Expert: Norman Solberg - 10/18/2009

Question
I am 22 and married. I was on birth control for three years, but I stopped last December. Before the pill, I was very regular, always 5-7 days, with predictable cramping on certain days and starting with a heavy (2 days) ending with a light (3-4 days) flow. Since I have quit the pill, I have been completely irregular, if I have a period at all. I've skipped several months, and if I have had a period, it's been very very light and short (2 days, usually). This month, however, I'm going on three weeks of bleeding. It started with a light flow that was brown, but the last week and a half it's been a moderate red flow.

I have seen my doctor and he told me that it was totally normal, but that he could give me some medicine that would give me a normal period if I wanted. I'm more concerned about mixing in MORE medicine if I don't have to. Will my body go back to a normal rhythm or do I need to help it out?

Answer
Hi Kristen,
I wonder if you misunderstood your doctor, because it doesn't sound normal to me to bleed for 3 weeks.  From what you say, you were ovulating regularly before going on the pill, and now aren't ovulating much at all.  Ovulation is what causes periods to come regularly and to be normal periods.  Usually when a woman stops the pill, she goes back to the same kind of periods she had before the pill.  Something must have happened to your body to change your ovulation, either you gained or lost weight or have more stress or your thyroid is abnormal or something.  If a cause can't be found, you can take some progesterone pills every 4-6 weeks to bring on a period.  That is preferable to what you have now, where you're having prolonged bleeding, and probably extra buildup of the uterine lining that in some cases will become precancerous.  If you decide to have children, you'll need some help, unless your body is back to normal by then.  Fortunately that's not difficult, using some pills called Clomid that you take each month to bring on an ovulation.  Taking the progesterone won't cause a problem, and just fools your uterus into thinking you've ovulated.  Your body may or may not go back to a normal rhythm, just depending if you and your doctor can figure out why it got out of its previous normal rhythm.  Best wishes.