I have a frustrating problem with birth control pills. Most seem to work great for anywhere from 4 to 9 months, then I start having problems with spotting/breakthrough bleeding. It ALWAYS starts on about the same day each cycle - regardless of the pill I'm taking - and it's day 12 (I'm counting from the first "active" pill at the beginning of the pack). The spotting sometimes lasts for 3 or 4 days and sometimes lasts from day 12 all the way up to the time I have my period. Not fun. I feel like I have about a week and a half each month of "no period" and then "period" the entire rest of the time. I went off the pills for about 4 months a year ago and had no problems. I resumed my very normal period that I always had off of birth control with no spotting between periods. After the 4 months, I tried a new pill and had the same results - 6 months of happiness, and then utter disappointment when the spotting started up again. Dr. checkup and blood tests revealed nothing out of the ordinary. These are the pills I've tried:

Ortho Tri-cyclen
Ortho Tri-cyclen LO
Apri (generic for Desogen)
Microgestin Fe 1.5/30 (generic for Loestrin Fe 1.5/30)

I'm looking for advice on new pills to try that maybe "target" people who have problems with bleeding between periods. I really feel like I just need to find the right "mix". Also, if there are any kinds of vitamin supplements that might reduce this problem, I'd be interested in hearing about those too!! I really appreciate any feedback on this. This has been a real roller coaster and I tend to get really depressed about this - I feel like it's killing my relationship with the man I love. Thank you, thank you, thank you for any help you can give!

P.S. The problem is definitely not irregular pill use. I am very, very, very cautious and ALWAYS take the pill at exactly the same time every day - so I know that isn't the problem.