Weird Period

[Nora]

Alrighty, so I have been on the pill for six months now and for the first few I had pretty normal periods. After I started having sex they became more irregular and odd. I had a pregnancy scare in September and that is when the odd periods started. I thought it was due to the stress of thinking I was pregnant which made it weird, but the next month was the same. So currently, I had sex on the two days before my period was to start. I am on the pill and have been taking it correctly, if anything I am within the hour range of the dose when I take it. So I had sex without a condom, but he pulled out (successfully) both times. So I started my period a day after it was supposed to start and it has been dark brownish/blackish and looks like globs of goo...for lack of a better word. I thought it was just starting out and it will get better. But it didn't, its still brownish black with hunks of stuff that look like tar. What the heck is this? Should I be concerned about pregnancy? or is this just my period being crazy?

[Jocey]

That sounds totally normal to me. 

One potential side effect of hormonal birth control is lighter periods.  The hormones thin the uterine lining, sometimes to the point where there isn't much to shed, which results in lighter bleeding during the placebo week and darker, older-looking blood or clots.  (You can read a bit more about that here if you're curious.)

To give you some strictly anecdotal information, this definitely happens to me when I'm on HBC.  My non-HBC periods are usually bright red and only a bit clotty, but my periods on HBC are usually dark and kind of stringy, and much lighter.

It's also 100% normal for bleeding to happen any time during the placebo week, or even sometimes during your active pills.  It sounds like you've been taking your pills correctly, so the odds of pregnancy are very, very slim.

I hope that helps!