Sometimes, it can be inconvenient to have your period when it’s due. Although periods can give you important messages about your body (for example, if you notice a change in your cycle or pain levels), they can occasionally get in the way. Rather than having to worry about the potential for leakage, you can now buy tablets to stop periods temporarily.
There are several ways of postponing mother nature, it just depends on which way is the most suitable for you. In this section, we offer period delay tablets such as the generic medicine, norethisterone, and the branded version of the same drug, Utovlan.
If you’d like to learn more about these medicines, you can find all the information about them on their own pages.
All medication is dispensed via a full regulated and registered UK pharmacy. All prices displayed on our site include the price of the medication and our doctors consultation fee.
How to delay your period
Most of the time, your menstrual cycle tells you things about your body, but every now and then, it can become a nuisance. The cramping and bleeding that comes along with having a period can cause discomfort and disruption to daily life, let alone if you have an event or holiday coming up.
There are many reasons why you might want to delay your period. Whether you’ve got a night out, a romantic weekend away, a wedding, or a holiday where you don’t want to worry about wearing tampons whilst swimming, period delay tablets are available to help you out.
Delaying your period is your choice, but it’s important to know that treatments in this section are only for postponing it, not for permanently stopping your menstrual cycle.
Tablets to stop periods
Norethisterone and Utovlan are the main period delay pills available. They work by increasing the levels of progesterone in your body. Progesterone is a hormone that occurs naturally anyway, and levels tend to vary throughout the month depending on your cycle. When progesterone levels are high, your womb lining prepares for fertilisation. If this doesn’t happen, the levels fall, and you have a period.
As norethisterone increases the levels of progesterone in your body, the womb lining stays prepared and doesn’t shed as it normally would. This effect lasts for as long as you take the period delay tablets.
These medicines are usually taken 3 times a day, starting from 3 days before your period is due. You should continue taking noretheisterone for as long as you want to postpone your period for. It’s generally recommended that you shouldn’t take these medicines for longer than a month. If you’re looking to stop your periods for longer, other options might be available.
Other ways to delay your period
Norethisterone isn’t the only way for you to temporarily stop your period – you can also do it with the contraceptive pill if you’re already taking it. If you’re taking an every-day contraceptive, you shouldn’t need to do anything, as these generally tend to stop you from menstruating anyway. However, if you’re on the combined pill where you take a 7-day break between packs (or use placebo pills), you can just skip the break by starting a new pack.
If you’re already using hormonal contraceptives such as the pill or mini-pill, you shouldn’t need to use norethisterone or other period delay tablets.
Period delay tablets and contraception
Period delay tablets like norethisterone aren’t the same as contraceptives and shouldn’t be used as a substitute. If you want to delay your period but also want to prevent pregnancy, your safest option will be to start taking hormonal contraceptives as mentioned above. There shouldn’t be any need to take the two medicines together, so the way in which you delay your cycle will depend on what’s best for you.
Can you stop a period once it’s started?
Unfortunately, it’s fairly difficult to stop a period that’s already started – that’s why most period delay tablets recommend starting the treatment 3 days before you’re next due. If you’re looking for treatments to stop a period that you’re currently having, it’s unlikely that norethisterone will help, as the lining of your womb will have already started to shed.
Buy period delay tablets
Period delay tablets are available to buy online from a trusted online prescribing service such as Doctor4U. The treatments available for postponing a menstrual cycle are only available with a valid prescription, so if you see anywhere online selling them without a consultation or option to upload your own prescription, you should avoid them, despite how convenient they may seem. At Doctor4U, you don’t need a pre-existing prescription for period delay tablets – one of our doctors can provide you with one after a consultation. If you’re looking to postpone your cycle with prescription treatments, you’ll first need to complete a consultation for period delay in the form of a patient questionnaire. One of our GMC-registered doctors will review this and decide whether the tablets you’ve chosen are suitable for you. If they are, an electronic prescription will be generated, and your treatment will be shipped out to you.
When buying medicines online, you should always look for a clickable icon that says “click to verify if this website is operating legally”. You can find ours in the footer of the website on every page.
