Breakthrough bleeding and protection

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2004
Breakthrough bleeding and protection
4
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 2:39pm
This is my second attempt with Alesse and I have been on this time for a little over a year. I have experienced breakthrough bleeding usually in the last week of active pills despite taking them every day and at the same time. I had the same problem the first time around with Alesse and after six months the doctor put me on Demulen-30 which caused weight gain and then tried Loestrin which gave me more breakthrough bleeding. After all this switching he put me back on Alesse. This past month the breakthrough bleeding was quite heavy. I saw the doctor today and he wrote me 2 prescriptions. The first was for Yasmin which the pharmicist told me is not available in Canada. My doctor's second suggestion Mircette is also not available. I left the drugstore empty handed and frustrated. I called my doctor when I got home and explained the situation and the message I got was to stay on Alesse. So I guess I'll have to get used to the breakthrough bleeding. The good news in all of this is I have no other complaints about Alesse. My question is when I have breakthrough bleeding in the future (and I know I will) am I protected? Is the level of effectiveness in any way diminished by the breakthrough bleeding? Thanks for any input. As many of you know from experience, this is a very frustrating situation.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2003
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 3:07pm
With almost all of the pills I was on (except, I think, the one that truly KILLED my libido), I always experienced irregular bleeding. I was always told I was protected so long as I had taken my pills properly, regardless of bleeding patterns (I could go anywhere from no period to 1/2 hour of spotting to two weeks of bleeding, I never knew what would happen).

As I understand it, the mechanism that regulates (should!) your period is different from the mechanism that stops ovulation, so there is no relationship between breakthrough bleeding and compromised protection from pregnancy.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2004
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 10:35pm
Thanks. I feel relieved. There are so many conflicting opinions on this subject. What you wrote about the mechanics of it all makes sense
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 04-02-2004 - 8:41am

Your doctor doesn't know what pills are and aren't available where you live?

Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2003
Fri, 04-02-2004 - 9:22am
Hi Judie,

I do agree with you that my weird bleeding patterns were obviously a sign of other things going on. I had to have been ovulating at least occasionally, as I did eventually get pregnant on the pill.... but it must have been stopping it some of the time as I was protected for over nine years. I NOW think (hindsight, 20/20) that the months I had a full-blown period a week or so early I likely ovulated. I also wonder how many of the months I missed bleeding at all were pregnancies that miscarried on their own? However, that is only my wacky theory & I don't have any scientific basis for it.

I simply want to reassure people that some oddities in their bleeding pattern do not automatically mean pregnancy. Spotting occasionally through the month does not mean your pills aren't working.... but I may have gotten too accustomed to too much bleeding.