1:44 pm - 01/01/2009
Experience with successfully delaying my period using norethisterone/norethindrone
At the end of November I posted here with a request for suggestions on how to delay my period during a scheduled visit with my LDR boyfriend who is uncomfortable with period sex. I have Essure and am not on HBC, so stacking pills was not an option. 
incarnated_joy suggested requesting a prescription for norethisterone, which is also known as norethindrone, and is a generic for Aygestin. Here's my experience with the process:
First, I did a lot of Google searching and website reading and found that norethisterone/norethindrone is mostly prescribed for women with heavy bleeding to make a period end. However, based on a number of sites and reports I came across, it is indeed used to delay periods, but seems to be used more often in the UK than in the US for delaying of periods. Side effects include the usual HBC ones: nausea/vomiting, headache, depression, sleeplessness, lowered sex drive, weight gain, etc. I was ok with all of that, especially since this is the only time I plan on using this medication (from now on we will be more careful about when we arrange our visits, unless he gets more comfortable with the idea of period sex).
Next, I called my ob/gyn to see about getting an appointment to discuss the medication, but they could not get me in until February.
So then I called and scheduled a consultation appointment with my general practitioner to see if he would prescribe it. He, unfortunately, had never heard of it - but then again, based on the patients I usually see in the waiting room, his focus is on geriatric issues. In fact, he said that if I came in asking about a blood pressure medicine, he could probably tell me all about it, but recommended that I call my ob/gyn and talk to a nurse on the phone, and see if they would prescribe it without an appointment. He said if they flat-out said no, he would do some research and would likely go ahead and prescribe it, but felt more comfortable having me check with them first since it was their area of expertise. He was also very nice and didn't charge me for the visit.
I called my ob/gyn's office and asked to speak to the nurse. The triage nurse I talked to was familiar with the medication's uses for heavy periods, but was VERY against prescribing it "just because you're going to visit your boyfriend" - she was quite snarky, actually. I asked her to talk with my usual nurse practitioner, and she said she would. Finally I got a call back that my NP had approved it, and they called it into the pharmacy. The nurse said that I would start bleeding the day after I stopped taking the pills (websites had said within 3 - 5 days), and it may not work at all if I had already ovulated.
When I picked it up, it was a $10 copay (with insurance), and I found that I was supposed to take one 5 mg pill one time a day for 10 days. I was a little concerned about this, because most of the websites I'd seen said 5 mg 3 times a day, but I decided I'd gotten what I was going to get, and hoped for the best. I counted backwards from the last day of my visit with my bf and took the first one 10 days before that. I took the first pill the evening of the 10th day before the end of my visit with my bf, and did my best to take the other pills around the same time each evening as with regular hormone-type meds.
The first couple of days I didn't notice any side effects. I usually spot a couple of days before the real start of my period, and I am pretty regular, so I normally would have expected to start spotting on the 26th and start my period on the 28th. I was very happy when the 26th went by, and there was no sign of Aunt Flo. Around the 28th (about 7 days after starting the meds), I started feeling really bloated and a little down - the usual PMS stuff - but no spotting or anything. Finally, yesterday, when I was due to take the last pill in the evening, some light spotting started happening - but it was the last day of the visit, so I wasn't too concerned - I didn't bother to take the last pill last night. Today seems to be a normal spotting sort of day, and so far, I haven't noted any particular side effects (aside from both me & especially my boyfriend being more comfortable during sexytimes). :D
For the tl;dr fans - a little difficulty getting the prescription, mostly due to unfamiliarity with the medication, but mission eventually accomplished, and in MY case, delaying my period using Aygestin (norethisterone/norethindrone) worked well FOR ME; ymmv, of course - talk to your doctor, etc. etc. etc.
Thanks,incarnated_joy and others in the 
vaginapagina community for responding to my original post. Comments/constructive criticism/questions about my experience are welcome.
Maintainers: I tried to tag this post & my original one as "delaying-periods" but Semagic won't let me post with tags. Guess it's a community setting?
incarnated_joy suggested requesting a prescription for norethisterone, which is also known as norethindrone, and is a generic for Aygestin. Here's my experience with the process:First, I did a lot of Google searching and website reading and found that norethisterone/norethindrone is mostly prescribed for women with heavy bleeding to make a period end. However, based on a number of sites and reports I came across, it is indeed used to delay periods, but seems to be used more often in the UK than in the US for delaying of periods. Side effects include the usual HBC ones: nausea/vomiting, headache, depression, sleeplessness, lowered sex drive, weight gain, etc. I was ok with all of that, especially since this is the only time I plan on using this medication (from now on we will be more careful about when we arrange our visits, unless he gets more comfortable with the idea of period sex).
Next, I called my ob/gyn to see about getting an appointment to discuss the medication, but they could not get me in until February.
So then I called and scheduled a consultation appointment with my general practitioner to see if he would prescribe it. He, unfortunately, had never heard of it - but then again, based on the patients I usually see in the waiting room, his focus is on geriatric issues. In fact, he said that if I came in asking about a blood pressure medicine, he could probably tell me all about it, but recommended that I call my ob/gyn and talk to a nurse on the phone, and see if they would prescribe it without an appointment. He said if they flat-out said no, he would do some research and would likely go ahead and prescribe it, but felt more comfortable having me check with them first since it was their area of expertise. He was also very nice and didn't charge me for the visit.
I called my ob/gyn's office and asked to speak to the nurse. The triage nurse I talked to was familiar with the medication's uses for heavy periods, but was VERY against prescribing it "just because you're going to visit your boyfriend" - she was quite snarky, actually. I asked her to talk with my usual nurse practitioner, and she said she would. Finally I got a call back that my NP had approved it, and they called it into the pharmacy. The nurse said that I would start bleeding the day after I stopped taking the pills (websites had said within 3 - 5 days), and it may not work at all if I had already ovulated.
When I picked it up, it was a $10 copay (with insurance), and I found that I was supposed to take one 5 mg pill one time a day for 10 days. I was a little concerned about this, because most of the websites I'd seen said 5 mg 3 times a day, but I decided I'd gotten what I was going to get, and hoped for the best. I counted backwards from the last day of my visit with my bf and took the first one 10 days before that. I took the first pill the evening of the 10th day before the end of my visit with my bf, and did my best to take the other pills around the same time each evening as with regular hormone-type meds.
The first couple of days I didn't notice any side effects. I usually spot a couple of days before the real start of my period, and I am pretty regular, so I normally would have expected to start spotting on the 26th and start my period on the 28th. I was very happy when the 26th went by, and there was no sign of Aunt Flo. Around the 28th (about 7 days after starting the meds), I started feeling really bloated and a little down - the usual PMS stuff - but no spotting or anything. Finally, yesterday, when I was due to take the last pill in the evening, some light spotting started happening - but it was the last day of the visit, so I wasn't too concerned - I didn't bother to take the last pill last night. Today seems to be a normal spotting sort of day, and so far, I haven't noted any particular side effects (aside from both me & especially my boyfriend being more comfortable during sexytimes). :D
For the tl;dr fans - a little difficulty getting the prescription, mostly due to unfamiliarity with the medication, but mission eventually accomplished, and in MY case, delaying my period using Aygestin (norethisterone/norethindrone) worked well FOR ME; ymmv, of course - talk to your doctor, etc. etc. etc.
Thanks,
incarnated_joy and others in the vaginapagina community for responding to my original post. Comments/constructive criticism/questions about my experience are welcome.Maintainers: I tried to tag this post & my original one as "delaying-periods" but Semagic won't let me post with tags. Guess it's a community setting?
Thanks for replying xx