Can I take three packs of the pill without a break?

[helsbels4]

Basically, that's it really. I've already ran two packs together because I had a lot on at the time and didn't want the added inconvenience of a period but I should take my last pill of the pack tonight then I will start my "period" on Tuesday.

The trouble is, I'm now going to hen-night next Saturday and don't really want the inconvenience of being on then either, so can I start my third pack tomorrow without any adverse reaction?

I've occasionally ran two packs together with no problems and have only ever once ran three together and I experienced some spotting which stupidly freaked me out a bit at the time.

I just need some advice/experience of whether this is very safe to do or not.

I always used to run 2 packets together but if I ran more together then I would tend to get some spotting which I found annoying.

To get around the wedding/hen-night thing you could run two and a half packets together, ie start a new packet for a week then have a week's break then continue after that and run what's left of that packet with a new one. Just be careful that you don't miss more than 7 days and that you have at least 21 days in a row after the break.

Ah, that's interesting. I wondered about the build up of the lining. Not sure I fancy a larger withdrawal bleed either!

psychomum, I think that's what I will have to do - decide which which period would be more irritating. Oh the joys!

You don't have to decide which would be more irritating, you can avoid both!

You can run 3 packs together. I have heard it called 'tricycling'.

Withdrawal bleeds shouldnt be heavier after running packs together. The pill is meant to stop a lining developing in the uterus, so bleeding shouldnt be any worse with taking the pill for longer.

I had horrific bleeding (including HUGE chunks of lining ) after going just over a month on it. I do have strange gynae issues though, but I will never do that again, was really agony and I bled so heavily for ages after.

if you want to run three packs together, but that would fall wrong and mean a four pack run, why dont you just take an extra week out of pack 3, (so two full packs + seven days) have the break, and start pack four, which then covers you for when you dont want a bleed?

Exactly Elf.

I didn't even realise until this thread that you could "mess around" with the paks like that. I usually just take the pack then have a break.

Is it safe then to only take one weeks worth out of week three's then have a break and carry on as normal?

Out of my comfort zone here

paks packs obviously

Yes it's perfectly safe and effective so long as you take at least 21 in a row and, most importantly, don't miss more than 7 in a row.

Every pill in the packet is exactly the same, they don't need to be taken in a particular order and the days of the week labelling is just to act as a reminder for you, not because it matters what day/order they are taken in.

Genius! I honestly didn't realise you could do that! Thanks

You can only do that if you're on a monophasic pill though. If you have a biphasic or triphasic pill, or an ED version then you can't take them out of sequence.

You're OK with Microgynon as it's monophasic.

I'm sort of in the same position.

I should come on in two weeks time but that weekend is very inconvenient (travelling!).

I am already running two packs back to back for other reasons, and was therefore thinking of running three in a row, but I am really put off by the idea of spotting.

Is it possible then to sort of do what has already been said by LaDiDaDi... Take two weeks into the second pack, have a 7 day break, then carry on for 21 days as normal. It just means instead of a 3 week pack, I had a 2 week one?

Please help asap as I'd need to stop in two days to make that 2 weeks!