Serious Saturday: Skipping Periods, Follow up

Hi guys! I hope you have had a lovely day. Mine was spent enjoying the first part of my weekend: sleeping in a bit, going grocery shopping for our weekend dinners and doing some complementary canoodling. 

Blog time. Remember my post on skipping periods and taking birth control? If you haven't or if you need a reminder, you can read it here. In short: it's about me finding out that it's completely safe to keep taking your birth control pill without respecting the recommended the stop week (and the artifical period it induces). I repeat: PERFECTLY safe. Of course, every body is different, so the way yours react might vary. I've since taken my own advice and tested how skipping my period would work for me personally by taking three pill strips in a row without breaks. Here's my experience.




I've been on the pill since I was 16 or 17, so I am pretty used to it now. I take mine every day before going to bed, sometime between about 10 and 1pm. I've never noticed any negative side effects so I wasn't really nervous about taking it to the next level. I decided to take three strips in a row before trying longer stretches of time because I was curious to see if my period would be heavier after skipping two of them. Some women told me they experienced more pain and a longer period when they didn't respect the stop week.

I noticed a few things during my extended pill taking: first of all, I don't know if it has anything to do with this but I gained about 1kg of weight over the last months. I'm not even sure if that started before this little experiment or not, but I thought I'd let you know. Second: I started experiencing light spotting towards the end of my third pill strip. Nothing that would, like, make you embarrassed for having put on white pants in the morning, but there was some darker tinged discharge. 

Finally, my period: it started right when I expected (three days after taking my last pill) and I can't say it was a lot heavier, longer or more intense than normal, but it was different in some ways. Usually my second day is the most painful, cramp-wise, and I have headaches every day during the evenings right until I start taking my pills again. This time, I had one extra painful day that was slightly tougher than usual, but only during peaks of cramping that lasted no more than a few minutes. On the subject of headaches, I also noticed a slight increase of intensity. Where I usually start getting pangs of pain around 6-7pm, my headaches started around 12-1pm on the worst days now.

Conclusion: if I'm free of the hassle, discomfort and pain that returns every one out of four weeks, I have no issue whatsoever powering through the slightly more painful periods that come with extended times of pill taking. I'm skipping my period again for the next few months, maybe 4 strips instead of 3 this time, depending on when I notice spotting since that seems to be a bit of an indication that my body is ready to take a break. The one kg weight gain doesn't bother me as it hasn't changed the way my clothes fit, but I might reconsider my opinion if I notice that I can't fit into my favourite pieces anymore. I don't want to have to spend muchos money on a new wardrobe.

End verdict: three thumbs up! 



Two from me and one from Paulien, photographed by a pushy dude who wasn't even wearing any shoes. He spotted us taking pictures from his window and he insisted on taking one of the two of us. THANKS SOCKLESS DUDE.

If you have any questions or if you've tried this yourself and want to share your thoughts: spill the beans!


16 comments

  1. Ik heb dat al heel vaak gedaan en nu heb ik ook 2 strips achter elkaar genomen. De hoeveelheid pijn dat ik ervaar is wel meer dan als ik een stopweek zou inlassen maar anderzijds heb ik het ook al gehad dat mijn regels uitblijven en dan begint een major paniek :-D. Sabrina,x.

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  2. bij twee na elkaar (wat ik wel al vaker heb gedaan) merk ik zelf geen verschil. Drie maanden leek wel anders, maar kan ook gewoon 1 keer geweest zijn want mijn maandstonden zijn ook niet elke maand hetzelfde qua pijn etc.

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  3. Yes! I meant to comment on your earlier article but obv I fell into a big black hole of forgetfulness and naps and tv shows. I also felt a bit shocked when I did my research on the subject (quite a few years ago now, wow). WADDAYAMEAN, I don't have to endure abdominal torture 12 times a year?! I initially started taking the pill in my teens because of the heavy pains and discomfort I had been experiencing (very irregular and heavy symptomps for about 7-8 days) so this felt like someone had told me I could already open my Christmas present in October (and that it contained Jensen Ackles and a bottle of maple syrup)! I hardly ever get my period now and I don't really have any issues with it at all. The only thing I would probably say is that it sometimes DOES feel like my body "needs" it, meaning I get the usual suspects (emotions/hungry like the hippo) and some eh, other warning signs even though I'm nowhere near the end of my strip. I find that -for me- it's best to then just listen to my body and "let it be". But all in all I would say definitely no more than 3-4 stops a year atm. I definitely don't feel like they come back with a vengeance but I would probably partly distribute that to the 80% improvement I felt when I started taking it in the first place. My skin's been clearer than ever lately so no pimples apart from the ones destined to show up at a certain time in my strip. I would definitely recommend it to anyone having doubts! THIS SEEMS LIKE A LONG COMMENT

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  4. Also great that you're spreading the word so thanks.

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  5. Interesting! Mine lasts 7 days, but it's never been very painful, and I didn't have sex till I got married, so unlike some friends who needed birth control to help with how painful or heavy their periods were I've never taken the type that skips your period completely. When I got married, I went with the kind that doesn't mess with your hormones and periods at all.

    I've always been curious as to what that type of birth control would do to my body and how I would react, though! Whether I might get more or less emotional, whether I would have worse or easier periods on the skip week, etc. It's really interesting to find out that it's not harmful for your body to totally skip periods for a long time, though! And it's nice that it's only a little bit worse when you do have one.

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  6. Hahaha hij is hilar en ik had niks anders dat bij dit artikel paste :D

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  7. Thanks for your feedback! I love to talk with all kinds of women with different backgrounds and life philosophies about things like this. It's so important to find the solutions that work best for your body, yet there's still so many ways in which women are left in the dark or pushed towards one option or another.

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  8. Nee, niet nodig! Heb jij dan geen last van spotting?

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  9. haha die foto, schitterend!! als ik mijn pil nog maar 1 keer doorneem begin ik op te zwellen (ik houd sowieso snel vocht vast, en ik denk dat die kilo bij jou waarschijnlijk ook vocht zal zijn), doen mijn tieten godverdomd veel pijn (het helpt ook niet dat ik een kat heb dat mijn borsten de ideale landingsbaan vindt) en ga ik tijdens cyclus 2 gewoon non stop PMSen. Een miljoen miljard duimen naar beneden voor mij dus :'(

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  10. I rarely skip periods with birth control, only if I happen to be on a holiday.

    I always thought it was unhealthy, thinking you get a period for a reason.

    Anyway, since it seems to be harmless... Who knows!

    x Krizia

    Shark Attack - Fashion Blog

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  11. die zijn ook allemaal hormonaal he! allez, ik wil maar zeggen, er zijn nog opties zoals een pessarium etc :D

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  12. Haha die foto :D
    Leuk om je ervaringen te lezen, volgens mij zou mijn lichaam ook zo reageren. Ik ben benieuwd hoe alles zou verlopen als je nog een paar weken extra de pil zou doornemen. Ik hou het toch maximum op 2 strips, ik wil om de zoveel tijd toch bevestiging dat ik niet preggers ben :p
    Naomi, x

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  13. oh ja als in, als voorbehoedsmiddel! :P ik vergeet eigenlijk altijd dat de pil daarvoor dient (ik ben eeuwige vrijgezel en daarnaast zijn mijn uitspattingen ook op 1 hand te tellen, mijn vrienden noemen mij niet voor niks de panda), ik neem hem eigenlijk alleen om mijn cyclus te regelen.

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  14. Super foto!
    Ik heb ook al eens drie strips doorgenomen, maar toen zei mijn lichaam op een random moment (midden in mijn derde strip) 'ik ga u toch lekker uw regels laten hebben'.. dus twee strips gaat, drie niet :D

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