When did your period return?

L

lesonal

New member
I feel like this questions falls somewhere between the waiting to try and TTC sub, but since we’re still waiting I’ll ask it here anyway.

I stopped taking the mini pill last weekend after 2 1/2 years of taking it everyday. My doctor advised me to stop taking it three months before we start trying so that’s what I’m doing.
I know it’ll take a while so I’m not expecting anything to happen this week, but I want to know how long it took for others for their period to return and for their cycles to even out?
I’ve had friends who waited a year and some didn’t even need to wait a month. Lots of them didn’t take hormonal BC at all, so I’d love some insights.
 
@giddeon82 I’m sorry, I feel like my brain is missing the English description 🙈
When you’re on the pill, you either take it everyday or you do a “pill pause”. This is a literal translation from my language so I hope it makes more sense. I think it makes a big difference if someone takes the pill non-stop or pauses every month so I just wanted to get more information. Sorry for being so confusing!
 
@lesonal Ok, I see. I took it everyday for several years. I believe with the mini pill you take it everyday and only the combination pill has the pill pause
 
@giddeon82 Thank you for being patient with me! Ah, I see. Some of my friends even took the combination pill every day so I wasn’t sure. It didn’t take too long for you then! That’s exciting.
 
@lesonal Return to fertility doesn't depend on if you took the pill every day or how many years you took it. The only things that impact return to normal fertility are the method you used (progestin-only or combined, pills vs shots, etc) and how your body responds to it.
 
@lesonal The mini pill specifically is not supposed to linger in your body long and your period should return rather quickly. I would say two months max.

ETA: Some women even still ovulate on the mini pill (progesterone only)
 
@corygod I feel like I did a lot of research back when I started the pill but now I realize I knew nothing 🥲
I know some still ovulate or even have their periods. My last period was about 2 years ago, so 6 months after starting the mini pill. I didn’t take any ovulation tests, so I don’t know if I did ovulate. My best guess is I didn’t because ovulation hurt like hell pre-pill and I haven’t experienced any pain in that department in ages. Probably more than a year ago.

In the helpful spreadsheet someone shared in the comments some people noted it took them ages to get their period back! I feel like it’s a wild guessing game at this point.
 
@lesonal Don't feel bad! I'm in medical school, which is the only reason I know a little bit about these drugs. The mini pill works more by preventing the sperm from reaching the egg/the egg from implanting rather than preventing ovulation. However of course ovulation still might stop! It sounds like it did for you. It is a crazy guessing game for sure, but I think the chances of you getting right back into ovulating quickly are high! Wishing you the best of luck in this process!
 
@corygod Thank you for the information and good luck wishes! I’ll contribute to the spreadsheet as soon as I know more. Would you say it’s worth it to take some ovulation tests just for fun if I do feel the familiar ovulation pain before I get a period? Really just for fun.
 
@lesonal I was on a combo pill for 17 years (took a few breaks but was consistently on for the last 12 years) and I went off last month. I had some initial spotting and then a full period starting on day 23 after I stopped (I'm counting from the day I was supposed to start a new pack, but it would be 27 days counting from taking the last hormonal pill).

I'm hoping it will be regular again next month! I'm not really sure when to start TTC, but I might wait another cycle to make sure I'm actually regular, and so I can try some OPKs to get a sense of my ovulation timing. I have heard of the 3 month thing after coming off BC but there's some conflicting evidence on it being an issue so I'm not too worried.
 
@lesonal Their wiki is super helpful! But they can be kinda mean with newbie questions. It's almost an infertilty sub at this point. If you're starting this summer, request to join r/TTCSummer2024. Everyone on there is super nice
 
@learntolive That’s good to know, I’ll hold off the questions and read what’s posted there then.
Thanks again, I’ll request it. But we’re planning towards late August/early September. Is this still considered summer? 😅
(That is if the cycle regulates, if it doesn’t we’ll probably just NT/NP at that point)
 
@lesonal Yeah that still counts! It sounds like there's really only 2 groups like this per year- Summer and New Year. So if you're starting in fall you can really join both if you want. But there are a bunch of us in the summer group who are starting in late August early September, myself included. There are also people who are already pregnant, so there's a wide range because it spans so long.

Ps- I also linked directly to the spreadsheet in my first comment. I edited it afterward so you may not have seen it originally
 
@learntolive Oh that’s exciting! I’ll have to request it on PC, mobile won’t let me do it. But I’ll remember tomorrow and hope to see you over there! What an exciting time.

And thank you! I found it in the sub before, luckily it was easy to find but with your link it’s much easier to get back to ☺️
 
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