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How can I skip my period on birth control?

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Medically reviewed by Susan Vachon, PA-C on January 13, 2020

We completely understand wanting to skip your period for a special event! If you are able to plan ahead, we recommend taking birth control for at least one full cycle/month prior to trying to skip your period. It is completely safe to skip your period when using combination birth control pills, by skipping the inactive pills in your previous pack and starting a new pack of active pills right away. Often, many women experience irregular spotting the first time they skip their period with birth control. Though this is lighter than a regular period, it still can be unwelcome.

There are also many extended-cycle combination pills designed so that you only have four periods a year. These include options like:

Get Birth Control At Home

Birth control from Nurx costs as little as $0 with insurance or $15 per month without insurance.

Unfortunately, you can not skip your period on progestin-only birth control pills. Without a hormone-free interval during which you would have your period there are no pills to “skip” in order to avoid having a monthly period.

Click here if you would like to get started on birth control with Nurx. When you submit a request for birth control, please share the date of your event and we’ll do our best to make sure your period is one less thing you need to worry about.

For more answers to your healthcare questions, visit our Knowledge Center.

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