Light periods after stopping pill

[HRMC87]

I stopped taking my pill in December and TTC since. I have had really regular periods since but they are so light! The same every time, period pains start on the Sunday night and I don't get it til the Friday. Last for 2-3 days and I can get away with wearing only one pad everyday. Getting worried now, I know it takes time for them to get back to normal but I have had 4 and they were never like this before! Anyone had anything similar with success?

I managed to get an appointment this evening 😊

@Maisy24 @Hope365 I think I'm going to make and appointment with the nurse to get bloods done, least that will maybe give me some answers/put my mind at ease a little. I think it could be lack of ovulation but last month I was 99% that I had 2 positives (like the one I posted) so now I'm confused. I have read that you may ovulate some months and not others though so god knowa it's all ifs and buts and maybes. I have a complete phobia of getting blood taken so hence why I've been so indecisive but suppose I may as well just bite the bullet!

@Hope365 let us know how you get on at your appointment ❤️

@JennaRMD that sounds like a good plan! I know it's not pleasant but it'll be over quickly and at least you'll get some answers.

I'll keep you all posted on how today goes (feeling nervous...) xxx

@niamhie95 hope your appointment went well x

@Hope365. Appointment went ok. Doctor thinks because i have went off my pill its just it trying to get back to normal. They also are sending me for blood test next week. I get the b12 injection but i might not need it anymore and also told me to do a pregnancy test to make sure I'm not pregnant

@Hope365 hope the appointment goes ok! Best of luck ❤️

@niamhie95 glad the appointment went well! Glad you are getting bloods done, also I agree with the body getting back to normal; my cycles have been regular for about 4-5 months now, before that they were allover the show, I think it's taken my body over a year!

@JennaRMD you can definitely ovulate some months but not others. I was exactly the same with bloods and I was panicking when I had to go. But you know what; it's not bad at all and I've now realised I was being daft, you can't even feel it, I just look away.

Xxxxxx

@maisy24 thanks! I just wish it would go away then come back. 🙈

Booked in for bloods on 24th Jan (day 21 of my cycle) to check if I'm ovulating. Didn't want to do it this month with it being Xmas and all, just want to try and enjoy it!
@niamhie95 that's good that they've gave you some positive advice, just get the bloods and wait and see what the outcome is then go from there, think that's what I'm going to do.
@Hope365 thinking of you today. Hope you get some much needed answers ❤️
@Maisy24 how are you doing? Waiting on letters is a nightmare, although tbf it's usually like a speeding fine or something I'm waiting on lol. Hope it comes through soon for you so you can have that to look to ❤️

Hi ladies, thank you all for the encouragement today, I needed it ❤ I was pretty nervous about it all - mostly because we've waited so long and I was so desperate to come out of it with a plan, but it went really well, and we did! Hold on tight for the details - it's gonna be a long one 😂

She explained to me that there are two main things that could be causing my thin lining - the first is physical abnormalities like uterine scarring (caused by infections or surgery), which is hard to treat, and the other is the pill. Thankfully there is no reason to suspect scarring in my case, and because I actually had normal periods when I was on the pill (even though these are not 'real' periods) it shows that my lining can physically grow, given the right conditions. She told me that the pill can down-regulate the system that is responsible for growing the lining and essentially make it less responsive to my natural hormones. So although I am producing enough estrogen which normally causes the lining to thicken, my lining is not responding as much as it should. So starting next cycle I will be taking medication called gonadotropins, which are supposed to stimulate my ovaries to produce more follicles, and therefore also more estrogen - and hopefully thicken my lining! I'll also be taking estrogen during the luteal phase🤞🤞🤞 It's pretty scary stuff as the gonadotropins are injectable meds - meaning I will have to inject myself every day 😱 - but to be honest I'm so excited to finally be trying something that I don't really care... (It's also unfortunately not funded by the NHS and is bloody expensive 😬). The timing is perfect as I should start my next cycle just after the holidays, meaning I can go off and enjoy Christmas knowing that we have a serious action plan for when we come back! Scary but exciting!

@niamhie95 and @JennaRMD - great that you are both getting bloods done. And Jenna totally get you waiting till January - it's so important we try to still enjoy stuff in the meantime (though so hard sometimes...).

@Maisy24 any news on your referral? We didn't get the morphology results today (we got everything else which was fine), but the doctor reassured me again that 2% morphology is not a problem so long as count and motility are fine.

Xxx

@Hope365 Omg that is AMAZING!!! So glad it went well and you have an action plan ready to go!!! Even better that the timing has fell perfect and you can enjoy Xmas and then start your new cycle with the plan!

Thanks so much for the information. It's made me feel hopeful especially the morphology. Did they say how they know it's the pill and not scarring? I've had an ultra sound so assuming that would be picked up if it was that?

I've not chased the referral yet as I only went Friday I might ring tomorrow though! I'm so eager I want to know they've definitely started the process!

How are you taking estrogen? By tablet? I'm surprised they are not offering the treatment on nhs! I'm sure it must be cheaper than ivf!

Xxxxx

@JennaRMD great news about bloods! And good thinking about doing it in Jan and not over Xmas.

I need to chase the referral with my doctor so I'm going to ring tomorrow I think to make sure they are doing it; I'm so impatient!

Xxxxxx

@Hope365 so glad you've managed to get an action plan sorted. At least you know there is something you can do about the situation and hopefully feel more in control again.
@Maisy24 I've bought clearblue digital opks for this month as I was finding it so hard to read the cheaper ones. At least that way I can see if I've ovulating or not. I just have a funny feeling that it's something up with my ovulation as my AF is practically non existent as I've said before but my body is doing all the other correct things. Will see how I get on with the smiley OPKs and if I don't get a positive this month then I'll know that I am not ovulating every single month but I have ovulated previously so at least it's some information to go in with when I get tests done x

@Maisy24 unfortunately I don't think the scarring can usually be picked up on ultrasound - it needs a slightly more invasive procedure called a hysteroscopy. But I think scarring is quite unusual unless you have previously had uterine surgery like an abortion or D&C (what they sometimes do after a miscarriage) or a really severe infection. Also were your periods more normal/heavier when you were on the pill? Because they told me that's a good indication that your lining has no structural damage and can physically grow given the right hormones... (if they were light then it doesn't necessarily mean scarring either)

I'm not sure how I will be taking the estrogen - I've heard of lots of different ways (tablets, patches, maybe even injections?), but they didn't say which I would be getting.

I know it's ridiculous they don't offer it on the NHS, so much cheaper than IVF! I'm not sure whether this is NHS-wide or clinic-dependent, but where I am they don't fund any other treatment than IVF... They do all the diagnostic tests for free, and then IVF (only 1 round for us), but nothing in between. Makes no sense! So we will be paying about £500 per medicated cycle we try 😬 That's a lot of money to prod myself in the belly every day, but if there's a baby at the end of it then it's worth it! And if it doesn't work then at least it'll help us feel proactive while we wait for IVF (booked in for May..!)

Good luck with the chasing for your referral! I'm rubbish at waiting around for these things - it drives me crazy! Totally worth pestering people though - I called the clinic every day to get that cancellation for yesterday's appointment, would still be waiting till Feb 18th if I hadn't! Hope you find out where your referral is at 😊 xxx

@JennaRMD the clearblue OPKs are expensive but great! I really struggle to read the other ones and find it just adds to the stress of it all - there's so much uncertainty with everything else in TTC that it's just nice to have a clear answer for at least one thing! And you're right that whatever the outcome then at least you have some information to take with you to your appointment xxx

Hi all! First time posting on this forum... Found this thread and feel like I need support, as I'm getting very worried :(
My husband and I are planning to start TTC in January ; and I had the very good idea to go off my pill early (on the 15/09, at the end of my pack), to "clear the hormones from my system" (and while still using condoms until Jan).
I did have my withdrawal bleed as expected, however no period whatsoever in October. I did think this was quite normal, as I had read that it can take a bit of time for cycle to get back on track.
At the end of October, I'm fairly sure that I ovulated (as I had 2 days of very abundant egg-white CM). So then I thought my period would DEFINITIVELY come 2 weeks later. Unfortunately for me, instead of said period, I had 4 days of brown discharge (ie no red flow at all, and no need for a tampon). That made me worry, so I invested in a BBT thermometer to try and understand what was going on. After approx 3 weeks, I ovulated again (BBT temp rose, and CM was egg-white). Now, 10 days later, I find myself worrying sick over my next "period". Will it come?? Will it not be blood, but brown stuff again??
Even though I try to reason with myself that this may just be my body going back into "gear", I'm so worried that there may be an underlying problem that my pill was hiding all those years (my period was very normal and regular pre-pill). As I'm so eager to start TTC in January, I also am convinced that it's going to take forever to get pregnant...
So sorry for the long rant!! Does anyone have any experience of these kind of weird brown periods?

@mimmi91 I came off my pill in mid may this year, periods are as regular as clockwork and get ovulation cramps and EWCM around ovulation time but only get 2-3 days of brown discharge every 28-30days. I'm booked in for bloods at the end of January just to make sure nothing is wrong. Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I do take some comfort in the fact that we can't all have something "wrong" with us but we all have similar symptoms. I think the pill must just work differently on everybody. If you read back over my previous posts you'll find more info on my situation. Don't worry, I'm an anxious mess also 😂. Xx

@JennaRMD thanks for your answer! It's very comforting to hear that you're in the same situation!! I assume your periods were normal (flow-wise) before and during pill-taking...?
I hope that you're right, that considering how many of us have these kind of problems, there isn't anything wrong with us...
I am currently awaiting my period (I think I am on DPO11, and I am literally dreaming about having my normal red heavy period!!! And then I wake up and feel seriously disappointed... This is literally driving me mad...

@mimmi91 I know it is easier said than done but try not to stress about it too much as that can affect it even more. Just wait and see hot this one is like and then go from there. I had normal medium periods on microgynon for 10 years but had no AF at all the past 4 years while on Cerelle (which is normal for the mini pill) so it's a little different for me as my last "natural" period was when I was 14 lol. Not as easy to remember exactly how my body worked then x

Hi @mimmi91h you there! If you read back over our (many!) messages you'll see that quite a few of us are having similar problems, and are at various stages of TTC and testing for issues. The good news for you is that it really hasn't been very long since you came off the pill so there's a high chance that things will just regulate in time - it's pretty normal for things to be weird for at least 6 months post-pill, sometimes even a year! And even if your period remains light, it doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong. So like @jennaRMD said, try not to focus on it all too much for now and just give it a bit of time (easier said than done I know!). And there's a group of us here all dealing with the same stuff and here for you if you need 😊 xxx

@mimmi91 it seems to have cut off the start of my message - was just saying sorry to hear about the stress, we can definitely empathize with you there!

Thanks @jennarmd and @hope365 for your supportive messages, feels good to be able to talk about it without filters :) My husband thinks I'm being silly, and my friends never had this problem... But I know it's only been 3 months, so hopefully things will settle soon :)
How long have you been trying to TTC?

@mimmi91 we haven't used any contraception for 7months now and have been actively trying for about 3 and still nothing. My friends all fell straight away so don't worry I know how you feel. Hopefully it's just taking some of us a bit longer with having been on the pill for so long. I've took a bit of a step back this month as I'm so busy at work and don't have time to stress about absolutely everything. I'm still tracking my ovulation but just trying to feel a bit more chiled about it for my own mental sake lol.

So... my period literally just arrived last night. It's very light still, but definitely real blood. I feel like your comforting messages made me feel at ease and helped things along ?!
I wish the immense relief that comes along with it on you all very very soon !
I think it may have just been my time, but here's a list of the few things I've done in the past month to move things along : stop dieting and obsessing about my weight (I have a BMI of less than 20, so I finally realised I didn't really need to fuss), take daily 250mg magnesium, 16mg Vitamin B6, 22mg Zinc and 400mg folic acid.
Good luck to you all in your menstrual journeys, it is so frustrating being a woman sometimes!!!!!

Sorry everyone I've been having a few days off my phone enjoying Christmas and trying not to stress.

@Hope365 ah I see, well my periods have never been heavy on the pill, but definitely more than coming off it. I have no reason to think it could be scarring so hoping it isn't 🤞🏻, thanks for the info! Yes the cost is definitely worth it, and it's great they have booked ivf already for May I didn't think they would consider that yet! I chased my referral and they confirmed it had been sent, so it's just a case of waiting for a letter now 😒 hoping it won't be too long.

@JennaRMD i highly recommend the clear blue opks, I am on for my second cycle using them; and it really takes the stress out of it all for me, I just know to start trying when I get the flashing smiley, and you get them quite far in advance of ovulation so I feel like we can give it a good go.

@mimmi91 welcome, and sorry to hear you are worrying. I agree with @Hope365 you really shouldn't worry yet, lots of people get pregnant after coming off the pill without even having a bleed! It doesn't really mean much, I think our bodies just take different amounts of times to regulate after the pill, stress plays a huge part. Try and relax and just see what happens for now xxxx