Hello, I'm just trying to get an idea of whether or not I'm dealing with normal bc side effects or if I should head back to the doc asap.
I started a bc called Cryselle in August. Everything went fine for the 3 weeks of active pills. My doctor had told me I could skip the inactive pills and head into a new pack to avoid my period(I had heavy bleeding & excruciating cramps-the main reason I wanted on bc). Shortly after beginning the new pack I started to have dark brown spotting. This occurred for a week after which point I began to bleed like I was having a period and still had horrible cramping. After two weeks of bleeding(and the first week of spotting) I went back to the doctor because I was constantly in pain. I cramped every day that I bled.
The doctor put me on a higher dose of bc, a pill called Nortrel. He advised me to take two pills a day for 5 days and then continue taking one pill/day. I stopped bleeding the second day that I was taking double pills but as soon as I started the single pills I began to spot and now I'm bleeding(light-medium) and cramping very badly. I was on bc years ago but never went through something like this. I have been sexually active since starting the pills. In the beginning I wasn't good at taking them at the exact time every day but after reading that it could be a cause for the bleeding I began to be more diligent and have been taking my pills at exactly the same time every day for a few weeks now. It is now going on a total of 26 days of bleeding(including the spotting from the first week it started).
Is this normal or should I head back to the docs? It's a community clinic and the doc barely speaks to me for more than 5 mins, so I just don't want to waste my time. Thank you for any advice or info you can pass on. Just want to add, I'm on the first pill of the third week on Nortrel.