BC question....and changing your cycle.

[tigerest]

My best friend asked me a question and I just want to see if anyone has done this or has any suggestions.

My best friend is on the patch. And she only gets to see her BF like once a month, which happens to be during AF everytime. I mentioned to her that I thought you could change your cycle/ or postpone it by messing with your BC.

This sunday would be the day she would take off her patch and not put on another one. If she puts another patch on, won't that keep AF from coming?

Then can she take it off after a week and get AF? Will this postpone AF for a week?

I know some people do this for their weddings, just not sure how it works.

THANKS

[ktsb]

You can defintiely effect your cycle with BC. There is a special pill you can take which will do this Seasonale or something although you can do it with other brands as well.

I did it for years. I would start taking the next round of pills instead of taking the week of placebos. This meant I did not have a period and does work great for vacations and weddings.

I did make sure to have a period several times a year though.

This also stopped my migraine headaches significantly.

[Lolavix]

Then can she take it off after a week and get AF? Will this postpone AF for a week?

With BCP, if you just start the new pack of pills and skip the placebo week, you continue with that pack of pills until the end. If you want to get AF at the end of the cycle, you take the placebos. If you don't want AF at the end of that cycle, you would just immediately start the next pack. As ktsb mentioned, though, it is important to have a period a few times a year.

I think if she is going to do this she would just put the new patch on and pretend she already had AF this month. She wouldn't have her period this month, and would just start counting the days from the time she put the new patch on to figure out when she should remove it. (I have no idea how the patch works/how long you wear it for.) If she does it this one time, it should move her period to a new starting date and she shouldn't have to do it again.

[jenji]

I'd say it depends on if she does a triphasic (like ortho) or something else.
If the patches contain different amounts of hormones each week like the pill, then she would just do the next whole round (3 weeks) of patches after her last patch instead. that will put her period off for another 3 weeks. If it's not a tri-phasic then I don't know, but my Dr. told me with the pill (OTC) that I could take 2 packs back to back, skipping the placebo week if my period was going to be during the honeymoon.
I have a friend who is a pharmacist and does that with her Yasmin. she does it 3 months at a time so she only gets 4 periods a year... kinda like seasonale, but with her regular pills

[Tracie]

I don't know anything about the patch, but I did it with the pill for my wedding (I was scheduled to start AF the day I left for my honeymoon - unacceptable!) and it worked great!