[elswyth]

Okay, I've been on Nordette-21 for a few months now. I take them continuously to skip my periods, so I've not stopped the pills for about 6 weeks + so far. However, recently I've begun to spot - I read that breakthrough bleeding is more common the longer you go without a 'break', so it didn't really bother me. Today and yesterday, though, it began to bleed, fresh thin blood like on the first day of menses. The quantity was enough to require the use of a pad, not just a pantiliner.

I'm wondering whether I should just stop the pills for 7 days and then continue - will it bleed properly and then stop if I do that, most likely? But I really, really don't want to get my period next week, as I'll be out almost all day everyday. But if I don't stop the pills, will it definitely drag out til I do, or is there a chance that it'll stop by itself?

[LanaBear]

I'd take a break. I've always been told by my Dr's that it was important to have a menstrual cycle at least every 2-4 months.

Maybe some others have more experience with continuously taking the pill.

[elswyth]

Thanks, Lana - did he say why?

[CHANDLERS WISH]

Why do you want your period to stop? I can only think of one reason

It's not healthy to skip periods, periods are for a reason, not to tell us we are not pregnant but to get rid of all gunk, dead blood, when you see brown blood that is what that is.

Your body can get confused it's meant to have a period and it's trying to, that's what your experiencing.

Do what you must for this situation you feel that you want, but after that go with a normal cycle, it can cause you cramps, pain, lots of bleeding, no bleeding, less bleeding and confuse you if you don't.

CW

[elswyth]

CW - I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree with you on this point. The 'periods' that you have when you take breaks between your pills (or take your sugar pills) aren't real periods. They're not at all the same as the ones that happen when you're not on your pill. Some claim that the doctors who invented the pill mainly created them with bleeding at the end of 21 days because they wanted to gain acceptance with women who'd been used to having periods every month and would feel weird if they didn't bleed.

However, I suspect LanaBear's doctor says that because no pill manufacturer to date has ever conducted trials with fully continuous use of BC. The longest period to date is Seasonale, which allows bleeding once every 4 months. Thus anything beyond that is uncharted territory, as far as accepted clinical trials go.

I was just wondering if anyone had ever experienced spotting (with fresh blood included) that actually stopped on its own?