Expert: Norman Solberg - 11/29/2008

Question
i was on seasonique for about 8 months. during my first pack (3 months) everything was perfect and i didn't have any sort of spotting. when i started my second pack (months 4-6) i started spotting a little bit but it just got worse and worse. during my third pack the spotting continued and just basically started to get annoying. i was on the last month of the pack (month 9) and i had only taken 2 pills but i called my nurse and explained everything and she told me to stop and that it would be okay since i had only taken two pills. it has only been a few days since i stopped but i'm bleeding very heavily and i wasn't supposed to have a period for another four weeks. is this normal??? how long is this going to last???

Answer
Dear Katie,
It's normal to have a period when you stop the pills, whether it's at the end of the pack or not.  When you say you took 2 pills, I think you actually had taken 62 pills (month 7 and 8 and 2 of month 9).  Your bleeding is not normal.  You might want to go in for a check, or else try going on monthly birth control pills until everything gets back to normal.  If by "very heavy" bleeding you mean really excessive, I would go in to be checked now.