Does Birth Control Slow Down Your Period

How Does Birth Control Work And Which Ones Can Stop Your Period

There are tons of options for preventing pregnancy, but not all types of birth control can reduce or delay a period. For the highest likelihood of sending your monthly visitor packing, youll need to use a hormonal birth control method. Some birth control types are progestin-only, while others contain both progestin and estrogen.

So, which types of birth control will definitely stop your period? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Some people will continue to get a regular period, while others will experience a decrease in flow and duration or see it disappear entirelyas long as they are on birth control. That said, James Gohar, MD, an ob-gyn at Mount Sinai West and New York-Presbyterian Hospital and clinical instructor at Weill Cornell School of Medicine, tells SELF that combination birth control , hormonal IUDs, and injections have the highest potential to stop your period altogether, but this is not a guarantee. The majority of people will still get a period, but significantly shorter and lighter, he explains.

Lets walk through how each type of hormonal birth control works, and talk about their period-poofing potential:

Combination hormonal birth control pills use estrogen and progestin to prevent pregnancy. The progestin thickens your cervical mucus , thins out your uterine lining, and suppresses ovulation. Estrogen helps to control breakthrough bleeding while also working to suppress ovulation.

How Long After Stopping Birth Control Will You Get Your Period

Okay, so youre on birth control that has stopped your period, but now youre ready to leave that contraceptive method behind. While the exact timeline of when your period will return depends on a variety of factors, the Mayo Clinic says menstrual periods generally resume within three months after stopping birth control pills. This is also true of other types of birth control, with the exception of the shot, which can take much longersometimes between 6 and 18 months, according to the Center for Young Womens Health.

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Regardless of the type, your body and menstrual cycle will need time to adjust. This could mean you get a typical period within a month, or you could experience spotting or irregular periods for a few months, according to the Cleveland Clinic. But remember, this is often temporary, and your cycle may return to its pre-birth control days in just a matter of time. For others, it may not.

How Do Oral Contraceptive Pills Work

Combination pills containing estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy primarily by stopping ovulation . Progesterone causes thickening of the cervical mucus, which makes it difficult for the sperm to swim through the cervix to reach the egg, thus preventing fertilization. The hormones also prevent pregnancy by causing changes in the lining of the uterus , making it impossible for the fertilized egg to become implanted in the uterine wall.

The progestin-only pill prevents pregnancy typically by thickening the cervical mucus to stop the sperm from reaching the egg and thinning the endometrium to prevent the implantation of the fertilized egg. In addition, progestin-only pills may prevent ovulation .

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Tampons: Friend Or Foe

Whether you prefer pads, tampons, or menstrual cups, do your thing. But you should know tampons can make your period last longer. Menstrual blood is designed to flow down , and tampons can slow the process.

This is a major bummer if youre not on team sanitary napkin. But if youre really trying to move things along, skip the tampons and try an alternative.

Does Starting On Birth Control During Your Period Stop Your Flow Immediately

One question experts get asked a lot is: If I start birth control on my period, will it stop? If taken correctly, there isnt one birth control method that is guaranteed to stop your period at all, let alone immediately. There are some cases where birth control can stop heavy bleeding, though, Lucky Sekhon, MD, ob-gyn and endocrinologist at RMA of New York, Flo Medical Expert, and assistant clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tells SELF, but it must be done under the direction of a doctor.

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Why It Can Be Dangerous To Stop Your Period

Are heavy, painful periods inconvenient and at times disabling? Of course, but these inconveniences are a signal from your body that something is off and that you need to pay attention.

Silencing these signals with continued hormone suppression can do further damage and allow for even more troubling conditions and diseases to go undiagnosed.

Prescribing continuous birth control pills to suppress periods without giving attention to what may be causing a womans symptoms is a disservice to women and keeps them from receiving proper treatment.

In addition, the birth control pill comes with many side effects some of which your doctor may not be aware of.

What Slows My Period Down

Pills, patches, and rings Hormonal birth control thins the uterine lining, typically resulting in less menstrual bleeding. It may also relieve other period symptoms, such as painful cramps. You generally use the pill, patch, or ring for 21 days, and then take 7 days off for menstruation.

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Are There Any Medical Benefits With Taking Birth Control Pills

Birth control pills not only prevent pregnancy, but they also have medical benefits. Many teens take the birth control pill just for its medical benefits and not for its protection against pregnancy.

• Regular and lighter periods: Oral contraceptive pills can help to regulate the menstrual cycle so your period comes about every 28 days. The Pill usually causes lighter periods too. You may only have a brown smudge on a tampon, pad, panty shield or underwear. The hormone doses in BCPs are very low. When you are taking the birth control pill, the lining of your uterus doesnt become very thick so very little blood needs to come out each month. For the extended cycle pills, you might have a period every 3 months or even less.
• Clearer skin: Birth control pills can improve acne. The hormones in most types of BCPs can help stop certain acne from forming. Be patient though, as it can take a few months to see an improvement.
• Fewer cramps, or no cramps: Birth control pills can help to decrease menstrual cramps.
• Other medical benefits: Because theres less menstrual bleeding with the use of birth control pills, teens taking the pill are less likely to become anemic . Birth control pills also lessen your chance of getting endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and ovarian cysts. BCPs also protect against pregnancies that occur outside the uterus .

When Do You Get Your Period On Birth Control Pills

Once youve started your seven-day break from the pill each month, youll usually start to bleed two to four days into the pill-free week. This varies for each person, but birth control tends to make cycles very regular. That means that after a few months on the pill, youll probably find that your period usually starts on the same day of that week every month.

Youll probably be getting your withdrawal bleeding every 28 days, but even after your body has gotten used to the pill, you can still experience late “periods” on birth control.

Keep in mind that your birth control only works effectively if you take it correctly. If youve forgotten to take three or more non-placebo pills, you could experience withdrawal bleeding before your seven-day break is scheduled. This would mean that you are no longer protected for the month and that you need to use a backup method of birth control and start a new pack.

Should you worry about late period?

Our built-in Health Assistant will help you understand symptoms and tell you more about possible reasons.

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When To Use Menstrual Suppression

You may want to avoid menstruating during a vacation, athletic competition or another important personal event. There are now oral contraceptive pills on the market that offer the ability to suppress menstruation. These pills are intended to change a woman’s bleeding pattern to produce either no periods or just four periods a year , instead of a dozen.

Menstrual suppression products are chemically identical to traditional oral contraceptive pills. The active tablets contain a combination of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. The difference lies in the way a woman takes the pills. The traditional OCP is taken for 21 days, followed by 7 days of placebo pills. Seasonale and Seasonique are taken for 84 days consecutively, followed by 7 days of placebo pills. In both cases, while the woman is taking the placebo pills, she gets her period.* Lybrel uses the same hormones, in a slightly lower dose, with no change in hormone dose throughout the year. Lybrel is designed to produce no periods at all.

How To Make Your Period Lighter Fast Naturally

When the time comes to get your period, do you find yourself using a giant pad or tampon, just in case? Do you end up skipping your normal activities due to the worry that you may not find a bathroom close by? If this is the case, it means that your menstrual flow is likely heavier than it normally should be.

Periods that are abnormally heavy, are in most cases more common than many women knowthey occur in about fifty percent of all women who are in their forties and early fifties.

According to Dr. Kelly Hodges, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, your everyday life should never be disrupted by your monthly period. If this is happening to you, you should bring it to the attention of your physician. Heres how to make your period lighter naturally.

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Birth Control Pill Is Nutrient Depleting

Many patients are not informed of the numerous studies showing the nutrient depleting effects of oral contraceptives.

In 2013, the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Studies called for all women to be on a multivitamin while taking oral contraceptives due to the known nutrient depletions, most notably magnesium, zinc, selenium, folic acid, vitamins B2, B6, B12, vitamin C and E.

Birth control depletes the body of folic acid, which is vital in many metabolic processes and is absolutely essential should you become pregnant. Folic acid is necessary to prevent neural tube defects in a developing fetus. Unfortunately, the critical window for folic acid in development occurs before the majority of women know they are pregnant in just those first few weeks.

Now imagine if you do become pregnant while suppressing your period youve depleted your nutrients, are oblivious to the early signs of pregnancy, and the damage has taken place before you ever realized you were pregnant.

And yes, pregnancy does occur while taking birth control pill.

It is the doctor’s responsibility to provide a true informed consent and guide women in understanding the pros and cons of the medical decision they are faced with. This is the only way in which women can make the best decision for their body and it is their right to know that while the pill may help relieve symptoms, it may also have unwanted side effects with long term consequences.

Is It Safe To Use Birth Control To Stop Periods

One of the most common questions we hear from patients is whether or not it is safe to not have periods. Most people are so accustomed to having their menstrual cycle that the idea of not having a monthly period feels strange and unnatural. However, the reality is that not having a period can be perfectly safe in certain situations.

Its helpful to understand that the monthly bleeding people experience while taking some forms of birth control, including the pill, patch or ringis not the same as a natural menstrual period. Natural menstruation occurs as a result of the changes in hormones that are triggered by ovulation, or the release of the egg from the ovary, and the buildup of the uterine lining in preparation for pregnancy. When pregnancy does not occur, the body reduces the amount of those hormones that it makes. This withdrawal of hormones causes your body to shed that lining as your monthly period.

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Does Birth Control Stop Your Period

Learn which forms are most likely to stop menstruation and if it’s safe

• Frequently Asked Questions

There are many reasons for people to want to delay or skip a period. Some experience very heavy bleeding, painful cramping, or other severe symptoms during their menstrual cycle that they want to avoid. Other people choose to delay their monthly cycle for the sake of convenience, due to travel or other personal events.

But is it safe to skip a period? The short answer is yes, in most cases.

In this article, we’ll review which forms of birth control can help prevent a period for days, weeks, months, or even longer, how to so safely, and other concerns.

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Why Is My Bleeding Different On The Contraceptive Pill

The contraceptive pill prevents the lining of your uterus from growing thicker, as it would in a typical menstrual cycle . It also prevents ovulation and the typical cycling of reproductive hormones. When you have withdrawal bleeding, the bleeding tends to be lighter than normal menstrual bleeding.

Itâs also possible to have no withdrawal bleeding or only spotting during the days you take inactive pills . This is more common for people taking higher doses of estrogen, or a pill with a shorter hormone-free interval .

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Understand The Normal Causes Of Heavy Periods

There are certain stages in life, which can make your periods to become heavier. But, there are cases where heavy periods are caused by genetic factors. Additionally, changes happening in your body or in your normal lifestyle can also be the cause of the heavy periods. Ensure you check the following factors, as they could be the reason why you are getting heavy periods:

Birth Control Pill Associated With Depression

A recent study of over 1 million women showed us that there is an 80% increased relative risk of depression in women who use hormonal birth control, a symptom many women have been suspicious of since the pill was introduced to the public.

There has yet to be an extensive study on the long term effects of continuous birth control use and depression.

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What Are The Different Types Of Oral Contraceptive Pills

There are two main types of oral contraceptive pills .

1. Combination pills: These are the most common type of OCPs and contain both estrogen and progesterone. There are several types of combination pills.

• Monophasic pills are used in one-month cycles and provide the same level of hormones throughout the month.
• Multiphasic pills are used in one-month cycles and provide different levels of hormones during the cycle.
• Extended-cycle pills are used in 13-week cycles. Active pills with hormones are taken for 12 weeks and inactive pills are taken during the last week of the cycle. As a result, periods occur only three to four times per year.

2. Progestin-only pills or mini pills: These contain progestin without estrogen. These pills are a suitable option for women who breastfeed, smoke, have a history of blood clots, are older than 35 years old or who cant take estrogen. These pills may cause irregular periods and, at times, stop them.

What If I Forget To Take One Or More Birth Control Pills

• If you miss 1 active Pill:

• Take the pill as soon as you remember and then continue taking your pills at the usual time each day.
• You may take 2 pills on the same day or even 2 at the same time.

• If you miss 2 or more active pills in a row:

• Take the most recently missed Pill as soon as possible.
• Throw away the other missed pills.
• Continue taking the rest of your pills at the usual time each day.
• You may take 2 pills on the same day .

• If you missed the active pills in the third week or row , throw the inactive pills away and finish taking the active hormone pills.
• Then start a new pack right away.
• If you are sexually active and missed 2 pills, dont have sex or if you do have sex use condoms every time until youve taken active pills for 7 days in a row.
• Talk to your health care provider about whether you should use emergency contraception , especially if you missed pills the first week of your pill pack, or had unprotected sex the past 5 days.

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