Stress can certainly mess your cycle up.. It used to do that for me. It may also be the level of hormones. I tried a low estrogen pill for a couple of months one time and was fine for awhile, but then after a few months I was getting the same breakthrough bleeding your describing and then a light period. I had to go up to the higher dose of estrogen again. Also, I would get breakthrough bleeding if I missed a pill early in the pack, even if I remembered to take the missed pill the next day. So I would not worry about pregnancy, but I would go to your doctor and look at changing pills if it keeps up for the next month or so.

Thanks for replying! Yeah, i've been reading a lot of posts here on the forum and a lot of women have experienced the breakthrough bleeding with ortho tri cyclen lo.... Knowing i'm not alone makes me feel a lot better.

much like you, i've been taking ortho for quite awhile then all of the sudden i'm experiencing breakthrough bleeding! I started taking the stuff in january. Anyway, I contacted planned parenthood yesterday and they put me on a different pill, alesse. I start taking it next month. It actually has a lower level of estrogen, but a higher level of progesterone. Ortho tri cyclen lo also made my pms 10 times worse! Ever since I started taking it i've been getting depressed very easily. I'm hoping I have better luck with alesse.

Ugh this morning I was so worried about the breakthrough bleeding that I actually went to giant eagle and purchased a pregnancy test. Lol I know some women experience implantation bleeding when they are in the early stages of pregnancy (and i've been having some syptoms which are very similar to those a pregnant women has). Thank goodness the test results were negative since i'm not ready for a baby yet.

nicole

Oh oh! Dustbunnie, I have a question!

I was on orth tri cyclen lo for about 3 months and had periods that were 10 days long. So they switched me to alesse as well. Everyone seems to say that more estrogen is better, not less. Do you have any idea why they change dus both to alesse to try to help with the bleeding? Will higher progestrone really help? I just started alesse today so I guess i'll find out soon...

I was confused by that too cassy. it didn't make much sense to me either... I know the main reason they switched me is because ortho tri cyclen lo made my pms 10 times worse than when I wasn't on birth control. It also caused me to get very depressed. They figured a lower level of estrogen won't make me go as crazy every month. Lol progesterone I believe is the hormone which thickens the lining of the uterus. So having a higher level of progesterone allows a pill to have less estrogen... I believe estrogen is the hormone that causes more problems with us women overall. Some women can't tolerate it very well.

Please let me know how you're feeling in a couple of weeks. I don't start taking alesse until next month.