vaginapagina | Light periods normal? (Reply)

Hi everyone, this is my first post here!

Here's a little backstory before I get to my question: I am 21 years old, and got my first period very early, at age 8. My periods have always been pretty heavy, with lots of cramping, so when I was 14, my doctor suggested I try HBC to combat the discomfort my period was causing me as well as the horrible acne I had at the time. I ended up going with Ortho Tri-Cyclen and used that up until I was 19 and lost my health insurance, when I switched to Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo (what my local Planned Parenthood was offering). During the time I was on birth control, my my cramps went away completely and my periods became lighter, but were still somewhat heavy. About a year ago, I went off of birth control*, and my heavy periods and cramping returned, but to a lesser extent. I have also been taking antibiotics regularly for almost all of the past year (see starred section below for more on this), the last round of which I took in July.

Now for my question, my last 4 periods (starting with the one after I took my last anti-biotics) have been very, very light, much lighter than they were when I was on HBC. I still get all the cramping, but my flow starts out as spotting (in the past it has always started out heavy), and doesn't really get much heavier. I'm also only bleeding for 3 days or so, instead of my usual 4-5. I am also getting my period every 3 weeks instead of every 4. Is this normal at all? I've recently considered pregnancy as a possible cause for this, but I would think after almost 5 months I would have some other symptoms, and nothing else has changed. I'm wondering if this is just something that can happen after 13 years of menstruation,, or if somehow the antibiotics have affected my cycle? Could this be a sign of a more serious problem (ovarian and cervical cancer have been present in all the women in the last two generations of my family, excluding my mother)? I do have an appointment for a PAP test next month, but any information you have would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

*I know someone is going to ask why I went off of birth control, so I'm going to offer an explanation. I got a staph infection in a cut on my foot late last summer, and after three months of trying out antibiotics that were making my birth control ineffective, my doctor and I decided that it was pointless for me to be on it until my infection was cleared and I wouldn't have to take antibiotics. Over a year later, and after over a dozen different antibiotics and minor surgery, I am now infection-free and plan to go back on HBC, and have an appointment at my local Planned Parenthood next month.