Withdrawal bleed or normal period?

Question

I stopped taking the birth control Yasmin about 3 days ago and this morning when I woke up I had really bad leg & stomach cramps and my "period". I'm not actually due until next week. I only took the pill for a month and a half and stopped cold turkey because I couldn't take the nasty side effects. I also have not "done it" as it has hurt so I am not pregnant.

Is this a withdrawal bleed or my actual period? And if it isn't my period, when should my system go back to normal?

Answer 1

Sounds like a withdrawal bleed to me.  If you stop your oral contraceptives in the middle of the pack, then that's extremely likely.  You basically abruptly withdrew the hormones that were making your body think you were pregnant.  Your cycle should return to normal after this.

There are other forms of oral contraceptive that you can try if this one didn't work out for you (there are also the patch and NuvaRing, which may have lower levels of circulating hormones).  If you want to remain on birth control then you should probably talk to your doctor about trying a different formulation.