Stopped Taking Birth Control, Had Unprotected Sex. Had Withdrawal Bleeding. Chances Of Pregnancy?

Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.

From your situation, you have regularly been on birth control pill for a while and stopped it for 3 days and in those 3 days, you had unprotected sex and your partner ejaculated. This was followed by bleeding two days later.

You are least likely to get pregnant in your situation. Once withdrawl bleeding has started, pregnancy is least likely to occur. Please do not have unprotected sex till your next normal periods.

You should be careful next time not to miss your pills knowingly. If you have missed it for one day then take two pills the following day. If you have missed for more than two days, do not have unprotected sex and wait till start of next cycle and start taking pills.

if you are experiencing any severe discomfort or pain, please consult your gynecologist.

I hope this answers your question,

Write back in case of any doubts,

Dr A. Rao Kavoor

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Hi,

Thanks for writing back,

I understand your apprehension,
The pregnancy tests are more likely to show accurate results after two weeks of unprotected intercourse. Hence repeat it after 2 weeks to be sure.

Let me shed some light on the normal physiology of the uterus during regular periods. In the beginning of a cycle, the lining of the uterus also known as the endometrium is thin. It gradually builds-up during the month, reaches maximum thickness, and then in case there's no pregnancy, most part of this thickness is shed, what we see as menstrual bleeding. And then the next cycle starts.

In case of pregnancy, the ovum gets fertilized and then gets ‘implanted’ (borrows into the endometrium and remains there to grow) and subsequent pregnancy continues.

In case of pills, you don’t have natural menstrual period, but something that is known as withdrawal bleed. The hormone estrogen is withdrawn when you stop the pill which causes the lining or endometrium to thin out and break down which causes bleeding. This does not happen when you are pregnant because the pregnancy itself causes an increase in the estrogen levels which does not let bleeding to occur. So if there is withdrawal bleeding it is least likely (but not nil chances) that there is pregnancy. Again, there may be some spotting even in case of pregnancy since everyone reacts differently to contraceptive pills. Again, as mentioned above since the pregnancy tests are more likely to show accurate results after two weeks, repeat it then to be sure.

I hope this answers your question,
Write back in case of any doubts,

Dr A. Rao. Kavoor.

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