Thread: I'm not sure what's going on.

Yeah.. I'm actually not entirely sure whether I'm missing it yet or not.
But before we get to the latest and the greatest, I'd like to share a little bit of back story that may or may not shed light on my possible problem.

I switched BCPs back in May of 2007 and began taking Microgestin Fe 1.5/30. Most of the unwanted symptoms that I'd been experiencing with my previous birth control disappeared a few months into starting this new BCP, so I was mostly content for a time.

However, over the last 5 or 6 months, I've began to experience strange and unwanted symptoms while taking this pill but am not sure whether to attribute them to the medication or to the fact that I changed sexual partners in August 2007. I know the only way to be for certain is to get checked out by a doctor, but I already have an annual appointment scheduled for May. If popular opinion is that I don't have a great deal to worry about right now, I'll probably wait until then to bring up my concerns unless it gets worse.

To begin with, I've noticed that the skin on the uppermost insides of my leg and on my general outside female area are usually kinda irritated most of the time. None of the skin appears swollen or inflamed, but it does tend to be a little red and rather itchy. I shower regularly and do not use any strange soaps or substances that should cause skin irritation in those areas. It's somewhat annoying, but I can deal with it fine.. It's when I get around to having sex that it becomes a problem. The friction in relation to the irritation that skin is experiencing is really bad during sex. It continues to persist in high irritation even hours after we're done. Urination even a few hours after having sex is also extremely painful. I'm not having any difficulty getting the urine to pass, but the irritated skin burns like HECK. It's awful..

I've also noticed since I began taking this pill that my periods have become lighter and lighter.. I'm barely bleeding at all and the cramps are very minor. The irritability, bloating and all of those fun things seem to be here to stay, however.
My period last month was very light.. In fact it seemed lighter than usual. My period this month, which I'm supposed to be approximately 5 days into, has been almost completely nonexistent. I've spotted a little, my skin broke out some like it normally does this time of month, I've cramped a tiny bit.. But this hardly seems like a period.

Does any of this stuff sound like it could be attributed to the pill I'm taking?