Question about birth control

[Summer9173]

Hi everybody, I have a quick question about birth control is anybody has any knowledge on this if that’s okay  I’m going to call the sexual health clinic anyway, however I get a bit of anxiety on the phone so I thought I’d ask on the forum first in case somebody may know too  

I began birth control mid-cycle, so 2 weeks before my period, I had already ovulated but on my Flo period tracker app it’s saying I’m 3 days late? I know I’m not pregnant as I’ve been safe, so I don’t know if my cycle has messed up a little bit because I did begin taking it mid my cycle perhaps? On my pack my ‘dummy pills’ are basically next week which is when I’m guessing I’d get my withdrawal bleed, however I’m just not really to sure how it works. Is this kind of normal for your period to be delayed, especially when you begin the pill?  

[Lynz]

I wouldn't worry about this. If you started mid-cycle then you're basically resetting your menstrual cycle so you should have a withdrawal bleed when you've taken them for a full cycle i.e. 4 weeks. You don't get proper periods on the pill cos that's how they work. A withdrawal bleed isn't an actual period it's just a bleed because you've stopped taking the pill for a week. Some people take the pill back to back with no break or no dummy pills in order to completely stop their periods. Incidentally there is no need to actually have a withdrawal bleed and the reason why this was always a thing is because when the pill was first invented it was advised to stop taking them for a week to mimic a period so that other people (i.e. women's mothers for example) wouldn't suspect that they were on birth control, and also to gain approval from the Catholic church to consider it as a "natural" method of contraception because it can mimic periods