Stopped Kariva, Trying to conceive, but no period has come

[sweetbabykac]

Hi!
My husband and I have decided to try and get pregnant. I had been on birth control since I was 18 (so for 4 1/2 years). I was orginally on Depo-Provera for 1 1/2 years (never had a period), switched to Seasonale (major nausea), then switched to Tri-Sprintec (my chest got huge on this pill), and then to Kariva (was great!). I was on Kariva for 10 months. I never took the placebo week, so I never had a 'period'. However, if and when I missed a pill or took it a little late, I always had spotting for a day or two.
Now that I've been off of Kariva I have yet to start my period and have absolutely no spotting (although, the day after I stopped Kariva I had this very small discharge that was sticky-brown-goop). I had been thinking I was pregnant because of some lower abdominal discomfort, constipation, breast tenderness, and major cravings; but I took 2 pregnancy tests, 10 days apart, and both were negative. (My husband has been telling me that he has a 'gut' feeling that I am pregnant). I have been reading and found out that my period may come in a month or so. So does that mean I am unable to get pregnant until after my period comes (no ovulation)? Or am I able to try and get pregnant now? (and when would I be ovulating?)  And how long do I wait for a period to come before I have to see a ob/gyn??

Please fill me in and help me figure out what I should be expecting and what I should do. We really want to get pregnant now. I'm a very healthy 22 year old and we've been taking our vitamins; I'm taking the pre-natal vitamins and he's taking folic acid. We just need advice as to what's going on with my body and how long it takes after birth control to get pregnant.

[Hellen J Kim]

Before I answer you question, I need to clarify something.  You wrote that you have been on Karvia for 10months and never took the placebo pills and thus never had a real period except for occasional spotting.  May I ask why you did this and did your gynecologist know that you were doing this?  The reason why I am concerned is that when you don't have a period at least every 4 months you put yourself at a higher risk for uterine or endometrial cancer.  Unless directed by a physician, I would not recommend not taking the placebo pills for greater than 3 or 4 months.

After stopping any hormone based birth control, it takes your ovaries several months to start ovulating again.  It is difficult to predict because every women is different.  You can only get pregnant when you ovulate (when a mature egg is released from ovaries into the uterus) and this is usually 14 days prior to a period in a woman who isn't on birth control currently.  Once you stop taking the hormone birth control pills, it is out of your system in 24hours or so.  But it takes your body several months to get back on a regular schedule of ovulation and menstruation.

You didn't say when you stopped Karvia or how long since you stopped it, you have gone without a period.  If you haven't had a period in 2months since stopping Karvia, I would go see you gynecologist.  She/He can check to see if you are pregnant (though, less likely since you have did 2 negative pregnancy tests) and if you aren't pregnant, why you haven't had a period yet.  Remember without the period, you most likely are not ovulating.  Therefore it would be impossible to get pregnant.  Also remember even if you were ovulating, it takes the average couple 9-12 months of trying to get pregnant before becoming successful!

It is great that you are taking prenatal vitamins.  It is actually more important that you take the folic acid and not your husband.  Usually folic acid is included in prenatal vitamins, 400micrograms per day.  Folic acid doesn't increase fertility.  It is to prevent abnormal development of the brain and spinal cord in the fetus.

[kcor]

Hi,
I also went off Kariva; it was in May...had identical symptoms to pregnancy, about a month after stopping...right now I am in process of assessing my fertility, and seeing what the best course of action is. If you go more than two months with no period and neg. tests, go to a good ob/gyn who will check out everything for you with blood tests. sonagram, tube test  etc.  they can identify if there is a problem and set forth a plan of action for you to get pregnent.
This is what I FINALLY did after three months of waiting for a period to come, and getting tired of my old doctor ( who I decided to switch from) tell me just to wait, wait wait...it's your body just getting back to normal!
I hope this helps!!

[Hellen J Kim]

Thanks for the clarification.

If it has only been 5 days since discontinuing Kariva and you haven't started your period yet, I would wait to go see your doctor.  Like I wrote before, normally I would suggest that if your period does not come 6-8 week after stopping Kariva, I would go see your OB/GYN at that time. But it seems like the other symptoms are becoming very bothersome to you.  Therefore it might be a good idea for you to go see your OB/GYN soon just to get your other symptoms checked out and not because of your lack of a period.  It is just too soon!

I understand that in the past that you would bleed days after stopping your OCP's. But your  body doesn't always behave the same way all the time.  The risk of endometrial cancer increase when you don't menstruate over years, ie. having a period once every 10months for many years.  I don't think that in the short run, not having a period of 10months would be harmful.

[sweetbabykac]

To answer your question about why I didn't take the placebo pills: when I did have periods they would cause a very uncomfortable bruising in my 'down there' region. My doctor said that to prevent that I could just take the hormone containing pills and skip the placebo pills. I'm not sure if that was good advice or not...I've heard conflicting advice from different gyno's. The most recent ob/gyn told me that it was fine. Although, back in the beginning of January I did take the placebo pills and had a period (sorry, I left that out before)...I was a crazy woman during that week! It was awful! And to elaborate on the 'spotting' mentioned before, it was a "heavy" spotting that would last usually 2 days, but never more than 4 days (like a light period).   Do I need to be worried about something??

I had just stopped taking Kariva 5 days ago (not long ago, I know). But since I usually have a light period immediately, that's when I got worried. I never had any spotting at all and still haven't. It was just out of the ordinary so I felt I should check it out sooner rather than later.
For the past 3 weeks I have had what I thought were pregnancy symptoms (frequent potty breaks, bloating, food cravings, tension headaches, breast tenderness, very-low abdominal discomfort; like small cramps near where the ovaries are located, and constipation).

So now my question is when do I need to see a gyno if my period doesn't come (like how long do I wait)? And could there be something wrong with me since I only took the placebo pills once in a 10 month period? I'm just trying to see things really clearly...