to make your life easier, not just life saving medicine.

EponasWildDaughter · 29/05/2015 14:38

''I'm pretty shocked to be assured this is now normal - (and of course taxpayer funded ..) ..... Perhaps unsurprisingly its listed uses do not include "delaying your period to have a nicer holiday".''

Hmm - these bits of your OP don't sound like simple wide eyed ignorance about the existence of this pill. In fact it sounds as if you don't agree with this pill being available on prescription for most of the reasons posters have given on this thread.

Pipbin · 29/05/2015 14:44

for young people to use these to delay their period so they can eg "swim while on holiday"? I'm pretty shocked to be assured this is now normal

I did this twice when I was a teen. A lot of my friends did the same.

That was 30 years ago. It was normal then.

ClaimedByMe · 29/05/2015 14:46

I've used these tablets on and off for over twenty years and my 12 year old dd was offered them a few months ago for her school residential, turns out she didn't need them but I wouldn't have hesitated giving her them.

butterfly133 · 29/05/2015 15:16

EponasWildDaughter - exactly what I thought.

Fluffyears · 29/05/2015 18:15

I got them 20years ago as I went to Dr and said I was due to have my period in holiday and he gave me a prescription easily. My periods are heavy (I wear 4 pads and change them every two hours, even then I leak) and last 11days. Going on the pill at 14 to combat this was amazing and I took them back to back so I barely ever had a period. I am now off the pill to try to get cycle under control and ttc. Luckily I don't have same pain I used to although it's still bad. I worked out last night I am due when I go on holiday and decided then to go and get them before I go (how strange I was just thinking about these pills and a thread pops up).

When my mother was peri-menopausal she had awful flooding and one night she had a haemorrhage and called NHS 24 the nurse asked if she had Norethisterone in the house and told her to take this and call back if it didn't help. She actually saturated a towel with bleeding so it has many uses.

AliceScarlett · 29/05/2015 19:08

Can you use them alongside the pill?

Cheeseandhamtoast · 29/05/2015 19:19

Op, it seems that you have a problem with this being available on the NHS as it is often used for women's holidays etc. But are you happy with the contraceptive pill being on the NHS? After all, this is used for sex and may be used sometimes just because a BF or DH refuses to wear condoms. I think it is just as valid to prescribe Norothisterone.

AnyFucker · 29/05/2015 19:23

you lost me at "at tax payer's expense", tbh

AliceScarlett · 29/05/2015 19:23

Oh you can buy them OTC! Who knew this magic existed.

AnyFucker · 29/05/2015 19:29

a warning: when I have taken norethisterone it turns me into a murderous bitch

Cheeseandhamtoast · 29/05/2015 20:02

Anyfucker - Yes! I am going to a wedding next weekend so will be taking Norethisterone as I've got a long journey on a train, a stay over night in a friends house where I don't want to leak in the bed, and then wearing a light pastel coloured dress! So I will have a nice time with no flooding, pain etc , but will be in a terrible terrible mood. Last time I took them I layed on my bed crying as I felt so bad ..... But it's still better than coping with my periods !!

At the moment the taxpayer is making a profit out of me as I'm taking norethisterone a couple of times a year, and without it I might be contemplating a hysterctomy.

AnyFucker · 29/05/2015 20:14

I was actually murderous. DH was quivering on the sofa

Pipbin · 29/05/2015 20:23

You can buy this over the counter?

Why do we all feel like we need to make excuses about not wanting the bastard inconvenience of our periods?
Flooding, painful periods, heavy periods and an ivory dress? All very valid reasons but why do we all feel that we can't say 'because having a period is a nasty messy awkward business that is a pain in a arse to deal when you are not at home with and I'd rather not if I can have the option thank you'.

PowderMum · 29/05/2015 20:27

As others have said if you have nice quick light periods and can use tampons easily then delaying them for holidays or special events is probably not an issue for you. If you have really heavy periods then they are a godsend. I just used to take my pills back to back until I had to give them up as the hormones gave me migraines. My periods were so bad I ended up with a hysterectomy and life without the stress of bleeding is wonderful.

DD1 first used it aged 12 on a long school adventure trip. DD2 is off on a 4 week adventure trip, camping with little facilities and having a period would be more than an inconvenience. She has opted for the pill as you only have to take 1 tablet a day her Dr was more than happy to prescribe either.

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