Periods after stopping the pill

[Livteen]

Hi guys!

I want to say thank you for answering a question of mine from a few days ago, and I just have another about a different topic.

Basically I stopped taking a progesterone mini pill about 32 days ago now after taking it for 5 months, as I wanted to have a natural period before getting the implant for my own peace of mind. I had what I think was my withdrawal bleed the day after which lasted for 5 days, but now it’s 32 days later and I still haven’t had a period. I have been getting some cramps and feeling sick but I think that’s more to do with a new antidepressant I just started, and I haven’t had any unprotected penetrative sex so that shouldn’t be an issue.

It’s jut a little odd as my bleeding didn’t completely stop on the minipill and I still had a 5/6 day bleed within the same two weeks of the month while I was on the pill anyway. Thanks guys!

[Sam W]

Hi Livteen,

You're quite welcome! When you stop a method of birth control like the mini-pill, it's not uncommon for you to experience at least a little cycle irregularity for a month or two. So that may be what's going on here, although we can't say for certain. If you continue to be without a period and it's concerning you, you can always check in with a healthcare provider for their take on the situation.

[Livteen]

Oh okay, that’s reassuring thank you!

I think I read on your site somewhere that stopping birth control is a lot like starting it and that it can mess your cycles up a little, but I just wanted to check. Does how long you were on birth control affect how irregular your cycles will be?

Can I ask one more thing? I love your resources over assessing pregnancy risks and they really help calm me down as I suffer with anxiety over sexual health. What other sources would you say are reputable? I definitely get into a bit of a habit of googling things which never makes me feel any better.

Thank you so much!

[Heather]

Honestly, I don't know of other resources like ours in that regard. But if you're having trouble breaking the habit of reassurance-seeking, what would probably serve you best of all are resources for managing anxiety.

There's really no predicting how long it is going to take someone coming off a hormonal method to get back to their normal cycles by just that one factor or any other. There are just too many variables, so it's just something where you have to wait and see. However, if you're very concerned about pregnancy, and find it's something you worry about a lot, it might be that waiting on this actually does the opposite of giving you peace of mind, and you might fare better with that by just going ahead and having your implant inserted. before putting in an implant, they always run a pregnancy test anyway, if that's the thing you want answered by waiting on your periods.

[Livteen]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me Heather! I really appreciate it. I’ll take the time to check those resources out and go ahead and get my implant inserted sooner.