Questionhello,
i was on yaz for about 4 months and i had been having the promised 3 day period. very light and manageable and i loved it. then i realized one month taht my period was going to arrive while i was on vacation, so i decided to "skip" my period by not taking the placebos at the end of my pack, and going straight to active pills in the next pack. instead of skipping my period, i ended up having a period that lasted 2 weeks. after this happened, my periods no longer lasted 3 days. they lasted about 7.
after 5 months of this long period, i decided to switch to loestrin 24 fe in hopes of having a 3 day period again. I started my first 3 weeks ago and have been having terrible symptoms: bloating, extreme fatigue, weight gain, and worst of all very bad breakthrough bleeding. i have had bleeding the entire time i have taken active pills. i just started the placebos and now have an even heavier period, which i assume is my actual period. i am fed up with this pill and want to switch back to yaz after i finish this pack.
my question is, what caused all this bleeding? was it the change of progestin levels? (because i know loestrin and yaz have the same level of estrogin) and will this bleeding stop when i start yaz again? aslo, what caused my periods to become 7 days long after i tried to skip a period while i was on yaz? will i now go back to having short periods when i go back to yaz?
please let me know..thank you for your help!
AnswerHi Mary Ann,
In regards to the first part of your question, depending on which pills a woman takes and how her body is affected by them, when they try to skip their period by continuing on with the active pills sometimes there is breakthrough bleeding.
And the change between the bleeding with different pills is most definitely related to the different levels of hormones. However, as the pill names you have given me are not on the official 'Directory of Hormonal Contraceptives' I cannot tell what the difference is between those two pills you are on. There is Yasmin, is that what you mean by Yaz? And for Loestrin I can see Loestrin Fe 1.5/30+ and Loestrin Fe 1/20+ . Are either of these yours? If not then perhaps the pills you took are fairly new on the market and have not been added to the directory yet.
Basically, my adivce is to find a pill you like (in terms of side effects and periods, etc) and stick with it. Because there are so many pills to choose from with so many different hormone combinations, and because each woman's body will react differently to them the best you can do is try it out and see how you like it.
If you talk to your doctor about this and explain that you want lighter periods they can point you to the pills that are likely to cause that. Additionally, if you are interested in having light to no periods there is a new pill on the market that is meant to be taken continually for 4 months (so only 3 periods a year) or you could take Depo-Provera, an injectable hormone 4 times a year and which leads to many women's periods stopping all together.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but it is basically a trial and error situation until you find a pill that reacts with your body the way you are happy with. Speak to your doctor and hopefully she can help you find one that suits your body.
Good luck,
Allison
