Breakthrough bleeding

[Digdawg]

Hey there,

I’ve been on birth control for two and a half years or so. Those past two years I have taken my pill every day, at the same time, and have only missed 3 the entire time last year. I’m specifically on the combination pill.

When I was first taking the pill, I had breakthrough bleeding, but that stopped after 6 or so months. Back in April I had a day of breakthrough bleeding, and in October I had a day of it too. Now it’s happening again. I’m not quite sure why this is happening more and more often. I know I should speak to my doctor, but what could it be? I don’t think this is implantation bleeding, I just took a pregnancy and it was a for sure negative, and there’s clots which don’t indicate a healthy pregnancy. What gives?

[Heather]

It really is just something that happens sometimes, and usually isn't anything to worry about.

Do you smoke? Are you erratic at all when it comes to taking your pills (honestly, even missing those three could do it if your body is sensitive)? Are you taking pill packs back to back? Any of those things can make it more likely to happen, if you're curious.

You can talk to your doctor about it, but if you're up to date with your sexual/reproductive healthcare, you probably are fine. If not, it's obviously always a good idea to get current regardless.

[Digdawg]

I don’t smoke, never liked the idea. I take my pills at about 9:30 every morning, although sometimes it’s 10 ish, but I know that doesn’t make much of a difference. I don’t take my pill packs back to back, I actually prefer to have my period just to check up on my uterine health and make sure there’s nobody there that shouldn’t be.

The only thing I could possibly think of that may be having an effect on my uterus other than my birth control is my anxiety. Finals are this week and I’ve slowly been getting even more stressed, but even then I’m not sure.

I wonder if my endometrium is just so thin from the pills that it just has moments where it’s cranky. I am a very small person, I usually just need to lowest dose of any of my meds to get by. I upped my dose of birth control sometime last year from the lowest to about the second lowest, so I wonder if that much has really thinned out my uterus. Not that I mind all that much, whatever makes my uterus the most inhospitable environment for anyone that isn’t me, but the occasional bleeding is inconvenient when it’s not planned for. I have a doctors appointment later this month so I’ll probably bring it up with him, but it probably just is nothing.

[Heather]

I think that the kind of intuitive thinking you're doing about your body is probably accurate. We get to know our bodies and how they react like that, and when nothing else can explain this kind of stuff, what we know based on our own experiences and feelings often is what can explain it.

I do think it's always worth going ahead and sharing this stuff with a healthcare provider just in case, especially when you have a visit anyway, so yeah, I'd go ahead and do that, but I wouldn't sweat it in the meantime. And in the event this has you worried about pregnancy when you'd rather not be, if you don't already back up with condoms, that's always a good idea anyway. If you already do that, then truly, pregnancy just isn't something you need to worry about, because with those two things combined, it just isn't a thing.