Period delay tablets can help you temporarily skip your period – here’s how they work
Published: June 15, 2022 11.45am BST
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Susan Walker
Reader in Contraception, Reproductive and Sexual Health, Anglia Ruskin University
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Susan Walker has received funding from Bayer PLC.
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Many women don’t know period delay tablets are available to them.
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There’s an underlying law of the universe which dictates a woman’s period will always arrive just in time to disrupt important plans. For any woman who’s ever had a special trip or event spoiled thanks to the arrival of her period, having a way of skipping it temporarily would be life-changing.
Users of the combined contraceptive pill are able to postpone or skip their period by starting their next packet of birth control instead of taking the break week. For women on different types of contraceptives (or no contraceptive at all), they’ve had no choice but to deal with their period and all its inconveniences – whenever it arrives. But recently, more and more high-street pharmacies have started selling period delay tablets on prescription – which may just be the solution many women have been waiting for.
Delaying your period
For many years, doctors have been able to prescribe a course of hormone tablets to delay a period. But more recently, retail pharmacists in the UK (such as Boots) have started selling the period delay tablet Utovlan via
online consultation with a doctor.
These tablets contain an artificial hormone, similar to the body’s progesterone, which helps to delay the end of a natural cycle – ultimately delaying a period. These pills are only designed to be used by women not already taking the combined oral birth control pill.