Period post-pill

[Heidi6824]

Good morning.

Thought I might ask for others experiences.

I was on the combined contraceptive pill from 16-30. I don't have any children and took my last pill 26th March. Had a withdrawal bleed like normal from 2nd-5th April.

Since then I've not had a proper period. I had some spotting and cramps (normally a strong sign I'm about to come on) three weeks (26th/27th April) after my withdrawal bleed. Then had further spotting in 18th/19th may and enough to use a tampon in 20th but stopped after that.

Would that be considered a period? I've taken a test and it came back negative but we are using condoms anyway.

No weight loss/gain, slightly stressed but I was stressed before coming off the pill. No early menopause in my family, neither mum or sister had trouble conceiving and whilst we aren't at the stage yet I'm concerned my periods won't return. I'm sure I'm just worrying about nothing but wondered if anyone else had similar when coming off of the pill?

Any advice much appreciated.

The pill can and does mask any underlying hormonal imbalances and that could well be what is happening here.

I would have a conversation with the GP re this matter, they may well send you for some blood tests to check your hormone levels.

I understand that could be the case but it's not quite been two months since I took my last pill so I'm not sure they would do anything yet. I've heard it can take some women months to start their periods back in a proper cycle? I've been taking the pill 3 weeks on/1 week off for the past 14 years without any real break.

The pill actually leaves your system very quickly after taking the last tablet and there is no real evidence to suggest these are responsible for failure to ovulate.

Hi Heidi,

I have just been through something similar. I've been on the pill from 17 to 33 and I stopped the pill on the 2nd Feb, had withdrawal bleeding from the 4th. After 3 months and no period I went back to the doctor so find out what was going on. I knew my hormones were slowly kicking back into gear as I started to get acne! Which I haven't had since I was 17. Had some bloods taken and all my hormone levels came back normal. The same week I went to the doctor I started to get a lot of Egg white cm! For about 7 days (this was 2 weeks ago) so I was pretty sure I was ovulating again and then today I got my period! 110 days since I stopped the pill! I was so happy it finally came. Just hang in there and look for signs of ovulation, it can take a while when you have been on the pill for so long and when you're TTC it can feel like an eternity.

Thank you so much Elizabeth! I had a lot of cm the first "cycle" after coming off the pill so hopefully everything is ok. I'll be due on the 16th if the last bit of spotting was a period so we will see. We aren't ready to start trying yet so just interested to figure out what my body is doing. Hopefully it's just settling! I don't want to dive into ovulation kits etc and become too wound up.

Thank you so much for your reply!