Irregular Periods After Birth Control: Causes & When to Worry

Question
Hello,
I have been on birth control pills since I was 15 I am now 26. For the last year and a half I have been on YAZ. But since September I have not had a period. I have been under stress. I got married in October and two weeks later my grandfather died. I also work retail and just went through the holiday season. I have been working retail for years so this should not have affected it anyways. I have always been under a lot of stress, so I am not sure as to why this would make a difference now. I have taken 4 pregnancy tests and I went to the doctor. My doctor said this was normal. And I should take a pregnancy test each time before I start a new pack of pills. My issue is I don't want to shell out money every month for them, and I have noticed I have started gaining weight since this all started happening. I go through the regular motions each month with cramps, and leg pains, and severe pms, and then nothing happens. Should I get a second opinion? Also what can I do to get my periods back.

Answer
Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your question. I'm not a medical professional but I would think that your doctor would try to find out what is wrong, not just say this is normal. I do think it is abnormal if you have been on the pill for a year and a half and then just recently started not having a period.

One of the side effects of hormonal birth control can be the weight gain. I don't recommend any kind of hormonal birth control method. I only recommend Natural Family Plannning and condoms (both are not 100% effective in preventing pregnancy).

Yes, I would encourage you to get a 2nd opinion. Try to find out more about Natural Family Planning. You can get a free pregnancy test at a local pregnancy resource center. To find one in your area, check out
http://www.optionline.org or call 1-800-395-HELP. Another website is
http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/worldwide_directory.asp

Please email me at DCHERYL51@yahoo.com if you want to talk more about this. Also, I would like to hear what happens about all this. Please email me at DCHERYL51@yahoo.com and put ALLEXPERTS in the subject line of the email.

Sincerely,
Diane Cheryl