I haven’t tried those, but the basic medical consensus (which I did not know) is that you can safely skip the placebo pills in any pack and never have your period again if that’s what you want to do. From what I gather, the bleeding you experience on birth control isn’t an actual period, so it doesn’t matter whether you skip it or not.
ETA: No side effects on NuvaRing! It is highly unusual for me not to react very strongly to medication side-effects, so I thought it worth mentioning.
Important note: This is true only for monophasic pills. Triphasic pills, where each week of pills has a different dosage, cannot be used in this way, or at least that’s what I was told by my GYN once.
How did you react to oral contraceptives? I have really, really bad PMS, and going on oral contraceptives made me feel like I was having PMS every day of the month. They seriously turned me into a raging hell beast. And I tried four or five different brands and formulations, too. This has given me a complete fear of hormonal birth control methods, even though I’ll admit your description of the NuvaRing is extremely attractive to me.
Thanks for making that distinction, I wasn’t aware of that.
I react pretty strongly to oral contraceptives. They usually take at least a couple months for me to adjust. Yaz, for example, which was supposed to be for people with horrible PMS, actually resulted in my having my period (along with PMS) at random every 1-3 weeks with no warning whatsoever. The best I’ve ever done on a Pill is Lo Ogestrel, which is a monophasic, but it didn’t stop the bloating and I still had moderate pain/mood swings, enough that I went to the doctor and said, ‘‘Well, this is okay, but I’d really rather just not have my period at all.’’ At that point she gave me my options and recommended either Seasonale or the NuvaRing (Depo and Implanon were not reccomended because of my depression history.) Because of the low hormone dosage comparable to Mirena, I was really skeptical of NuvaRing, but the risk of trying it was low so I agreed to give it a shot.
And yeah, I’m just as amazed as anyone that there are no side effects. I’ve only been using it for about two and a half months. I haven’t had a period yet, but around period time I might get something I call ‘‘mini-PMS.’’ Mild cramps and maybe a 1-2 pound weight gain (I used to gain 5 pounds, no joke.) No emotional side effects whatsoever–I’ve never been on such an even keel in my life.
Just wanted to mention my experience with the Nuvaring because it’s the exact opposite of yours. 
I just want to make sure that everyone knows what can happen.
Trying the Nuvaring was literally one of the worst experiences of my life. I’m not exaggerating. After only 2 or 3 days with it in, I suddenly plummeted into the worst depression I’ve ever had (and I’ve had some dark times, mentally); it was the kind that made you want to quietly cry just for existing.
A day after that, I began having multiple panic attacks a day (heart racing, breathing fast, feeling like I needed to get the fuck out of here now now now NOW NOW, no matter where I was). I literally had to force myself to eat anything because I had no appetite at all. I wasn’t able to sleep more than maybe 2 hours a night because I’d wake up in a blind panic.
I had just been seeing my boyfriend (now husband :)) for about 6 months at that time and I became consumed with thoughts that I’d obviously cheat on him and stomp his heart to pieces, even though I didn’t want to, because that’s just how awful of a person I am and there’s no denying it.
It was the only time in college I ever skipped any classes. I’d get to the building and I just knew I couldn’t go to a class and concentrate. I’d freak the fuck out and cry. So I spent days just pacing and talking 23587235023 words a minute. I’m sure it looked like I was on speed.
I took it out after a week and it took 2-3 weeks for the panic attacks to go away and over 3 months for the depression to mostly fade. 
I’m so jealous of the people who have great results with the Nuvaring. Lucky bitches! 
Turns out that for me, if I’m going to use hormonal BC, I have to have a higher estrogen ratio in the hormone cocktail. The Nuvaring had too much progestin in it for me.
Just goes to show, us wimminfolk are all special snowflakes and the only way of knowing if something is going to work or not is to try it!
I can highly recommend Norethindrone. 365 days a year, no stabby cramps, icky bleeding out, no period at all. Great for PCOS sufferers, endometriosis sufferers, anybody who feels like avoiding the whole must bleed monthly to feel womanly bullshit.
But then again, I also just had my inner tormenting girly bits yanked out with extreme prejudice, and I can highly recommend hysterectomies also =)
I had been hoping for more of the long-term (non permanent) options. I’m helping a teen figure out what she should use. She has severe ADD and can’t remember to take the pill (got pregnant), went nuts for 9 months on Depo (also gained a huge amount of weight, which could have been coincidental), can’t remember to use the patch correctly, already has severe cramping and is terrified of the IUD, would never do the NuvaRring thing, etc. The nurses at one teen clinic have recommended the Mirena IUD and say that girls do well with it, but at Planned Parenthood they told her that many girls beg to have it removed because of the cramping and heavy bleeding. She could try the IUD at the beginning of the summer so if she does have problems, it won’t interfere with her school attendance, but she’s pretty scared of trying. It’s looking like Implanon might be the best solution for her.
I really doubt you’ll find any doctors that’ll recommend or insert an IUD for a teenager - while no forms of birth control other than condoms protect against STDs, doctors seem really really leery of giving IUDs to any ladies who aren’t monogamous or married. No, I don’t really have any idea why either.
That said, I might have mentioned how much I love and worship my Mirena IUD.
I tried Seasonique for about 6 months, but got a lot of random breakthrough spotting around when I would have gotten my period if I wasn’t on the pill, and at other random times. I thought it would go away after awhile, but it never did. It wasn’t awful or heavy, but one gets sick of bleeding with no warning.
I tried the Nuvaring - aside from it causing yeast infections I don’t normally get, it was fantastic. But the yeast infections were a dealbreaker - my doctor said it’s not an “official” side affect, but one she’d heard from other women, so I’m not sure how common it is.
Stay as far away from possible from Yaz, unless you enjoy being an evil hell-beast who never stops bleeding.
I could not get the Nuvaring to fit properly. It kept poking out.
A fondness for oral sex, heavy petting and guys who insist on condoms (and maybe a few cases of Plan B)?
I should be eligible for health insurance at my new job soon (yay!) and have been thinking about starting this thread myself. Thanks, needscoffee, for beating me to it (and, apprently, you don’t need it that bad!) and for everyone who’s chimed in.
I was on various forms of The Pill for about ten years, until I got laid off/lost health insurance, so this has been on my mind. I liked being on the Pill a lot, for what it’s worth, but something about taking hormones for such a long time seems … I dunno, like it’s got to be a bad idea somehow.
:: resumes lurking ::
I’ve had a copper T IUD for about 5 years now. I love it! It’s very effective, and you don’t have to think about it at all or do anything.
Having it installed was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad (and my insurance paid for it all!) My periods were a bit heavier than usual for the first few months, but now everything is back to normal and I love it!
Not in this universe.
Does she have a cell phone? She can set an alarm on her phone to go off at the same time every day to remind her to take a pill. If she can’t manage that she should keep some condoms in her purse and know that they are the only option if she can’t/won’t get an IUD, doesn’t respond well to depo, can’t remember to take a pill, and can’t use the patch correctly.
I use Yasmin and it works pretty well for me.
Before I started taking BC at 17 (I’m 21 now) I got really really really horrible absurdly awful cramps that hurt so bad I would pull my hair and pinch my arms to distract myself from it. I would bloat up and cry and scream for no reason. I was really unpleasant. Yasmin took care of the cramping almost entirely but I still bloat up. As for the mood swings, if I take the pills perfectly, they are gone. One slip up, however, and I hop on the mood roller-coaster.
There were some strange side-effects that I didn’t get until I switched to the generic, Ocella. I got erythema nodosum on my legs which persisted for about six months (two of which I thought they might be weird bug bites or something. I was sort of busy at the moment working two jobs during the summer before my sophomore year of college) and I also gained weight and a couple cup sizes though the weight could be blamed on working at McDonalds for a year.
I’m mostly satisfied but I am thinking about changing it when I go to the girly doctor this month.
I just Googled and it causes that? I thought I was just having weird allergic reactions to milk (I’m allergic to milk fat). Insert “the more you know” GIF here
Again, hasn’t worked for her, has gotten pregnant once already. Very immature, terrible ADD, poor impulse control, etc., etc. Without going into too much detail, it’s gotta be a long-term thing.
Lock the kid in a room til she has more common sense than eggs.
My doctor said it was the most probable cause. Apparently, a lot of things can cause it. It was pretty painful because my part time job required lots of kneeling and I had a bump right in the bend of knee.