Start day change/Period

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-07-2004
Start day change/Period
1
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 11:16am
Hello,

I'm on Ortho Tri-Cyclen and I posted here about a week ago regarding changing the start day of my pills, so I could get my period at a better time during my coming cycles.

My start day WAS Tuesday, but I changed it to Friday... this meant that I only had three hormone-free days before I began my new pack. I didn't get my period during the pill free days so I was very pleased and sort of figured I got off free and clear... Unfortunately, I started bleeding on Sunday (yesterday) two days into my active pills.

I wasn't TRYING to skip my period, so it's not really a big deal.. but my boyfriend who lives nine hours away just made the trip to come and stay with me for a week, and this is how my body rewards us. :P I figured I'd start bleeding on Thursday and be finished by this Tuesday, so we'd at least have a few days where I wasn't feeling like crap.

Anyway, it's pretty heavy and the cramps are pretty bad even by my standards. I'm not quite sure what's going on. Did I change the start day too drastically? Am I going to end up bleeding for three weeks, like when people try to skip a period on tri-cyclen? *sigh*... I'm not at all up for month long period right now.

Or maybe I'm just overreacting and this is just when I'll get my period from now on? I was on tri-cyclen for three months about a year ago and I recall getting my period two, maybe three, days into my placebos... plus, I had next to no cramps and a comparably light period.

I'd appreciate any insight anyone has to offer. :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 10:03pm
It's probably a temporary freak-out! Your body got all set to have a period (because the hormones stopped) and then the hormones started again....but it was probably too late to keep it stopped. I would hope that the bleeding will stop in a few days, but you never know. Because you took a few days off and really did give it a hormone drop, I'd hope that the bleeding won't drag on and on and on, but be prepared for the worst, I guess. I wouldn't make any judgments on what your periods are going to be like until next month--and they should be the same as they were before if you've been on OTC for a while.

Good luck, I hope it stops soon!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control