Getting off of Birth Control

[spikey34]

My girlfriend has had a rough month this month. We had unprotected sex on her period (I came inside of her on the 2nd day), but she forgot her pill Sunday and Monday (Took 2 Tuesday, 2 on Wed. normal after that until the 3rd week where she was having some itching and decided to get off of it). She started the pill in November, so I'm assuming the hormones are built up in her system somewhat. She is normally a 7-9 day regular to heavy, but she just got done with 3 days of light bleeding. I know there is a chance she is pregnant, but could this light bleeding also be a side effect of getting off the pill in the week that doses the strongest hormones, and isn't really her period? It did come almost a week early compared to normal. I'm just concerned and read the prescribing information for ortho-tricyclen, but it wasn't very clear to me. Thanks!

[Satsuma]

Well from the leaflets i have read regarding the pill is that if you miss taking one do not take more than your suppose to. So in other words she forgot thereforeeee takes her next pill when needed and carries on from there.

[sophie274]

Have her take a pregnancy test. She did properly follow the instructions for taking the pill after having missed 2, but missing 2 does decreases the effectiveness. The light bleeding could very well be a side effect of going off of the pill, but definitely have her take a test.

 

When is the last time you had sex? She should probably wait about 3 weeks from that day to test.

[spikey34]

Um...Its been about a week and a half, but we've been using protection since that night (we've been using condoms since she forgot the pill(s)). She is kind of freaked, but there isn't anything we can do, I just want her to wait until its past when her "regular period" would normally occur before we jump to conclusions.

[sophie274]

So is she now permanently off birth control? Why did she decide to go off of it?

 

I would wait a few more days, test, and then test again maybe a week after that. 3 weeks after the incident you should be in the clear (I am basing this off of the fact that most preg. tests are 99.9% accurate at about 5 days after the missed period, which is about 3 weeks post-"conception".

[spikey34]

She's not permanently, she just wanted a month off to see how she felt. I think she's been a little extra moody lately, and she has just felt in a slump so she wanted to see if its the pill or just some other imbalance.

 

Saturday will be 4 weeks from the incident (she is usually very regular even before the pill, right around 28-30 days), so I'll see if she'll take a test this weekend. Thanks for the advice!

[sophie274]

Ok, sounds good as regards the test.

 

It's probably not such a great idea for your girlfriend to be messing around with her BC. Definitely if she is experiencing bad side effects she should talk to her doc and investigate other methods. The problem is that the side effects of going off BC are supposed to be pretty bad - so she might be in for a rough time. I would really suggest she go see a doc and talk about her options.

[spikey34]

Well- a month later she finally got her period. She took a test 2 weeks ago that came up negative, but we think the light one a month ago was just from getting off the pill, and now things are starting to return to normal. So good news for us out of this whole ordeal, just figured I'd share in case anyone else has a similar situation they are worried about.