When I first took birth control pills I had normal periods. But now, after three years, I start skipping periods. Sometimes there is some brown fluid. Every time I do a pregnancy test, but these are always negative. What’s wrong? Will I still be able to have children?

If you stop taking birth control pills you can become pregnant. The pill has no influence on fertility once you quit, sothere is no need to worry. What you describe is quite common. When a girl takes no birth control pills the womb prepares for the implantation of a fertilized egg every month, becoming thicker and filled with blood. But when you take birth control pills the womb does not prepare for implantation, the lining remaining thin. That’s why menstruation is light when you are on birth control pills. When you take a pill with little estrogen the spongy tissue inside the uterus doesn’t fill with blood at all and so your periods stop because there is nothing to shed during your pill free period (blood turns brown if it stays in the uterus for a while). This poses no problem, especially if you do a pregnancy test to make sure nothing went wrong. But if you don’t like it and cannot live with the uncertainty every month, you could change pills and take one with more estrogen and/or less progestogen. Ask your doctor for advice.