Seasonale

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Seasonale
3
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 2:16pm
I'm married and 35. I had been on the pill (Ortho Novum) for 14 years and have been off of them for 2 years now. My periods had been pretty regular. Since February, they have been all over the place. My gyn did a ultrasound and found that I had a large buildup of lining so he did a d&c in June and started me with this pill on August 1st. I spotted for the first week and stopped for 2 weeks and 2 days ago I started spotting. Does this sound normal? I know this pill has a high occurence of btb and spotting. I'm also prone to anemia so I worry about having another transfusion (had one in June). He has me taking iron pills every day and I try to eat foods with iron in them to keep my iron level high. I had it checked last week and my hemoglobin was at 9.5. I know stress can make it worse so I'm trying not to worry but It's so hard to do. My husband and I would like to ttc soon, because of my age, but sometimes think it will never happen.

Have I not given this pill enough time to work or should I talk to my doctor about a change?

Thanks for any help :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
In reply to: stoutheart33
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 4:06pm
Hi stoutheart33, welcome!

I don't think you have given your body time to adjust to your new pill. With Seasonale it can take at least 3 extended cycles to adjust and irregular bleeding is a very common side effect during the first several cycles. However, since bleeding is a serious issue with you, you might want to let your doctor know what's going on and see what s/he has to say.

Good luck and hugs,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
In reply to: stoutheart33
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 4:25pm
Hi Jill,

What do you mean when you say 3 extended cycles? One package of three months or 3 packages of 3 months? I have been hearing people talk about extended cycles and didn't exactly know what that meant.

Thank you,

Heidi

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
In reply to: stoutheart33
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 4:48pm
For Seasonale an extended cycle is a single pack of 84 active and 7 placebo pills. It can take as long as 3 extended cycles (9 months) for side effects to disappear. It doesn't always take that long, but it can. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12954519&dopt=Abstract Which says in part: “While unscheduled (breakthrough) bleeding was reported among patients treated with the extended cycle regimen, it decreased with each successive cycle of therapy and was comparable to that reported by patients who received the conventional OC regimen by the fourth extended cycle.”

Good luck,

      Jill