Is It Possible To Make Your Period Come Early?
You've just booked your flights for vacation and you're looking forward to a hassle-free plane ride. Your bags are packed and your excitement is at an all-time high. Before you know it though, you're seeing those signs that your period might be around the corner. Maybe it's the mood swings or the acne. Or perhaps it's the bodily discomfort that's making its way from your belly to your spine. Your period is on its way and your hassle-free plane ride just went out the window.
It might seem that your period decides to show up when you least want it. Is there a way to induce your period so you can get it over with sooner rather than leave it for a week when you have activities or social gatherings planned? The answer, it would seem, is yes, though it's not guaranteed to work exactly like you want it, according to Medical News Today.
Convenience and medical conditions like oligomenorrhea and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), per Insider, can dictate your desire to make your period come early, and while there are some scientifically-backed methods of inducing your period, others are really just anecdotal. OB/GYN Tamika K. Cross's advice to Insider, however, cautions against inducing your period if you have doubts of whether you might be pregnant. With that out of the way, here are some possible ways to make your period come faster.
You can induce your period with hormonal birth control pills or the ring
Altering the way in which you take your hormonal birth control pills could do the trick when it comes to speeding up your period. While it's always a good idea to discuss what you're about to do with your doctor in order to avoid pregnancy or health risks, it is possible to manipulate how you take the pills in order to make sure you still get to go on that camping trip you've been meaning to for a while (via Self).
OB/GYN Tamika K. Cross emphasized to Insider the importance of knowing what kind of pill you're on before you attempt changing anything up. "Any time you stop taking birth control is when that withdrawal of hormones makes your period come," she adds. If you're on the birth control pill that has estrogen and progestin in it (combination pill), what you would typically be doing is taking active pills for 21 days and placebo pills on 7 days, per Mayo Clinic. Yale Medical School clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology Mary Jane Minkin told Self that in order to bleed early, you'd want to take the placebo pills the week in which you want your period.
With the ring or patch, you follow the same principle as with the active days and off days. When you want to bleed, remove your ring or your patch, "then start back up again with a fresh ring or patch after 7 days," says Self.
Sex and stress relief are the other methods
A lot happens to your body during your period, and if you want to get those days of bleeding out of the way sooner, an orgasm is one other route to take, per Medical News Today. And so is a pelvic exam, apparently. You might notice that your bleeding started early if you engaged in sex, up to 24 hours before you expected it to start, OB/GYN Scott G. Chudnoff told Insider.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research also found a correlation between stress and period regularity. If you've had a particularly stressful week at work, chances are this could've pushed your bleeding time a little further off. "Stress comes with the hormones cortisol and adrenaline. So, stress can affect the release of estrogen and progesterone — the two hormones responsible for your menstrual cycle," OB/GYN Tamika K. Cross said to Insider.
Now that the health professionals-certified methods of making your period come early have been explored, a word or two on methods that aren't supported by science. Consuming pineapple juice, enlisting the aid of herbs, and doubling up on vitamin C are all useless when it comes to inducing your period. It might be worth noting, however, that intense exercise could possibly cause breakthrough bleeding (via Verywell Health). Also, regular fitness regimens and a reduction in body fat could influence hormones, thereby affecting the flow of your period.