Ladies: Periods, yay or nay?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Okay to turn my day to a lighter note (well, I guess it depends on the girl) I want to know the girls' opinions on skipping your period.

If you are on the pill do you ever start a new pack as soon as you finish one thereby skipping your period? I haven't found too much info on the health implications of this but it seems the general consensus is that it probably doesn't hurt.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To continue in new answers. . .

When I was on DepoProvera (the injection) I didn't have periods at all. Now that I'm back on the pill I've opted for having them every other month. I've heard of women choosing to never have them or to only skip them for special occassions (like vacation.)

Now, women have far more periods per year then in previous centuries since we have less pregnancies/nursing periods. So is skipping them such a bad plan?

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have heard that skipping (periods) is positively good for you cos as you say us girls these days have more periods than our foremothers. Also you cannot do shoulder stands in yoga if you have your period so skipping them = classic.

― Emma, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Emma, do you think the asana prohibitons for menstruating women are based on arachaic prejudice or actual medical reason?

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know but surely the laws of gravity state that if you go upside down then all the blood and goop would trickle backwards and end up coming out of your nose ears and mouth. Gross.

― Emma, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Also my yoga teacher is a woman and I'm sure she would not wish to repress her sistas.

The only trouble with skipping your period is that your body doesn't seem to know that this is what you had in mind so you don't skip the PMT.

― Emma, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

in my (somewhat occasional) yoga classes when teach asks is anyone menstruating i haf been known to answer no out loud, perfectly seriously w/o thinking (and after all truthfully). this is surely because i haf left behind the chatter of maya and achieved state of [insert technical term here]...

― mark s, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think that if you have missed any pill it is the most recommended thing to do, and if you do it anyway twice a year or so it is safe enough. More than that it could bring your hormonal system to a halt. I

― Laetitia, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

*bows deeply to Mark S in acknowledgement of his higher state*

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You can do it as many times a year as you like, the only reason pill manufacturers put a 7 day gap in was apparently cos some women feel more natural or womanly or whatever if they have a period once a month, anyway when you are on the pill it's not even a proper period but a withdrawal bleed or something. So there.

― Emma, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I read Mark's 'mensturating' as 'masturbating'. I don't know why I'm telling you this.

― Nick, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I hate periods. I hate paying money for something I can't *really* go without. Has anyone ever tried Tesco Value Panty Pads and possibly TAMPONS? How gross. Hate hate hate everything. NB: I have just had a huge coffing fit and felt like fainting chiz.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think you might be right about the withdrawal bleed. I felt really weird having no periods while on Depo (which is why I stopped) but don't feel weird when skipping periods with the pill.

i've never had rough periods or much of PMS anyway so maybe this is why. Taking any kind of hormonal contraceptive involves messing with the "natural balance" of thing so I don't see why having a week off or not should make a difference.

Another plus: having less periods might reduce your risk for cervical/uterine cancers. You're not shedding cells therefore not growing more = less mutation, less opp for cancer.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Just was quoting my gynaecologist's advice when I was in a similar situation, but Emma is right, you are not actually releasing an egg while on the pill. Maybe some women like to feel like hens, that seems to be the conclusion.

― Laetitia, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't like to feel like a hen, but I get a bit of a bloated tummy the week before I get my period so it's nice to lose that after a couple of red flag days. However, having a boyfriend up the other end of the country and only seeing him about once a month, sometimes that once a month is in a messy bit of the month so it's quite handy to be able to keep on swallowing pills and keep the sheets blood-free.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hm, periods are dud but i'd feel odd if i didn't have them. i am not on the pill and do not wish to ever go on it - i am far too much of a hippy for that.

― katie, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hippies vs the PILL?

― Laetitia, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Katie, after Depo I wanted to avoid hormonal contraceptives but there really isn't a comparable alternative other than IUDs. Generally docs don't like to give those to women who haven't given birth.

When in a monogamous long-term relationship condoms are yuck. I don't even want to mess with diaphragms. Foams, flims, etc are unreliable by themselves (learned that the hard way.) What I really want to know is when is the sponge coming back to america?!? wah.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with Kate on this one. And I think that if I used the pill, I wouldn't be confident that it was WORKING, and would have to use all those inconvenient contraceptives ANYWAY, thus defeating the point. Hippieness + paranoia = periods.

― Maria, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(is it too late to poll for a BEST EQUATION award: cuz despite my own stakhnovite efforts down the days, maria just won it)

― mark s, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Another bonus of the pill is that it costs nothing (in the UK anyway). OK, so you can trek to your local Family Planning Clinic every couple of weeks for a handful of free johnnies (I think that word should be used more, don't you?) but I'd rather just get six months' supply of pills all at once - much less bother.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you use the pill correctly (e.g. not missing them) then it's virtually infalliable. Injections and Norplant are even better. In more than ten years of using hormonal contraceptives they've never failed me.

Unfortunately health care is not guarnteed or free in America. Yes, we have planned parenthood in most communities but if you're a working girl you still have to pay. While I was temping w/no insurance the $70 exam and $30 supply of pills, while cheaper than a private doctor, was beyond my means. I had to rely on a friend in a doctor's office to snag free samples for me.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Also the, ahem, johnnies you get from the FP Clinic are made of rhino hide - sensitivity not uppermost in the NHS' mind.

― Tom, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Don't you all worry that your pill isn't working if you don't take the placebo pills?? I would constantly be paranoid of that if I never took the placebos. I mean, I take it pretty properly, but I'm sure everyone has missed at least one once in their life - it's pretty easy to do so after a night of heavy partying or some such. You take it the next day immediately and it's still pretty effective but still - I'd worry. Even taking it 100% properly it's still 99% effective, what if you somehow are the 1%? Ugh, no, having the period bit, even if it's a fake period, shows you aren't pregnant, I'd think. Mind you, I manipulate them around all the time to be on my period at times when it's convenient for me, but I still always take the placebos.

― Ally, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to have one period, just one. I would also like to lactate , just once .

― anthony, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

God, I can't contribute to this thread at all. I can't take the pill, I've tried several times, and it always turns me into even MORE of a raving paranoiac psychotic bitch from hell. I've never actually had a boyfriend last out the month I start the pill in terms of mood cycles, so I stopped taking the pill when the boyfriend left, for lack of reason to need it. Then you have THREE periods in one month, and boy is that fun.

As far as I'm concerned, the best contraceptice is Courtly Love. I'll never have to worry about getting pregnant by Shroedinger's Crush, so it matters not.

― kate, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes Ally this is a concern. Though I would worry more about manipulating your periods through changing the time of your pills (if this is what you meant) affecting the efficacy! I have heard of women who are on the pill becoming pregnant despite having the "false" period.

Bottom line is if you take the pill like you're supposed to your chances of becoming pregnant are next to nil. Most women know they're pregnant by the third month period or not. (massive fatigue, nausea, tender breasts, etc.)

Of course sterlization makes all these worries moot. . .

― Samantha, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Easy way of a)not having periods b)losing weight c)not spending lots of money on unneccessary things = don't eat. It works, la.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Does anyone else use the Keeper? It's a menstrual cup, like Instead, but it is reusable & it sits where a tampon does, not where a diaphragm does (like with Instead). Menstrual cups saved my life. Check out the superbness of the Keeper: http://www.mum.org/CupKeep.htm

― 1 1 2 3 5, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

periods are dud. I thought abount wrangling an early menopause just to avoid them, after all my lifes ambitin is to be a grouchy old shrivelled hag

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry ladies, I haven't had a one for years T.G.! Had probs. most of my life with it though. Pain & cramps due to a tipped womb. Gale

― Gale Deslongchamps, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Without periods, how would we know where sentences end? We would have to use exclamation points, and it would sound as if everyone were shouting all the time.

― Lamest Joke Ever!, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wait, screwing around with the timing of the weeks could get me pregnant? I never knew that, I thought that it was all the same.

I wish I could get sterilized, but the medical system is sexist. You need to either have already had kids or have a health problem to get it done, last I looked into it. No one does this with vasectomies, you know!

― Ally, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've only had two periods this year. Having them regularly again would make me feel healthier and normal.

― Melissa W, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Melissa, cheer up, a friend of mine in high school only had two a year and she was okay.

But DUD DUD DUD when you're looking forward to weekend of ACTION and yer Aunt Flo turns up. Grrr.

― suzy, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Though CLASSIC CLASSIC CLASSIC if they get you out of post cross-country running group shower in school, or out of having to go swimming with your horrible French exchange family when you're fifteen and would rather DIE than appear in public in a borrowed swimming costume. These were mainly made-up periods though.

― Ellie, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hmm, there were a load of girls in my school who had permanent period when faced with the swimming unit. One day the (nasty old grizzled) lady swim teacher got exasperated with them and said, it DOES stop when you go in the water. Smartarse Suzy: "Umm, how would you know?"

― suzy, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ally, some of the difficulty in getting sterilized when female might be b/c it's major surgery. For vasectomies it's an outpaitent procedure, snip snip.

― Samantha, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I tried to get out of participating in Field Day one year with the menstruation excuse but I got yelled at by my gym teacher. Oh, and my mother used to tell me that you don't bleed when you're in the water, but I don't believe it.

The only thing good about periods that I can think of at the moment is that it means you aren't pregnant.

― rosemary, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Period excuse to get out of games = Pete's veruca excuse (amazing what a fine black felt tip pen can do).

― Pete, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ally, some of the difficulty in getting sterilized when female might be b/c it's major surgery

Ah, but so are breast implants and I can walk into any plastic surgeon this second and get it done. Of course, implants = bigger breasts = "more womanly", sterilization = no pregnancy = "masculine". It's the same reason why my old medical provider covered Viagra whilst not covering birth control pills - they are run by men = they do not think as much of women's issues. This all sounds so bleak, I really don't care much, I just think it's quite unfair that if I have decided I do not want children, I have to take poss. dangerous pills (particularly considering that I smoke) that, while low, still have a chance of screwing up for the rest of my life.

Sterilization now! Of course, I haven't come to a 100% decision on kids so I really am not going to run and get sterilized but I think people should be allowed.

― Ally, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

True points but cosmetic plastic surgery (theroritcally) is not as physically irreversable and life-changing as sterilization. Vasectomies for young men w/no children can be hard to get as well. Doctors are reluctant to do things you might regret in later years. Vasectomies are more likely to be reversible though.

I've never encountered an insurance company that doesn't cover the pill. Hasn't there been legislation passed in the last few years to force them to? Regardless, I think there's plenty of ground to fight on that one.

― Samantha, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

I am a 23 year old and my husband and I have been trying to get preganat for over 2years now. I have done alot of studing about periods because I was not having a period on my own and was having to take clomid every month to have one. come to find out you really need to have a period when you menstrate your body stopes producing estogen and starts produsing more progestrone if you do not have a cycle than you keep producing estrogen and that is how cancer forms. cancer is mutaded cells and when you produce more estogen than you need those cells mutate.

― Tasha Quigley, Tuesday, 18 May 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Dunno, mate.

― Mike Skinner. (mark grout), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I would consult a doctor about this type of thing, although Mike is usually good at answering, oh dear x-post!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That's not really very accurate i'm afraid.

― leigh (leigh), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

there's now a birth control pill on the market which does the exact thing we were discussing on the thread. you only have a period every 3 months.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

periods are like my mom calling EVERY DAY-I hate them but I worry when they're not arriving on schedule, so I remain skeptical re:said pill. Besides (silly question alert) wouldn't there be backup of some sort?

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

what do you mean back up?

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

you know...(tries, fails) un-sloughed-off uterine lining

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"Back That Uterine Lining Up", the comeback single from Juvenile

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

'you's a big fine womb' etc

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess i'm confused. i'm not positive how the hormones work but there really isn't any problem with the constant hormone levels skipping your period requires and i don't think there's any liner buildup.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

'liner notes'
kay, thanks

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Is this a testimonial for reproduction? If I don't give birth I will get cancer. Excellent. Just bought a new pack of cigs.

― aimurchie, Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Ask Alice on 'menstrual suppression':

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1833.html

and on how the pill works:

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0663.html

i love alice.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Is this a testimonial for reproduction? If I don't give birth I will get cancer. Excellent. Just bought a new pack of cigs.

We're all going to die anyway. Though the idea of being a parent at 23 might accelerate that.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.