HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

question-icon

What Causes Vaginal Bleeding A Week After Taking I-pill?

default
Posted on Mon, 27 Apr 2015
Question: i had sex with my girlfriend on 8th of feb which was unprotected but i didn't ejaculated inside her but to avoid any chances of pregnancy she took ipill within 4 hrs from intercourse. She has her cycle of 28 days and due to i pill her mensuration cycle was delayed by 2 days hence the period started on 2nd of march and lasted around 4th or 5th of march. Then we again did it on 15th of march unfortunately this time also without the protection which was for 3 continuous times but this time also i didn't ejaculate in any these 3 times inside her but she took ipill again just to avoid pregnancy. After 6 days i.e. on 21st of march her vaginal bleeding started which continued for 4-5 days, it was very lite just 5-6 drops per day but it's 6th of April now and till now she hasn't got her period started. Yesterday night (April 5) she felt like period is about to start but it was only jst a few drops of blood (brownish) with some muscles structure which it which ended by today's morning.
We had home pregnancy test on April 1 and April 4 both of them were negative.
She is 22 yrs and 9 months old and weighs 40 kg, she had irregular cycles but on taking some tonic named AMRITARIST her cycle became stable (28 days) and she hasn't been taking this tonic from march 4.
Now my question is, is she pregnant or these are side effects of ipill?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sandip Kabra (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Blood or brownish discharge is because of i-pill.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

welcome to health care magic,

Pregnancy occurs when sperms travel through vagina and unite with ova leading to fertilization.

First of all, as explained by you there was no penetration and you did not ejaculate inside her vagina, so sperms cannot travel by themselves and which require a medium like vaginal fluid to swim.

After coming in contact with the air sperms becomes dry within few minutes.

Here in your case,in both the occasions pregnancy test was negative ,so chances of pregnancy are ruled out.

Your girl friend had taken Emergency contraceptive pill(i pill)which actually causes imbalance in the hormonal levels and causes breakthrough bleeding and spotting.

I pill is actually high dose progesterone and effect of which lasts only for a month.But repeated use might cause menstrual irregularity and indirectly may affect the ovulation.So one should use an alternative contraceptive measure instead of repeated use of the pill.

It seems that your girl friend is experiencing blood(brownish) discharge with just a few drops is because of the pill intake which has caused break through bleeding or spotting.

It would subside with in a few days.

If the bleeding becomes very heavy and severe, kindly consult a Gynaecologist for further evaluation.

Hope I have answered all your queries.

Thanks and Regards,

Dr.SandipKabra
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
doctor
default
Follow up: Dr. Sandip Kabra (15 hours later)
Thanks for your early reply sir, I am worried because of following things.
1) Why did she bleed for 5 days though it was very lite but she never had such type of spotting before, even after taking I-pill.
2)Why the brown discharge after so many days of taking the pill and the discharge also ended in few hours. Somewhere I read about brown discharge being the symptom of early pregnancy.
3) Why her period is so late, its almost 8 days late now. Whether she will have her period or not? Is there chance of missed period? and if period is skipped for now then what will be the probable date of it's reoccurring? Was the 3-4 days discharge was a sort of period?
4) When should a pregnancy test be done? Was our test right with respect to time?

Sorry for writing so long, I know not using a protection was very stupid but right now I am really very tensed about being her pregnant.
Sir i request u to go through both of my question(this and earlier one) again and answer them in details so that I'll have peace in my mind.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sandip Kabra (3 hours later)
Brief Answer:
See below explanation.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

It is very common for cycles to be disturbed after taking the I pill as i explained earlier.

The normal expected period can be pre-ponded or post-ponded by up to a week or may be up to ten days.

She might have bleed after taking i-pill because of hormonal imbalance due to high progesterone hormone in i-pill.

During the second time,her period was started on 2nd March and you did unprotected intercourse on 15th March and another i-pill was taken which might have caused the breakthrough bleeding on 21st of March as i explained above.

This bleeding might have been pre-ponded by this i-pill which could have been around 31st march to 2nd april.

Now,if you have done urine pregnancy test twice and the result came negative on the both the occasions then you must not need to worry about pregnancy.Still if you have any doubt you can go for ultrasound of pelvis for further confirmation.

The accuracy of a pregnancy test is most closely related to the day of ovulation, not of the act of intercourse that caused the pregnancy. It is very much normal for the sperm to live up to 5(five) days in the fallopian tubes, waiting for ovulation to occur.

It could take up to 12 further days for implantation to occur, meaning even the most sensitive pregnancy tests may give false negatives up to 17 days after the act that caused the pregnancy.

It may also take an additional three or four days for hCG to rise to levels detectable by these home pregnancy tests — meaning false negative results may occur up to three weeks after the act of intercourse that causes pregnancy.

So,in your case, following intercourse of 15th march,if you had done UPT on 4 th april you can repeat the test after 1 week for further confirmation.

Lastly,repeated use of i-pill might cause menstrual irregularity and indirectly may affect the ovulation.So one should use an alternative contraceptive measure instead of repeated use of the i-pill.

I think i have explained it in a much better and simple way.Hope you will be satisfied now.

Thanks.

Dr.sandipkabra
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
doctor
default
Follow up: Dr. Sandip Kabra (2 days later)
My girlfriend again had a pregnancy test on april 8 which again was negative but its 11 days passed still no period.
In this site a girl explained about not having period (after taking ipill) for a month but she had spotting after 5-6 days of intercourse about which doctor explained as an early induced period because if the spotting occurs within the period of 48-72 hrs then only it is a side effect of ipill but spotting occurs after 5-6 days then it is an early induced period(as she further explained). And again she had period around the date at which she had her spotting started.
This is last my question just tell me can the above case be true?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sandip Kabra (5 hours later)
Brief Answer:
see below explanation.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for the follow-up.

As I have already explained earlier repeated use of i-pill might cause menstrual irregularities which might occur as a spotting or breakthrough bleeding.

Here,you wanted to ask about the early induced period is actually a break through bleeding.

Again, pregnancy test comes negative here, which clearly indicates that your girl friend is not pregnant.

Yes,what scenario you said is possible as it is only because of I-pill taken repeatedly.

In case of doubt you must go for abdominal ultrasound for accurate diagnosis and yes,do not use repeatedly oral contraceptive pills rather you use alternative methods.

Thanks XXXX,

Dr.sandipkabra
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Sandip Kabra

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 3078 Questions

premium_optimized

The User accepted the expert's answer

Share on

Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties

159 Doctors Online

By proceeding, I accept the Terms and Conditions

HCM Blog Instant Access to Doctors
HCM Blog Questions Answered
HCM Blog Satisfaction
What Causes Vaginal Bleeding A Week After Taking I-pill?

Brief Answer: Blood or brownish discharge is because of i-pill. Detailed Answer: Hi, welcome to health care magic, Pregnancy occurs when sperms travel through vagina and unite with ova leading to fertilization. First of all, as explained by you there was no penetration and you did not ejaculate inside her vagina, so sperms cannot travel by themselves and which require a medium like vaginal fluid to swim. After coming in contact with the air sperms becomes dry within few minutes. Here in your case,in both the occasions pregnancy test was negative ,so chances of pregnancy are ruled out. Your girl friend had taken Emergency contraceptive pill(i pill)which actually causes imbalance in the hormonal levels and causes breakthrough bleeding and spotting. I pill is actually high dose progesterone and effect of which lasts only for a month.But repeated use might cause menstrual irregularity and indirectly may affect the ovulation.So one should use an alternative contraceptive measure instead of repeated use of the pill. It seems that your girl friend is experiencing blood(brownish) discharge with just a few drops is because of the pill intake which has caused break through bleeding or spotting. It would subside with in a few days. If the bleeding becomes very heavy and severe, kindly consult a Gynaecologist for further evaluation. Hope I have answered all your queries. Thanks and Regards, Dr.SandipKabra