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- Before trying to induce your period, take a pregnancy test. If you are pregnant, any attempt to speed up your period can be harmful to your health.
- The safest way to induce your period at the right time is to prepare for it in advance and start taking hormonal contraceptives.
- A hot bath, parsley or ginger tea, and exercise are non-hormonal ways to speed up your period, but they have not been scientifically proven.
You can control your period. You can trigger it earlier than expected, for example, so that the first and hardest days of your cycle don’t coincide with an important event like a competition or a wedding. Or you can still trigger it, but only if it’s not delayed because of pregnancy (such experiments are dangerous during pregnancy). All the approaches described in the article work, but they can cause harm or have no effect. Remember that health is always more important than plans.
How to induce menstruation
To understand this, it is important to understand how menstruation works.
While the female body is experiencing ovulation , the uterus prepares to accept the fertilized egg and create the most comfortable conditions for it to further divide and grow. Under the influence of hormones (mainly estrogen and progesterone), the mucous membrane of the uterus – the endometrium – becomes thicker, softer, looser so that the egg can catch on and find nutrition.
If the egg is successfully fertilized, it descends into the uterus and settles in the prepared loose endometrium – the development of the fetus begins.
If not, the egg dies. The thickened endometrium is no longer needed, and the body gets rid of it. First, the level of progesterone , which the mucous membrane depends on, drops sharply. Due to the lack of nutrients, the endometrium atrophies. The vessels that connect it to the uterus become thinner and break. The bleeding that begins washes out the mucous layer from the uterus, which is no longer needed.
Around the same time, estrogen levels rise . In this case, it causes the uterus to contract, pushing out everything unnecessary.
If we take this into account, it turns out that there are only two ways to induce menstruation:
- Hormonal, that is, taking hormonal drugs that will create conditions for the rejection of the mucous membrane. This option is suitable if you are preparing for some important event and you have a couple of months to spare.
- Non-hormonal, that is, creating conditions in which the vessels connecting the endometrium to the walls of the uterus will rupture. But by artificially causing the rejection of the mucous membrane, you risk damaging large vessels and provoking uterine bleeding. Especially if there is a possibility of pregnancy .
Before trying to induce menstruation, be sure to take a pregnancy test. If it is positive, do not take risks and go to the gynecologist!
Even if the test is negative, it is better to consult a doctor, especially if your period is constantly late. This may be caused by a disease.
How to induce menstruation with hormones
The most effective and safe way to induce your period at the right time is to prepare for it in advance.
If you have an important event coming up, such as a vacation or a competition, start taking hormonal (combined oral contraceptives, or COCs) a couple of cycles before it. Don’t buy the pills yourself, but consult a gynecologist – the doctor will select the best drug for your situation.
A couple of days before the day you want your period to start, simply stop taking the medication (or switch to placebo pills if the form of release includes them). This will cause your period, or rather withdrawal bleeding, to start early.
The second option is to start a new pack without a break (without taking a placebo), and then quit at the right time.
It is better to take care in advance and start using hormonal contraceptives several months before the moment when you need to delay your period. Why? Because in the first three months, adaptation to taking COCs occurs and intermenstrual bleeding may be observed. If the period that needs to be delayed is already in this month, then the method with COCs will most likely not work.
Both of these options are not dangerous. But there are contraindications to taking birth control pills. And you can’t stop taking the pills whenever you want, because side effects may : your menstrual cycle will start to fail, PMS symptoms will appear, and your periods may become longer and heavier.
There are quite a lot of contraindications for oral contraceptives, which is why the drug is prescribed only by a doctor. First, anamnesis is carefully collected, a questionnaire is filled out.
The main contraindications include pregnancy, the postpartum period, breastfeeding, smoking in combination with age over 35, cardiovascular diseases, thrombosis and known mutations in the blood coagulation system, migraine with aura, some rheumatic diseases, breast cancer.
It is important to note that some contraindications include explanations or clarifications regarding the timeframes. If COCs are not suitable for a woman, then a method of hormonal contraception without estrogens can be selected – discuss this with your doctor.
How to induce menstruation without hormonal methods
Let us repeat the important thing: if the pregnancy test showed you two stripes, to the gynecologist. The doctor will tell you what to do next so as not to harm your health.
If you are not pregnant, but your period is late, do not panic. In addition to illnesses, there are a dozen why menstruation may come later. Among them are stress, acclimatization, diet, fatigue, physical overexertion. These conditions affect hormones and sometimes delay the onset of menstruation. So, perhaps, you just need to wait: within a few days, menstruation will come on its own.
But if there is no pregnancy and no time, you can try to speed up the process. We have collected several methods that have at least some scientific data. But none of them are proven and are not recommended by gynecologists.
1. Drink ginger or parsley tea
Boil a small piece of peeled and finely chopped ginger root in a glass of water for 5-7 minutes. Strain, add sugar or honey to taste
You can also make parsley tea: pour 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh herbs into a glass of boiling water and let it brew for about 5 minutes.
Both drinks can cause mild contractions of the uterus, which may speed up the onset of menstruation.
2. Take a hot bath
Firstly, high temperature blood circulation, including in the pelvic organs. This means that the risk of uterine contractions and the chances of a quick onset of menstruation will increase.
Secondly, a hot bath relaxes and helps relieve stress , which sometimes delays the onset of menstruation.
You can also apply a warm compress to the lower abdomen. Use a heating pad, or if you don’t have one, use a plastic bottle of hot water.
3. Relax properly
The point is to relieve that same stress. Take a day off, lie on the couch with a book, do yoga, do breathing exercises , or use any other relaxation technique .
If you are actively involved in sports, reduce the load: overexertion can also be a reason for a delay in menstruation. Give your body a rest.
4. Do some exercise
Your choice is exercises that will increase blood circulation in the pelvic area. Just don’t overdo it, otherwise you’ll get the opposite effect.
5. Have sex
Firstly, you will speed up blood circulation in the uterine area. Secondly, you will relieve stress.
When to seek urgent medical attention
If your induced period is too heavy and you feel like you are losing a lot of blood, call an ambulance immediately.
Also, be sure to consult a gynecologist if you find large blood clots on the pad or if your period lasts longer than usual and does not decrease in intensity. This may be a symptom of a disease – perhaps it is the disease that causes the delay.
