Pill Woes again

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-24-2006
Pill Woes again
5
Sun, 12-24-2006 - 9:45am

First of all, Hello board members! My name is Angela and I am a 40 year old woman, married with one five year old daughter.

For the past eight months, I've been on Ortho-TriCyclen Lo. Yesterday, I noticed a dark red spot in my underwear, then a bit of bleeding throughout the day, which stopped. Today, there was no bleeding at all. After doing some backtracking, I can say that I have taken all my pills, didn't skip a dose, am not on any additional new medications and basically, everything else is normal. While being aware that breakthrough bleeding can be an occourance, even after prolonged normal use, I am questioning the effectiveness.

Since it's the holiday weekend, I am out of luck with contacting the doctor until Tuesday (it's now Sunday). Any thoughts?

FWIW, my BCP experiences over the past year have been awful. About fourteen years ago, I started taking BPC's with TriLevelen and LOVED them - went from serious period problems (that developed into two-week periods with pain) to none at all. I noticed, at one point, that my periods were getting heavier after extended use so a few years ago, I was switched to Estrostep. I had A LOT of severe emotional lows the week before my period, but the cycle itself was working like a clock.

Two years ago, I reached my goal of losing 100 lbs. Throughout that year, I noticed an increase in my periods again, and we switched over to Yasmin. Big mistake! In three days, I gained six pounds of water weight and still cannot get rid of it. In any event, in that year, I switched from Yasmin to Ortho Tri Cyclen to Estrostep again to another brand I cannot recall and now back to Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo for the past eight months. Does anyone have anything to add with their experiences as well?

Thanks!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
In reply to: angelak86
Sun, 12-24-2006 - 2:06pm

Hi angelak86, welcome!


      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-24-2006
In reply to: angelak86
Mon, 12-25-2006 - 10:36pm

It started on Saturday, the last day of Week 2 of my pills (I started the first pill of my last week yesterday). I did have pelvic pain for about an hour on Thursday, like serious pain that I almost went to the doctor for but then it stopped and didn't come back. I did have brownish discharge again today, and upper stomach pain, but nothing else. I do believe I remember another episode a few months back, actually. When I called the Ob/Gyn, a doctor on call, whom I never met, said I should take a pregnancy test to be sure, but thought it was most likely stress. Honestly, I was such a wreck over it I didn't want to spoil Christmas for my daughter and husband that I did not take a test yet. While I plan on calling the doctor tomorrow, I am still bothered by this, as I take my pill every day and due to my husband's work schedule, we only had sex twice in this entire cycle. Thanks for your reply earlier, I do appreciate it.

Edited to add: I've had a bad cold the past week as well. My daughter had a virus two weeks ago, so did my husband, and I only developed stomach cramps and nausea one day from that, about two weeks ago, but never got the full virus.




Edited 12/25/2006 10:43 pm ET by angelak86
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
In reply to: angelak86
Mon, 12-25-2006 - 11:31pm

Hi again hon,


      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-24-2006
In reply to: angelak86
Thu, 01-11-2007 - 9:53pm

Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

FWIW, I had a sonogram done and the doctor found I have several lateral cysts on my ovaries, which may have caused discomfort. He switched my pills (again) to "regular" Ortho Tri-Cyclen. It's only been five days, but I haven't noticed anything different yet.

Thanks again.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
In reply to: angelak86
Thu, 01-11-2007 - 10:36pm

Hi again Angela, welcome back!


      Jill