Understanding Unexpected Bleeding: Could It Be Implantation Bleeding or Something Else?

Question
Wednesday morning, the 3rd, I woke up and when I went to the bathroom I thought I had started my period. There was a little bit of blood it was red and a little in the toilet so I used a tampon.(Although I wasn't supposed to start until the 10th) I just got prescribed birth control and my doctor said if you take it on the first day of your period it becomes effective right away so later on that evening I decided to take my first pill. A little later I decided I should change my tampon and when I took it out there was brown blood on it, but it was not full. I usually have a very heavy period and barely make it to the bathroom in the morning when it starts. I don't know if taking the birth conrol, Loestrin 24, made it stop or if it could have been implantation bleeding. I did not bleed again after I took the tampon out and there was no blood when I wiped and I haven't bled since. I don't know if the birth control could have stopped my period that quickly from just one pill if that's what is was. My boyfriend and I were not using any kind of birth control before the 3rd and were just using the withdrawal method. And I believe the last time we had sex would have fallen in the time frame for it to possibly be implantation bleeding. I took a pregnancy test on the 6th and it came up negative, but now I'm reading on the internet that I may have not waited long enough.

Answer
Dear Lauren,

Many times the BCP will reduce your period down when you begin taking it. It typically will not stop the period completely or that quickly, but every woman reacts differently to it.

I usually suggest that women wait until the week after a missed or spotty period before testing for pregnancy. This tends to minimize the incidence of false negative results and also avoids wasting money on a test for a simple delay of a period by a few days. When you test make sure to use 1st morning urine to get a concentrated sample for the most accurate results. I would suggest waiting another 7 days and testing again, particularly if your period was not due until the 10th anyway. If those results are negative, you can either wait for the next cycle to see if your periods resume or have your doctor's office do a quantitative blood pregnancy test (serum beta hCG). That test will give an actual amount of hCG in your bloodstream rather than just a positive/negative result. Any amount of 25 mIU/ml or more would be considered positive for pregnancy.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda