I'm going on a trip for the 4th of July weekend. But my period is going to start probably on Sunday or Monday. I plan to just keep taking my active pills so I can skip my period for this cycle. I've never done it before. Will I still bleed at all? Do I still need to bring pads on my vacation just to be safe?

How many times can I skip my period within a year?

Dont be afraid about doing this. Its perfectly okay. They dont recommend you skip a lot ..but id say around every 3 or 4 months is okay. But not totally sure on that one. If you skip, you MIGHT still have a little bleeding or spotting. Not always the case though, so you might want to bring a few pads just in case.

Well have fun on your vacation, i wish i could go do something cool for the 4th!

I asked my gyn this same question at my checkup today. I think it depends on what kind of bcp you're on though. I'm taking yasmin. She said i could try it if i wanted. She told me to skip only 3 in a row then have a period. But she also said i may have some breakthrough bleeding until my body gets used to skipping. Kinda like when u first start taking it, your body has to adjust. :wave:

I'm on Yaz & one the main motivators for taking it was that once my body adjusts to it, I can manipulate it to having 4 periods in a year. It's a gradual process though. I have to take 3 months as I normally would, afterwards I can skip the inactive pills for 2 months. Go back to 3 months w/a period & afterwards I can skip the white pills 3 mnths, take 1 mnth w/them and so forth. She did tell me that if I jumped right into it, then I would more than likely have breakthrough bleeding. But I guess that's better than a full scale period.