Heavy withdrawal bleeding?

Hello Anonymous,

Welcome to EmpowHER and thank you for reaching out to our community for an explanation.
Honestly, I think you should consult your gynecologist.

When you say that you came off the pill last Friday, do you mean you finished taking the active pills in the pack and started the week of inactive pills?

Or did you stop taking the pills all together? If so, how far along were you in the pack?

Has this ever happened before? Before starting oral contraceptives, did you have any menstrual cycle issues, such as irregularity or heavy bleeding?

Menorrhagia is the medical term for menstrual periods with abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding. Although heavy menstrual bleeding is a common concern among premenopausal women, most women don't experience blood loss severe enough to be defined as menorrhagia.

Two causes that I can think of are a hormone imbalance or dysfunction of your ovaries, based solely on stopping the active pills early.

In a normal menstrual cycle, a balance between the hormones estrogen and progesterone regulates the buildup of the lining of the uterus or the endometrium, which is shed during menstruation. If a hormone imbalance occurs, the endometrium develops in excess and eventually sheds by way of heavy menstrual bleeding.

If your ovaries don't release an egg during a menstrual cycle, your body doesn't produce the hormone progesterone, as it would during a normal menstrual cycle. This leads to hormone imbalance and may result in menorrhagia.

Anonymous, please keep us updated once you have spoken with your doctor.

Regards,
Maryann