Taking low-dose BC pills continuously... period question?

Question

I'm taking a low-dose BCP called Alesse, which offers the lowest amount of hormones available. It works great for me with no side effects and has really helped with my period, as far as heaviness and cramps go.

I'm taking the pill continuously now (without stopping to menstruate, except after every 3 cycles) which has been approved by my doctor, mainly because I'm severely anemic and my body needs a chance to catch up with it's iron stores.

My question is this: I haven't been getting a 'real' period while taking it continuously, but at the end of the pack, I get some (brown) spotting, as if my body knows that it's time for my period, even though the dose of hormones is the same throughout the pack. Does this mean that it's not fully effective, or is my body just smarter than I think it is?

Thanks :)

Answer 1

You are having breakthrough bleeding, and the color of the brown blood happens to be that it is old blood.

It can take a while to adjust to being on the pill continuously. The very first time I started out with the pill in that fashion I had bleeding issues too.

Sometimes the amount of estrogen in a birth control pill can be where it's not high enough to be effective. I've had this happen several times to me over the past 10 years when I do it continuously so that I don't have a period.

I would recommend getting in touch with your dr though to be on the safe side.

Answer 2

It sounds as though the dose might be a *little* low; I doubt it's low enough for you to be able to ovulate, however. I took pills that way for a time due to anemia and hormone-triggered migraines, and never had spotting issues. You might want to talk to your doctor about stepping up to the next highest dosage if it's troubling you, especially if he/she thinks that you might still be ovulating.

Answer 3

i take it continuously for similar reasons...isnt it great to get a rest from it all and feel your body start to recover! but it took me up to 6 months to stop "spotting". even now if i miss a pill i will get occassional spotting. it is just your body adjusting. as long as you take the pill regularly at the same time each day you will be fine...good luck

Answer 4

Yes, our bodies are always telling us something. That is the way God made us, and I believe it is saying to you, time for a change. If you would care to contact me I will introduce you to the natural way with a Herbalist Dr.who is extremely knowledgable about Harmones.
My address is [e-mail] send your complete email to me there

Answer 5

go buy the book by Suzanne Somers: Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones. buy it at the book store, amazon or ebay. it will tell you that women should never take the pill.
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Birth Control Pills and Breast Cancer
November 22nd, 2006

As Dorian noted in NewsSquawk a few weeks back, a meta-analysis of breast cancer data recently revealed a statistically significant correlation between use of the contraceptive pill prior to full-term pregnancy and premenopausal breast cancer.

I finally got a moment to hop over to Procedings, the journal of the Mayo Clinic that reported on the study, and while the article itself is limited to subscribers, the editorial that offers analysis on the findings is open to all.

First off, I was amazed to read that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, categorized the contraceptive pill as a carcinogen in 2005. Granted, I’ve been a bit baby absorbed for the last couple of years, but I cannot believe I never read this news anywhere. Did it get any press? If not, why not?

Now for the findings…it appears that women who have ever used birth control pills have a ”small but statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer”. Furthermore, use of the Pill before having one’s first full-term pregnancy is more strongly associated with breast cancer than being on the Pill after having delivered a baby. The association is even stronger where these pre-baby Pill users were on birth control pills for four years or more. (The editorial further notes, “A higher risk of breast cancer for OC use before first full-term pregnancy was first described more than 25 years ago by Pike et al…” - again, I’m very surprised that evidence linking the Pill and breast cancer has been uncovered for so long, with so little press.)....

Posted by MommaSteph.
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from Suzanne's book:

Those of us who were on the original birth control pills for any length of time were actually on synthetic hormones- strong synthetic hormones. Any wonder why women of our generation are under siege from an epidemic of breast and ovarian cancers? There is a link, and you'll learn more about it in this book.

Read on and see if you relate to my scenario: As I said, for twenty-two years, I was on synthetic birth control pills, the original ones that were very strong. I even manipulated my periods with them, if I didn't want to have a period on a particular weekend. I just didn't realize what was in those birth control pills, nor did I understand the dangers of messing with nature.

I did not realize that having only a two-day bleed meant that I was not ovulating fully. At the time, I thought it was great to have such a light period. I did not realize that the importance of ovulation in the human female body is to let the brain know that I was well, healthy, and reproductive. As far as my brain was concerned, I was not reproductive because I was not fully ovulating. An ovulating woman is a reproductive woman.

To believe that the body is not fully ovulating is a dangerous assumption for the brain to make. If the brain perceives us as unable to reproduce, its job, biologically speaking, is to try to eliminate us to make room for the reproductive ones. This is the nature in us. This is the template that was programmed in us from ancient times. Thus, this hormonal imbalance that I unknowingly put myself in was creating a backdrop for cancer. Why? Because we all have cancer in us, but as long as we are hormonally balanced, the brain perceives us as young, strong, and healthy. If we become imbalanced, this signals to the brain that the reproductive system is no longer in working order, and it is in this scenario that the cancer has a chance to come into being.

You see, cancer proliferates in an environment of hormonal imbalance. This is why I believe that Western medicine's standard of care, well-meaning as it is, is treating us incorrectly. Western medicine is looking at everything except the obvious. Western medicine is trying to poison the cancer out of us, further wreaking havoc with our hormonal systems.

Then, to prevent recurrence, we are given hormone ablation drugs such as tamoxifen or Femara, which interfere with the body's ability to read the hormones in some parts of the body. Plus, for many women these drugs cause horrible side effects. To me, it doesn't make sense to take any drug that prevents new hormones from being made in our bodies or to kill off any of the little bit of hormones we might have left. Why has Western medicine been trying to outthink nature? We are given fake hormones that don't replicate exactly what our bodies make naturally, and doctors are expecting them to work in the same way or better. It hasn't worked. Look around. Are the women you know doing well from midlife on? Most everyone has complaints, from mild to severe. No wonder women are in such bad shape.

Once you understand the importance of your brain perceiving the body as reproductive--our "brain template"--it will be easier for you to make decisions for yourself. We assume that the professionals who are taking care of us know what they are doing. But they can't know what they haven't been taught, and unless you find yourself a doctor such as the ones....