My girlfriend is currently taking Alesse oral contraceptives, and has been taking them for several months. However, she is having a problem with a surprisingly long period. Apparently, she has now been bleeding for about 9 days, though admittedly lightly now. She believes it is just spotting, however, this is heavier than “just spotting” has ever been, and still, that seems unhealthy to keep bleeding. Any ideas anyone?
I’m not familiar with the stuff personally, but I thought most oral contraceptives can have that side effect.
If it lasts much longer or if she’s concerned, she should contact her doctor.
This is why there are so many different oral contraceptive formulations on the market. People differ in their response to hormones. She may need to switch to a different formulation to avoid this effect.
I sympathize with your gf. I went through no fewer than eight different prescriptions before I found one that worked. She has to stay on it for three months at least to determine if it’s the pill strength or just her body adjusting. The problem is it could mean the pill is too weak, to strong or the wrong mix of hormones. I had one doctor who kept upping the dosage, it didn’t work. it got to the point that I maybe had three period-free days a month (mmm sexy). A switch to another doctor brought better results. She put me on different combinations of hormones. Now I’m on Dianne 35 and feeling fine.
I also take Alesse, and I had a similar problem for the entire first month. Ticked through a couple other side effects too. I agree with the posters above who are suggesting seeing her doctor if it keeps up, or maybe changing prescriptions, but FWIW, my side effects disappeared after a couple of months and all is now fine and dandy.
The problem is that after several months of extremely light spotting and normal periods, she is now bleeding more.
muffin,
Have her see her doctor- they may change her pill so she doesn’t have this happen to her again. It does sometimes take several tries before they hit on the one that works best.
Im with Zette, but I don’t know why you are asking us. Weird Bleeding is serious & she must see the doctor that gave her the medicine ASAP. Rxlist.com has extensive information on what she is taking.
She needs to go to her ob/gyn NOW. She should call and explain exactly what is going on, and he should squeeze her in today. If the doctor tries to put her off, she should find another doctor. This is nothing to fool around with. If she’s been on these pills several months and the bleeding is getting worse, she needs a check-up pronto. I’m not trying to scare you, and most likely it will be easily fixed by just changing pills, but your girlfriend should not let something like this go.
Let us know how it goes.
I disagree with Kinsey and handy. Irregular menstrual bleeding is quite common and can have a lot of causes, very few of which require immediate attention. If she can speak with her health care provider on the phone, describing what symptoms she does and doesn’t have, her health care provider can probably advise her on what steps should be taken next and when.
have you read the OP? Irregular menstrual bleeding is somewhat common, but this has increased in severity since beginning an oral contraceptive. the instructions on my instructions quite clearly state “Notify your health care provider if you notice any unusual physical disturbances while taking the pill.” Since the girlfriend in question did not have irregular periods prior to starting with Alesse, and the bleeding has gotten worse, not better, she should consider this an unusual physical disturbance and contact her doctor. Which is exactly what previous posters have suggested she do.
mariamp: Did you read my post? I recommended she contact her health care provider for advice. (I believe she will get better advice from her than from most people posting on this board.) Did you read the post from Kinsey? Kinsey suggested that if her doctor did not SEE (emphasis added) her immediately she should change doctors. I disagree with that blanket recommendation. Did you read the post from handy? Handy said she needed to SEE (emphasis added) her doctor ASAP. I disagree with that blanket recommendation. I think her health care provider is in a better position to say what she needs to do and therefore the first thing she should do is contact her health care provider. (Hey, isn’t that what it says on the package insert?) Can I make a wild guess that you are not female and perhaps as a consequence know very little about menstruation and its abnormalities?
Yeah,
What is the difference between a “health care provider” and a doctor?
If the package insert recommends you see your “health care provider”, I think that means either an ob-gyn, an internist or even a nurse-midwife…you know, the person who provides you with health care.
I didn’t exactly mean she should change docs right away, just that this is nothing to fool around with, this weird vaginal bleeding. If her doc tries to brush her off or says it’s not important, THEN she should change docs.
(ok, I should have worded it differently)
My point is that her health care provider (i.e., whoever prescribed the pills) is in a better position than you, me or even muffinman’s girlfriend herself, to guess what is likely going on and how to attempt to resolve the problem and that she shouldn’t necessarily switch health care providers just because her health care provider, after asking her about her symptoms over the phone, (a) calls in a new presription for her, (b) suggests she give the pills another month before switching, © tells her to come in to the office a week from Tuesday, (d) tells her to go to a hospital emergency room immediately, or (e) gives her any of a large number of alternative instructions. I don’t see how posters on this board, with only a very little information (and only hearsay in this case) can feel comfortable second guessing the health care provider who has actually seen and spoken with the patient. Therefore I disagreed with the advice.
In addition, it happens to be a fact that irregular menstrual bleeding in an otherwise healthy, non-pregnant young woman on OCPs is very unlikely to be caused by anything that requires urgent treatment. (I assume that muffinman’s girlfriend is an otherwise healthy, non-pregnant, young woman.)
I DO agree that she should get a new health care provider if her health care provider “brushes her off.”
EXACTLY MY POINT!!!
I have no idea why she would be bleeding, so that’s why I recommended she see her doctor!