Does Ibuprofen Stop Your Period?

You may have experienced a time when you were younger where you took a high dosage of ibuprofen while on your period to try and kill the pain of your cramps, and found that not only does it get rid of the pain, but it also seems to completely stop your period. No matter how old you are now you might still want to try and stop your period for a short amount of time using ibuprofen, or just to know whether or not it actually works.

How Ibuprofen Works

Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory, over the counter pain medication. It stops pain in your body by inhibiting enzymes that tell your brain about the pain you are feeling. Because your brain does not receive the information those enzymes would be sending it, it cannot tell the source of your pain to swell to try and fix the pain problem; thus ibuprofen is also anti-inflammatory. These two factors can make taking ibuprofen in small doses very helpful when you are on your period, because you will bloat less and you will not feel the pain of your cramps thanks to the active ingredients in the drug. Because it is not a prescribed medication, you can easily get your hands on it.

Why Ibuprofen May or May Not Stop Your Period

There is a hormone in your body called prostaglandin. In essence, this is the hormone that helps your smooth muscles (such as muscles in your stomach or uterus) know when to contract and when to relax. Ibuprofen can inhibit prostaglandin from doing its job, and the result will sometimes mean that if you take ibuprofen while on your period, the flow may be stopped completely. This can sometimes be true of tylenol as well.
In order to stop your period with ibuprofen, you have to take high doses of the drug – about 800 mg doses three times a day. That’s about three little red pills taken three times during a 24 hour period of time, or once every eight hours. Alternately, you can take one or two pills every four hours. Do not do this for a prolonged amount of time! The most you should try to take this much ibuprofen is three days maximum. Ibuprofen is not a prescription for stopping women’s periods – depending on the woman and the period, it may not have any effect on the shedding of the uterus. Always talk to a doctor if you want to stop your period; they get paid to help you fulfill your health goals, and they can give you access to safer methods.

The Dangers of Overdosing on Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen can stop your flow, but it might not, depending on individualities of your body and how heavy your period is. If you try to stop your period by taking large doses of ibuprofen, you need to know the risks that you are going to put your body to. Again, only take high doses of ibuprofen at the instruction of your doctor, and be careful!
Your stomach will be more prone to ulcers, because of the deregulating effect ibuprofen has on prostaglandin. This can lead to internal bleeding in your stomach, nausea, etc. For some people, taking ibuprofen will cause blood problems – some bodies react by clotting blood randomly, others react by inhibiting blood clotting, so if you get a wound, your body can’t stop the bleeding. Both can have deadly consequences. There are other side effects of ibuprofen, such as digestive and breathing problems that are associated with taking high doses of the drug.

In Conclusion

Does ibuprofen stop your period? You will have to experiment to find out for yourself. High doses of ibuprofen (and by the same virtue, tylenol) can stop your period. However, it depends on a lot of factors that are mostly outside of your control. You should be very careful if you decide to try and stop or lessen your flow by taking ibuprofen, because taking too much can do a number on your stomach lining. If you really want to stop your period, talk to your doctor. Doctors can give you safer, personalized prescriptions that will be more likely to have the desired outcome for you with less of the risks.