Pill to Delay Period

[glebaisaword]

Hi looking for opinions about the tablets that are available to delay periods. I've never needed to take them before due to being on various contraceptive pills, but am not on them at the mo. I am due on right on my summer holiday week so considering buying some. Bit worried about having any side effects while away, or them not working at all. Has anyone any experience they can share? I was wondering if to perhaps take them to delay the period before the one I want to delay, whilst still at home, would that then re-set my cycle dates pushing the holiday one back? Thanks.

Hi OP, I've taken the pills to delay my period several times now and they work really well for me. Really easy and fuss free. You say you are due on right on your summer holiday week so you must have a pretty consistent cycle length - that helps as you are supposed to start them several days before you are due on, which was tricky to know when with my variable cycles!

I found them really straight forward to take, and didn't have any side-effects. In terms of hormones they are effectively prolonging the luteal phase of your cycle (the bit between ovulating and getting your next period) so if you normally have any symptoms in that part of your cycle you might expect to continue feeling that way while you take the pills. I think they will pretty effectively delay your period for a week to ten days - maybe longer but it can vary between individuals. I think after about a fortnight I started to get breakthrough bleeding anyway (I don't usually need them for that long.)

It's possible that they might not work for you - some people do get breakthrough bleeding or spotting earlier - so you could have a trial run first. It's also possible that you could try to re-set your cycle dates but the cycle after the pills can be different to normal - shorter or longer - so it might be unpredictable.

I've found several GPs, men and women, have been really happy to prescribe them on the basis of working around a holiday or special event - that's cheaper than buying them from Boots or whatever, and you could talk through likely issues and the best plan with your GP.

I hope it works for you!

I didn't know these were a thing

I have used these, which did work to delay my period. However, the period that arrived a few days after I stopped taking the tablets was truly awful. Not only was it ridiculously heavy but I was having contractions passing the huge massive blood clots that came with the bleeding.

The tablets are called Norethisterone and they can be obtained from your GP or through an online pharmacy via a private prescription. I would suggest speaking to your GP if you have not used them before though.

Thank you for your answers. I have very regular, short cycles (22 days!) but around 5 days of spotting before and also for 3/4 days after the main event . I do often get huge heavy periods so was concerned about messing around with things too much. But I feel like I spend most of my month either spotting or bleeding and really want to avoid that on my one and only summer holiday I've had in years! From the sounds of it a trial run might be a good idea for me. I might try to speak to the GP about it but they never have any slots available so prob end up just buying them.

Thanks!