Suffering with Cerelle after 5 months

[Smv95]

I have taken Cerelle since end of January, my first 3 months were okay, I bled for about 4 weeks in the middle then all okay. I was reviewed during lockdown and prescribed another 3 months worth. Again all fine but have now been bleeding for at least 6 weeks, it is dark and not really a period, I am 8 weeks into the pills. I have had to change to sensitive pads as I get so uncomfortable, its painful when I pee, is it the prolonged bleeding/period or something else? I was sti checked so can't be that. I juat can't get away from feeling uncomfortable with a possible UTI AND bleeding too!

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Dear smv,

Here's a checklist for women experiencing problematic bleeding on hormonal contraception that goes something like this:

1. Have you been taking the pill inconsistently (at different times of the day) or missed some of your pills?

2. Have you changed diet/started medication recently?

3. Have you been experiencing severe diarrhoea or an illness affecting absorption of drugs?

4. Have you been checked for STDs in the last 3 months (or since the bleeding started)?

5. Are you up-to-date with your cervical smears?

6. Could you be pregnant?

So if you're reasonably sure you've excluded these factors, then the next step would be to try to arrange an appointment with the family planning/sexual health clinic for an STD screen (if indicated) and a speculum examination to rule out any obvious physical cause/s. They could try you on a different progesterone-only pill but there is no guarantee it will fix the problem.

Apologies if you've already read this elsewhere, as it was copied from my earlier reply to meganlrxx.

Rgds,

Adhari