Pill to delay periods for DDs?

[ladyinthelibrary]

We are having our first holiday abroad in four years, but both my DDs - 13 & 15 - are likely to have/start their period whilst we are away.

What are your thoughts on giving them whatever pill it is that delays their period? Neither of them will contemplate using tampons.

You can still use cloth pads when swimming. Either wingless or using a costume where you can tuck the wings under the inner gusset. The Charlie Banana ones are good.

It won't get on their swimming costumes and it's really a minute amount (and not a health hazard) that would get into the water. In my experience your flow reduces or stops once you're in the water anyway, so as long as they wash themselves properly before they get in it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't have a daughter, so maybe I'm missing something here, but I must admit I'm shocked by the very idea of letting children take norethisterone for non-medical purposes. It's a synthetic hormone, and like any other drug or medicine, it carries risks. If you need it for medical reasons, those generally outweigh the risks; but if you just want it for convenience on holiday, that's very different.

Its possible side effects include:
Headache (including migraine headache)
Feeling sick
Being sick
Stomach ache
Swollen or sore breasts
Change in weight
Changes in sex drive
Patches of darkened skin
Itching
Acne
Rash
Change in appetite
Feeling dizzy
Feeling tired
Feeling depressed
Breakthrough bleeding or spotting from the vagina
Irregular menstrual periods
High sugar levels in the blood
Difficulty sleeping
... AND MORE :(
Link to Boots Chemist drug info
Its long-term effects aren't really known, because it hasn't been around very long, but there is a possible increased risk of breast cancer in later life.

This student discussion board also has a lot of young women discussing how it didn't work, and/or made their periods heavier and more painful.

If your girls really don't want to use tampons or a mooncup, then I agree with isthistheend that cloth pads are a much better option than these chemical hormones.

I'm also saddened that there are girls and young women who feel uncomfortable about touching themselves and putting a tampon or finger in their vagina. At the risk of sounding like a yoghurt-weaving 80s hippy, does anyone else remember reading the bit in Our Bodies, Ourselves which encouraged women/girls to explore themselves, using a mirror as well as fingers?! OBOS has a website now. It's a bit clunky, but it has a self-guided 'tour' for women to explore their anatomy
Women and girls who are comfortable and confident with their bodies are safer, as well as having more fun! :)

I'm a mean, practical Mummy. DD was given next to no choice about tampons from about her third period.

I had no intention of letting her have chance to get into any other routine. She is too much of a fish (any chance to get wet).

Such a useful post, Flow4. Yes, I remember Our Bodies, Our Selves. Thanks for the link.

Interesting about the cloth pads, too.

Yes, thanks for the link Flow4.

I think I'll have to give the tampons talk. I too find it quite strange that DD2 is so freaked about the thought of using them. I am very (appropriately) open about bodies/sex/periods etc but DD2 seems to be a much more private person. I'll ask DD1 to have a chat with her too, although I seem to remember she also took a while to start using tampons. Maybe it's me!! I did used to take comfort in the fact though that if she wasn't happy with a tampon inside her, there was no way she'd contemplate a penis! but she managed to prove me wrong on that one

Thanks for all your input ladies - at least I know whatever we choose, I won't be alone!

I never knew some women found it odd that someone might choose not to use tampons. Surely it's their body and they can choose to use whatever they feel comfortable with.

I have friends who never use tampons, they just prefer not to. Also whenever I've had a heavy and painful period, I find using a tampon makes the pain worse.

I feel a bit uncomfortable with mothers applying pressure on their daughters to use tampons

my dd is 16 and after a couple of tries at around 14, she gave up

I occasionally ask her if she would prefer some tiny tampons in the shopping list (as opposed to my housebrick ones) but she says no

so I leave it

she used norithisterone for our holiday last year though, as did I

and we will both do it again, if need be

....although looking at the calendar, I need a pill to bring my period forward a couple of days

bugger

I used norethisterone for the first time on holiday a couple of years ago. Before then I'd just taken the pill with no break. This year, for what I believe is the first time ever, my period should finish a few days before I go away

The norethisterone was marvellous. No side effects and I had enough left from my prescription to rely my period to miss Christmas too.

I would wonder about the sense of using it for, particularly, the 13 year old. Probably something only a doctor can answer TBH. I would encourage the use of tampons, pointing out how convenient they are and the drawbacks of not using them (I'd never force my DD to use them until she was ready though - what a truly abhorrent thought!)

AF, can't you delay a few periods before your holiday so that the holiday one falls outside that time?

too late for that, sd

my last period was 5 days late, so fucked the whole cycle up

I am now due 5 days before I go on hols (next month), so if a few days late again, it will be while I am away

the only option is to take norethisterone for 2 weeks straight, but am not happy with that, it seems like too long or pray my next period comes on time or a couple of days early

peri-menopause...it's a bastard

Bugger!

I think I'd go with the 2 weeks of norethisterone though.

thanks, sd

I am going to hope for the best

I shouldn't really take hormones at all (had to stop the pill because of optical migraines), so 2 weeks of norethisterone is probably off the menu

AF you could try taking the norethisterone when you start your period on holiday. I've read online that you can start taking it after you start your period and it will halt the bleeding.

I don't know how reliable this info is, I think I was reading it on some American forum but it might be worth taking the pills with you to try just in case.

thanks, cheddars

I haven't heard of it stopping bleeding once it starts

will have a google

Hi all.
I've just started another thread on a similar subject- wanting to know whether I will delay my August period by taking the progesterone only pill now 2 cycles earlier- so subsequent cycles also 10 or so days later than would otherwise have been..

I took Northesterone (sp.?) 2 years ago to delay period on holiday- it worked fine but I did feel a bit odd while on it- very on edge and didn't sleep well.
This year I'm doing it 2 cycles before late August holiday- so hopefully can avoid taking the pills while on holiday.
GP said that also- if p. starts on holiday, I can just start the pills again and they shoudl 'arrest' my period as he put it.
Re. side effects- this time I'm feeling really awful on this pill: Sleeping very poorly, depressed, anxious, often nauseous, sometimes severe headaches, indigestion..
So does anybody know for sure- if you take these pills, will later cycles also be delayed or will the period AFTER the delayed one just come at the same time as it was going to before taking the pills?
Thanks.

I'm quite surprised by all these teenaged girls who don't want ot use tampons. Going back many years to when I was 12/13 pads were regarded as disgusting and all my friends applied themselves to using tampons as quickly as they possibly could.

I had no problems with tampons and I was a ballet student, in leotards and tights, it was much better than a bulky pad in the 1960s. But my sister was hysterical and kept screaming when mum told me to show her how. She did it herself. When I was 48 I wanted to miss my upcoming period, and was put on the strongest contraceptive pill available in 1992. I had an amazing reaction, felt 30 years younger, full of energy and was on a high, as kept laughing at things I didn't know what I was laughing at . Later my breasts became enormous, but my nipples were agony and my heart started to pound rapidly. As soon as I stopped the pill, I had an immediate hammer headache, which I had never had before and was worried I would have a stroke, but did not. I put my teenage daughter on the pill as she had very heavy periods when she was 14 - 32 years ago, as then I was on the pill and had brilliant effects, no PMT and no period pains or flooding, but the pill did not reduce her heavy periods and she came off it. But she had no health problems.

I find the idea of forcing your daughter to wear tampons really unpleasant. Just because it's your preference doesn't mean it has to be hers. I don't wear tampons and it's nothing to do with 'being comfortable with my body' for me tampons are just really really uncomfortable to wear and to put in. When I was a teenager I had very painful periods and when I did try tampons they made them even more painful. I have bought light tampons for dd so she has the option if she wants, and I've talked to her about alternatives like mooncups but it's up to her what she uses. and I have no intention of pushing her one way or another.

Good idea about cloth pads for swimming, I might look into that for her.

If I were the OP I'd give the doctor a try and see what s/he says.

"Neither of them will contemplate using tampons" is just not on

How do you figure that one out? Of course it is "on"! Their choice what they put inside their body after all. OP can't exactly force them to use tampons & it certainly isn't a bloody requirement that all teens use them.

Agree with nooka. I don't know how anyone thinks it is in their remit to coerce a girl into using tampons.

I used them all the time from about a yr after my periods started. Once I had dd1 I just found that they were not longer comfortable. Felt very irritated & uncomfortable wearing them. Have tried them a few times since, at varying stages of my period & it just seems like a no go now. NO WAY would I force either of my girls into using them if they didn't want to!

It probably has nothing to do with not wanting to touch themselves, it is just personal preference. And I am actually very & that many on here think their strong arm approach is justified!

I agree with the posters saying girls must use tampons is not acceptable. You cannot force your daughters to stick something artificial up inside them. Seriously. I have no opinion on hormone treatment but would be talking to the doctor about that in terms of how appropriate it is. I imagine the issue is that you don't want them using hormone therapy all the time.

Cloth pads for swimming, that sounds pretty unpleasant for both the wearer and others in the pool.

I agree with recent posters, I'm in shock that some mothers find it totally ok to pressurise their teen daughters to use tampons.

What do you do- make them feel 'bad' if they can't manage it or don't want to try? They don't live up to your expectations? They're pathetic?

I don't care if some find this a little OTT but that's emotional abuse in my opinion. These are young women, free to do what they wish with their own bodies.