Morning after pill question

[Gingerbarbie]

Dear Scarleteen, I had unprotected sex and took an emergency contraceptive an hour after intercourse. 5 days after taking the pill (day 17 in my menstrual cycle) I started bleeding and had my bleeding for 4 days. Does that mean a new cycle started? Or should I expect my regular period?

[Eddie C]

Hello Gingerbarbie, welcome to Scarleteen!

One of the side effects of Emergency Contraception is that it makes your cycles weird so it's hard to predict what's how is your cycle going to work. But the good news is that this only last a couple of months.

Here you can have more information about Emergency Contraception: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexua ... traception

[Gingerbarbie]

Well i'm just confused because im not sure if that counts as the start of a new cycle or not.. Because if not my period is already 2 days late..

[Redskies]

Given that you had bleeding for 4 days, that may have been your period - but there's just no way to know for sure. Sorry, we don't have any kind of magic communication with your body to be able to tell you exactly where it's at, and nor is there any in-the-know formula we can let you in on So, your next bleed might come when you originally expected it or it might come in line with that day 17 bleed being the start of a new cycle, or anything in between. Like Edith said, taking EC can make cycles wonky for a while, so it's no cause for concern. Really, the only thing to do is just wait and see what your body does.

[Gingerbarbie]

Thank you guys so much for replying to fast! I feel a lot better now.

[Redskies]

You're welcome!