Dear Dr. Kate,

I am 29 years old and my menstrual periods are very regular. I bleed on the last week of the month for four to five days. My family and I are taking a beach vacation, and it starts at the end of June to the first week in July. So I know that I'll have my period then. I really want to know if there is something I can do, use, take, drink, etc. to stop my period from coming in those days. I really want to wear my bathing suit and be in the water with my family, and I hate wearing tampons. I've already had my tubes tied, so I am not using anything for birth control.

Beach-Bound Bleeder-To-Be

Dear Bx5,

Our periods are never more of a pain than when it's beautiful outside and we want to wear white pants or bikinis. While tampons can make your menses less obvious, there is a way to avoid bleeding altogether. As you may have guessed, it's by using hormonal birth control (the pill, the ring or the patch) to skip your period this month. You can start any of these methods today--no need to wait for your next period, or even for Sunday. Then follow this guide:

• Using the pill. Take an active pill every day (no skipping) until you reach the placebo pills (there will be 4 or 7 of them, depending on which pill you're taking). Toss the placebos in the trash and begin a new pack that day--in other words, you're going right from the hormonal pills of one pack to the hormonal pills of the next. At the end of that second pack, you can take the placebos and have a period as usual. Alternatively, you could start Seasonale or Seasonique, which would take you right through your vacation.

• Using the ring. Put the ring in today, and leave it in for five weeks--even though it's labeled for three weeks of use, there's enough hormones for five. At the end of the fifth week, take it out and have your period. If you want, you can start a new ring right away--with no ring-free days--in order to extend the amount of no-bleeding time.

• Using the patch. Put patch No. 1 on today, and use patches 2 and 3 as usual, for one week each. At the end of patch No. 3, begin a new box for patch No. 4. Use 6 patches in this way, then go patch-free to have your period.

Be warned, however: there's no guarantee that you won't bleed by using birth control this way. Some women have spotting on the first months of birth control. And you'll obviously have to get to a doctor for a prescription as soon as you can. But it's worth a shot, and it's safe to do.

Do any of you skip your periods using birth control for vacations or in the summer?