I would say it doesn't hurt to try, and I did do a fairly decent job of not making myself too crazy, but there is always a small hint of dashed hopes with the blood in the toilet. Having Margaret helps a lot.
*I say "a period" rather than "my period" because I clearly came home from the maternity ward with some other woman's cycle. This is why it took me three periods to be sure I was having one. I just hope that some other woman didn't go home with my seven-day-gore-fest-preceded-by-cramps-t