I currently am on regular birth control pills and for the past while I go anywhere from 2-3 months without stopping for my period (just skip my period and start another pack). I talked to my doctor about this before trying it and everything was going good. Except lately, the past few times my period just seems to come when it wants to. For example, if I was doing it one month at a time yesterday would have been the day I stopped taking my pills for my peiod to come. But instead I went on to a new pack like I always do (month #2 pack) and now tonight my period is starting. Anyone else experience this? Anyone know why this is? Like I took my pill last night, my period should not be starting now!
2007-03-31 15:29:16 · 3 answers · asked by CSF 6 in Health ➔ Women's Health
No its not breakthrough bleeding.. its my actual period... last time this happend I had a full normal period.. breakthrough bleeding is only random bits of blood.
2007-03-31 18:18:26 · update #1
Breakthrough bleeding is more than just random bits of blood. I know this from firsthand experience.
When one is on continuous (and I've been doing this off and on for 10 years now) birth control pill therapy-this is where you take only the hormone pills and then start a new pack to skip periods-there should not be a visible cycle going on although the body can still cycle (I learned this from my dr 7 years ago when I asked about this very issue) on the inside.
Breakthrough bleeding is any kind of bleeding that occurs during the month other than the actual period or if someone is trying to adjust to being on the pill continuously, or the particular pill doesn't have enough estrogen in it to cover doing continuous.
When breakthrough bleeding occurs it can act a lot like a menstrual period which is why you think it's your period that is going on. I know I thought the same thing at first too when I started out with breakthrough bleeding after starting continuous 10 years ago.
As I said earlier one of the reasons that breakthrough bleeding can occur is because the particular pill that one is taking does not have enough estrogen in it to cover what is going on with continuous. Breakthrough bleeding can also occur if someone has an infection going on (and that's if someone is having symptoms of an infection such as cervicitis, just using this as an example).
Spotting, which is much lighter (and this is the random bit of bleeding and can occur on any birth control pill because of the adjustment when one is taking the whole pack of pills) than breakthrough bleeding.
It takes double the amount of time to adjust to continuous than it does for the way most women take the pack of pills. For the conventional way (meaning the entire pack) it takes 3 months, but with continuous it's 6.
I would go ahead and get in touch with your dr to let him know what is going on.
2007-03-31 23:11:33 · answer #1 · answered by sokokl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's breakthrough bleeding, not your period. It will stop shortly after you've taken a few more pills.
2007-03-31 16:30:30 · answer #2 · answered by Tara662 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like breakthrough bleeding. You may want to discuss this with your doc so the two of you can decide what your best option is.
2007-03-31 15:35:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋