Hey all, long time no see. I've been doing pretty well but have hit a bit of a struggle...

I'm currently on an ortho-tri cyclen type birth control (Tri Lo Marzia). I've been on it for around two years now I believe and have generally been doing just fine.

I'm not always great at taking the pills (I know, bad) but I'm not using it for birth control but rather to ease up my painful, heavy periods and I also had to go on it for Accutane. I never miss a bunch at a time, but I might miss a day here and there. Naturally this effects my bleeding which I expected. I missed one a little over a week ago and my bleeding started, but I was almost to the placebo week so I figured I'd just roll with it. But because my bleeding had started, I decided to skip the placebo week and start on my new pack so that I could just make it stop and move on.

I'm now on day 3 of my new pack and have been bleeding for about a week now. It's not horrible, but sometimes it's light and sometimes it's heavier (though the actual blood is pretty thin, but I did have a couple small clots today). I have slight cramping but nothing crazy. It's to the point where I think it's over because my pad is dry and then it kind of starts again.

Should I go in to the lady doctor just for a check up? I think my next appointment is over 3 months away which is a long time to wait. I'm just totally unsure because I'm not sure if it's helpful to go in when I'm bleeding - what can they find? Can they even do an exam? I'm also obviously afraid of the results and of the costs - I do have pretty good insurance but I'm not sure what the limits are beyond regular exams, or if they were doing some sort of more invasive testing.

So just...help. I'm not especially knowledgeable in this arena and I'm so unsure of what to do. Go in and get it checked? Wait it out and see if the bleeding stops?