not sure if pregnant?

[rileyk]

so i definitely wasn't sure where to go with this question. i spent a lot of time looking it up but i couldn't find my answer anywhere, and i figured instead of intruding on a parenting/new mom forum, i'd try here.

this post is gonna get a bit tmi/nsfw, just so we're all on the same page here.

i try to masturbate every night or almost every night, right before i go to bed. i think it's fun, it helps me sleep, and i didn't feel like i was overdoing it. however, i am one of those lucky and blessed individuals who tends to take, on average, 70-80 minutes to come, so i definitely have been concerned that the amount of time it takes me has been inadvertently rubbing me raw.

this morning after i woke up, i looked on my fingers and they had dried brown and black blood on them. not like COATED, but a decent amount. i immediately went to the bathroom and wiped and some more dried brown blood came off, but not a lot. i'm worried it could be implantation bleeding. i looked up pictures on google and it didn't look very similar, but considering the blood had 8 hours to dry, i'm not surprised.

i feel like the risk of me ACTUALLY being pregnant is pretty low. i'm on the pill, i take it consistently every day, i skip all the placebo pills so i don't get a period, and my fiancé and i still try to make a point of pulling out so he's never actually come in me. however, we're in a long distance relationship (i go to college 5 hours away) so every time we DO see each other, i kind of freak out afterwards about whether or not i'm pregnant - i am a very paranoid person. i went home for a short period of time and we had sex 8 and 10 days ago, so well within the range for implantation bleeding.

i'm just very scared of what to do if i AM pregnant. i'm disabled, i can't work, and i'm trying to get myself through college. neither my fiancé or i want children, nor are we able to afford children or provide the adequate care. we are both victims of parental abuse and have ptsd from it, which is a big part of why we'd rather not raise a family. the closest abortion center is four hours away, and i have no idea how to get all the way out there or afford the procedure if i am pregnant.

this is probably just me making a big deal out of nothing, but i looked it up and i couldn't find ANYTHING about being rubbed raw by female masturbation, much less to the point of bleeding. i would appreciate some help here. thank you

[Lizzie]

Hey,

So while using protection does greatly lower the chance of pregnancy, it doesn't completely eliminate the possibility. One of the down sides of not allowing yourself to have a period is the fact that you can't tell if you missed one or not. The ultimate 1st pregnancy symptom is a missing period. If you are worried about being pregnant taking a pregnancy test is the only way to find out. You have to wait at least fourteen days after having sex for it to be accurate. So if you this worried about being pregnant, I think taking a test will be the best way to gain some peace of mind.

Have you talked to your doctor about the way you are treating your birth control pills? There are certain types of birth control that let you skip your period, but the fact that your pack has sugar pills, makes me think you are not taking them the way they are meant to be taken. If you don't follow the directions exactly on your birth control, that could increase the likelihood of getting pregnant. So, you need to talk to your doctor if you want to switch to a type that allows you to safely miss a period. The bleeding could very well be caused by the fact that you are missing your period. The lining of your uterus does need to shed at some point and you may just start spotting all of the time to compensate for that.

Implantation bleeding is extremely light, we are talking a few drops of blood, not enough to even get on your underwear. Just noticeable when you wipe. It also doesn't always occur, so it is very likely that the blood you saw is not from implantation. We could try to guess what caused the blood, like long finger nails, but at the end of the day, the only way to know if you are pregnant is to wait four more days and take a test.

[rileyk]

Originally Posted by Lizzie

Hey,

So while using protection does greatly lower the chance of pregnancy, it doesn't completely eliminate the possibility. One of the down sides of not allowing yourself to have a period is the fact that you can't tell if you missed one or not. The ultimate 1st pregnancy symptom is a missing period. If you are worried about being pregnant taking a pregnancy test is the only way to find out. You have to wait at least fourteen days after having sex for it to be accurate. So if you this worried about being pregnant, I think taking a test will be the best way to gain some peace of mind.

Have you talked to your doctor about the way you are treating your birth control pills? There are certain types of birth control that let you skip your period, but the fact that your pack has sugar pills, makes me think you are not taking them the way they are meant to be taken. If you don't follow the directions exactly on your birth control, that could increase the likelihood of getting pregnant. So, you need to talk to your doctor if you want to switch to a type that allows you to safely miss a period. The bleeding could very well be caused by the fact that you are missing your period. The lining of your uterus does need to shed at some point and you may just start spotting all of the time to compensate for that.

Implantation bleeding is extremely light, we are talking a few drops of blood, not enough to even get on your underwear. Just noticeable when you wipe. It also doesn't always occur, so it is very likely that the blood you saw is not from implantation. We could try to guess what caused the blood, like long finger nails, but at the end of the day, the only way to know if you are pregnant is to wait four more days and take a test.

thank you for your help!

first things first, it's definitely not long fingernails causing the bleeding, i compulsively bite them as short as possible.

i live in a very conservative area and i don't believe they offer birth control that allows you to skip your period. i don't have insurance and this is the one option they allow me to have for a reduced cost, so i'd rather not mess with it.

i know that birth control doesn't eliminate the possibility of pregnancy, but it does lower it to somewhere between 1-8%, correct?

i'll definitely look into taking a pregnancy test at some point soon, especially if i start seeing more symptoms. in the meantime i'll try to control my paranoia and operate under the assumption that it was just the lining of the uterus being shed. thank you for answering!

[Lizzie]

Originally Posted by rileyk

i live in a very conservative area and i don't believe they offer birth control that allows you to skip your period. i don't have insurance and this is the one option they allow me to have for a reduced cost, so i'd rather not mess with it.

i know that birth control doesn't eliminate the possibility of pregnancy, but it does lower it to somewhere between 1-8%, correct?

Yes, birth control pills do greatly reduce the chance of pregnancy, but only when taken correctly. The fact that you are not following the cycle means that you can't count on your pills to be fully effective. They have specific directions for a reason, its to make them as effective as possible. I highly recommend following the directions to a T to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy in the future. Trust me, getting your period once a month is a small price to pay for effective birth control.

And while you may live in a conservative area, if you are getting birth control now, I don't see why a different brand would be any different in the eyes of a doctor. It is at least worth bringing up at your next appointment.

[Coffee.]

I agree with seeing a doctor about your birth control habits; however, to my knowledge, skipping the placebo pills does not lower the effectiveness. I'm actually prescribed to do this. To explain, I'm an uninsured American who cannot afford to get back onto the implant right now, or can I afford to pay out of pocket for Seasonique. I talked to my gynecologist about this (as this is the actual reason I'm on birth control, beyond just contraceptives) and she prescribed me the cheapest combination method available to pay out of pocket ($6 per pack) and wrote my prescription to renew every 63 days (instead of every 90) due to my wish to skip my periods. When I spoke to her about this, she told me they are just as effective as long as you're taking them at the same time. Now, I do not know your exact birth control method (you might be on the progestin-only pill, which is very different than combination in many ways) or a combination that this would not be the case or could be dangerous to do this. But to my knowledge, you should be within the regular failure rate.

Regardless how conservative your area is, I do think that you should have access to better options for skipping your period. There are progestin-only methods that can skip your periods (the IUD and shot are best at this) and these methods are a lot more effective as contraceptive than the pill anyway. Plus they usually have less spotting than Seasonique. I'd talk to your gynecologist about it. I personally don't really think it's lowering the effectiveness, though. From my knowledge on birth control, I highly doubt it. But I'm not a doctor, so I'd ask them first. Your particular pill method could not be good to do this, so always ask before taking a prescription against directions. My doctor told me to do what I'm doing, yours didn't.

Last, back to your actual question. What's probably happening is that you're spotting due to skipping your pills and not implantation bleeding. This happens all the time on these methods, spotting is very common. As Lizzie suggested, take a pregnancy test just in case. I'd also suggest you use condoms along with your birth control to have double the protection and look into getting something more effective. If pregnancy is not in your plans, make sure that you're set up to be the most successful.

[michelle86]

Many humans out there exist because birth control failed...