im in a long distance relationship, won't be having sex until december or january and am wondering if its bad to start the pill for a few months then stop for a few months. I just don't see the point of paying for it if im not going to be having sex anyway. Thanks ,
sadsong

Do NOT start-stop-start when you are on birth control pills. The hormonal fluctuations will be way too much for you to handle, and you will probably be back here complaining about all of the resulting side effects.

If you want to quit, then quit. But if you're going to keep using it sometime in the future, then you might as well just stay on and not quit until you're ready to quit for sure.

All of these women who go on and off and on and off have so many problems that they can't handle. No one knows how long those side effects last from quitting and then starting and then quitting again will last, but it's a really ugly scene and I wouldn't advise it for anyone.

It depends on the person, though. I feel and look better (skin and weight) for the 1st 4 months i am off the pill and then again up to about 6 months when i've been back on it. So it might suit some people to do this. They say you should have a break from it every 3 years anyway.

It's not reccommended to start and stop, and no one in the medical community would tell you to take a break from your pill at all if you're planning on staying on it.

As I posted before, if you aren't planning on going off the pill then quit. But if you were just going to go back on after taking a break, then it's not worth it to stop. Any doctor would tell you that.

The problem is that being on the pill screws with your hormones so much that if you keep going off and then on and then off again then your body will not know what is going on. You may also develop major side effects from the hormone fluctuations. It's not worth it.

What about taking it for one month before a vacation once a year to prevent PMT and a heavy period? Would that be ok? Cos you would be off it for 11 months of the year.

Well, since it takes at least 3 months for the pill to be somewhat integrated into your body chemistry, it wouldn't be worth it to just take it for one month. Your body needs much longer than 1 month to get used to it.

But when i first start taking it 14 years ago and then cam off it and re-started it last year, my first period on it is always ok (on time, no PMT and not heavy). It starts controlling my periods straight away, although it does affect my weight and skin after 3 months.

Regardless of your experience, the medical community has stated that it takes a minimum of three months for your body to acclimate to having this foreign hormone added to your body. That's why, when a girl first starts taking the pill and experiences really bad side effects, they tell her to wait for 3 months to see if those side effects improve or go away. The doctor will tell the patients that they should try each different pill for a minimum of three months before switching to another one to determine whether or not is is working with that patient's body chemistry.

Yeah, i understand what you are trying to say, but i am talking about the controlling a period side of things, which it's supposed to do straight away. When my doctor first put me on it, he said my periods would be ok straight away and they were. That's why i was wondering if it was ok to take for just one month before a vacation, so the period you have on your vacation will be ok. Like some people take their pill back to back before they go away. I can't see this being any more harmful than that, can it?

Shakira

I think you are talking about taking BC pills for just one month to delay your period so you wont have it on your vaction??

For one thing-this wont work. It takes 3 months atleast for your body to change its cycles with the birth control. So for example if you started the birth control 1 month before your vacation, you will still have your period whenever your normally would have (without the birth control pills) because the pill does not change your cycle that quickly.

Secondly, no, it would NOT be good for your body to just take BC pills for one month, or even two months.

No doctor will prescribe you BC pills for the reason you are wanting them, and they wont work they way you want anyways.

Hormones are VERY SERIOUS and you dont want to put artifical hormones in your body unless you really really need them.

No, i don't mean to delay my period. I probably would still have a period on the vacation, but it would be alot lighter and shorter than it is off the pill. And i wouln't be going to the doctors for 1 months supply, lol, i already have a few packs left that i could use.

It's no different to trying a pill that gives you bad side effects and deciding not to take it any longer. You would have only taken it for a month then. It's not like i'm constantly going on it and coming off it. I took the same one for 13 years straight, then a different one for a year, then came off it for 6 months, then took it for a year and now come off it again. So i've only come off it twice.

I was just thinking if i was going on a special vacation and i was already not taken it, i could take it before i went, so i didn't have bad PMT and heavy bleeding while on vacation.