Bleeding on the pill

[Laur91]

Hi everyone!

I wondered if anyone could ease my anxious mind right now...

I’m on the combined pill and have been for around 12 years now, I don’t usually have a break each month, I’ll usually take packs back to back for quite some time (queried this with doctor when I had a smear some time back and he said it was fine to do so but unsure..)

anyways I occasionally get some spotting and sometimes take that as a sign to have a break, I’ve not had a break for some time now (maybe 4-5 months) and today woke up with quite heavy bleeding, almost like my withdrawal bleeds when I do have my break.

I just wondered if anyone has had this before? It’s definitely more than regular spotting & I’m not sure if my body is forcing me to have a withdrawal bleed cos it’s been a while! I only had a smear a month or two ago so not overly concerned but still a little annoying and worrying!

Any advice or similar stories/experiences would be hugely helpful!

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

In theory, you don’t actually have to ever take a break at all. Because the hormones in your blood stay the same, blood doesn’t build up in your uterus like it does when you’re not taking the pill. So it’s not like there’s blood and things building and building in there if you continuously take the pill.

 

[Laur91]

In theory, you don’t actually have to ever take a break at all. Because the hormones in your blood stay the same, blood doesn’t build up in your uterus like it does when you’re not taking the pill. So it’s not like there’s blood and things building and building in there if you continuously take the pill.

ahh see I’ve read something conflicting today, it said that the membrane/wall can build up so after time can breakaway and you can ‘bleed’ - I believe the combined pill thickens the wall of the uterus and that’s what breaks away when you have a ‘withdrawal bleed’ - that’s what I understood anyway but your post is very interesting to think about now!

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

ahh see I’ve read something conflicting today, it said that the membrane/wall can build up so after time can breakaway and you can ‘bleed’ - I believe the combined pill thickens the wall of the uterus and that’s what breaks away when you have a ‘withdrawal bleed’ - that’s what I understood anyway but your post is very interesting to think about now!

Very interesting, I’d never heard that, I’m just going off what the nurse told me at the family planning clinic, but what you’ve said sounds plausible.I’m off to do some research now!
I always take a break week because I thought that the withdrawal bleed would stop if I was pregnant, turns I was wrong. I might turn celibate and ditch the contraception!

 

[Laur91]

Very interesting, I’d never heard that, I’m just going off what the nurse told me at the family planning clinic, but what you’ve said sounds plausible.I’m off to do some research now!
I always take a break week because I thought that the withdrawal bleed would stop if I was pregnant, turns I was wrong. I might turn celibate and ditch the contraception!

Hahaha saaaame! My withdrawal week was always my little check that I wasn’t preggers but now I can’t even use that so don’t bother having one at all and just hope for the best!

I do hate when things like this happen though cos I am a worrier!

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

Hahaha saaaame! My withdrawal week was always my little check that I wasn’t preggers but now I can’t even use that so don’t bother having one at all and just hope for the best!

I do hate when things like this happen though cos I am a worrier!

I have had sore boobs and a really light and short withdrawal bleed in the last month, I’m actually debating taking a test!
Yeah same, I’d be like that too. Maybe keep an eye on it and see if it happens again?

 

[WilmaHun]

I am like you and take the pill back to back without a break. My doctor told me to do this because I was getting really heavy, painful periods when I took the break week. She did say to me eventually you might find that after taking it for so long you find you get a heavy bleed. It never happened for me, I think the longest I went was 5 months then I decided to have a break week myself as I felt groggy and like I just "needed" the break. The Doctor definitely said that your body can, after taking it for a long period without a break, bleed out of nowhere though. If really concerned though there's no harm in telephoning your surgery or booking an appointment. Better to be safe than sorry even if you have had a recent smear!

 

[Laur91]

I am like you and take the pill back to back without a break. My doctor told me to do this because I was getting really heavy, painful periods when I took the break week. She did say to me eventually you might find that after taking it for so long you find you get a heavy bleed. It never happened for me, I think the longest I went was 5 months then I decided to have a break week myself as I felt groggy and like I just "needed" the break. The Doctor definitely said that your body can, after taking it for a long period without a break, bleed out of nowhere though. If really concerned though there's no harm in telephoning your surgery or booking an appointment. Better to be safe than sorry even if you have had a recent smear!

thank you so much for your reply, this makes perfect sense and aligns with what I’ve googled recently. Today is much better and not experiencing it anywhere near as much at all. I will definitely book an appointment with my GP anyway as you suggest as the reason I take back to back is because I really struggle on my breaks with PMS and hormone imbalance, my mental health really suffers which isn’t good to be honest so might need to switch things up anyway. Thank you again, hugely appreciate your helpful response.

 

[Pixipoppy]

I used to take my pill back to back for years (literally never had a period for about 3 years). Then one day it’s like my body just decided it was about time it had a period and I started getting breakthrough bleeding all the time. So I started having the break and now I’ve gone back to tricycling and it’s fine.

 

[aaliyahplz]

I'm exactly the same, I took it back to back for a year (stopped in november I think to start having the regular break again, at first when I started taking it back to back it was ok but after about 6 months I started bleeding randomly exactly like a period, it would be light for one day then quite heavy and then just light bleeding for about a week (although much much lighter than a real period/withdrawl bleed) and I had period pain and everything too, I would also bleed during sex and when I had my smear in December bleed very heavily which the nurse said might have been due to the pill so yes I think it's normal I'm planning on taking it back to back again soon (so much easier lol) just giving my body a break I guess (since having the weekly breaks and withdrawal bleeds again I don't bleed during sex so that's the only positive thing!)

 

[judgejohndeed]

When I was on the combined pill I could only run 3 packs back to back otherwise I would basically have a full on period even if I carried on taking it. In theory you don’t actually need to ever have a break however I still would because in my experience the longer you skip them the worse they are! I’m on the mini pill now which is safer and I never have periods or bleeding of any kind.

 

[Crazycatlady18]

Urgh the pill.... i have been on every single permutation, mini pill, combined etc over 18years. I was fine for the majority of the time then over the last 12-18 months I was spotting constantly. Worried it was something sinister I got checked out and it was fine it was just messing up my hormones. After trying virtually every brand (some of which made my mood awful) I gave up and for a year I was pill free. No fortnightly spotting, no moods, just a full factory reset. I’d stongly recommend looking into other forms of contraception that might suit you. Best thing I’ve ever done. (Only negative two days of very heavy period).

 

[aaliyahplz]

Would anyone recommend another form of contraception that can either stop/reduce your periods? I went on the pill because of very painful and very frequent heavyyyyy periods to try and regulate it so I wouldn't switch to anything else unless I knew my periods weren't going to be heavy/painful/frequent again

 

[judgejohndeed]

Would anyone recommend another form of contraception that can either stop/reduce your periods? I went on the pill because of very painful and very frequent heavyyyyy periods to try and regulate it so I wouldn't switch to anything else unless I knew my periods weren't going to be heavy/painful/frequent again

Mini pill! No periods at all, no breaks needed, it’s fantastic

 

[chandlercheesecake]

It's my 4th day of taking the pill after my break and I've started bleeding. Anyone had this? I've been taking the pill since September 2019