I've been on birth control pills for 6 years (ortho tricyclen lo for 3 years) and am having a constant brown discharge for the last 7 days. This last month was high stress for me and I'm wondering if that could be the cause? I also had uncommon skin problems this month, so I suspect the discharge is hormone-related.

Can stress impact birth control as to make it ineffective to prevent pregnancy? I am nervous because if I see stress manifesting itself physically, despite my birth control hormone regulation, I imagine it might not always be effective otherwise.

Could the brown discharge be a symptom of another serious problem?