Does anyone know any effective ways to lighten your period...other than birth control??

Firstly, birth control doesn't lighten periods - you don't menstruate on hormonal birth control, you experience a withdrawal bleed which can be lighter than menstruation as birth control prevents secondary uterine lining build-up.

- Menstrual options.

Try menstrual cups like Mooncup or Divacup, they hold far more than other menstrual products (pads 15ml max, tampons 18ml max, cups around 32ml) and are safe to wear for up to 12 hours at any point in your period without alternating with pads, they also don't leak like other options and make periods much easier to manage. If you want to stick with pads try cloth pads over disposable pads as you can get higher absorbencies in cloth pads, even if just wearing them at home, and team-up pads with period underwear like Thinx or Dear Kates to prevent leaks too.

- Dietary changes.

Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory, so works in a similar way to ibuprofen (see below) plus a load of other benefits that make it worth considering adding to your diet in general. Avoid cow’s milk products to reduce flow, going totally dairy-free really works for some girls but it can take a few months to see a benefit and you need to make sure you're getting calcium from other sources: A2 milk like goats milk can be a good alternative. Make sure in general to get a good diet, that means a BALANCED diet: healthy doesn't just mean eating nothing but salad: protein such as in chicken and tuna, healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado, and maintain balanced blood sugar. Eat phytoestrogens like in nuts and soy, this helps to reduce estrogen stimulation of the uterine lining. Caffeine helps reduce your flow during your period too, basically it helps by restricting the blood vessels, but it means it can increase menstrual cramps (cramps caused by uterine contractions and inflammation of the muscles causing the blood vessels to clamp down reducing blood flow thus oxygen to the muscle) so not always a good idea.

- Supplements.

A multi-vitamin may be useful just to make sure you're getting everything that you need, but also try an iron supplement after your evening meal too - low iron can both cause heavy flow and be cause by heavy flow too so good to increase. Kelp tablets can help as they're a good source of iodine which helps reduce thickness in the uterine lining. Consider herbal supplements too, if in your teens vitex is best avoided (good to use the first two weeks of your cycle but only for a few months at a time), so try daily evening primrose oil and also try drinking Raspberry Leaf tea during your periods which can help overall to ease uterine cramps and balance hormones too.

- Medication.

Tranexamic Acid and Mefenamic Acid combined are the best way to reduce flow: Tranexamic Acid promotes clotting to reduce flow and Mefenamic Acid reduces production of prostaglandins which causes uterine contractions that push out flow (thus this also reduces cramps) - take two three times per day for the first three days of your period. You can also take high doses of Ibuprofen, the recommended dose is 200mg every 6 hours during days 1-2 of your period but a higher dosage is fine as long as you stay in recommended dose on the box.