Spotting on injectable birth control, is this normal?
Keisha asks: I have passed the due date of my period. I am on the injection and I am not pregnant, but I am experiencing brown spotting. What should I do? Sarah replies: One of the most common side effects of injectable birth control is that withdrawl bleeds (remember, you don’t have real “periods” on birth control) may lighten or disappear entirely. A second extremely common side effect is spotting (sometimes called breakthrough bleeding) throughout a woman’s cycle. So it’s fairly likely that what you are experiencing something that is a common side effect of your chosen method of birth control. The patient information that you received from your doctor’s office (or that you should have received) when you got your injection should have discussed all of the potential side effects, so you might want to pull out that information and look it over. You can also call your health care provider’s office and ask them for more information. As to what you should do…there’s not much to do. (If
