Caution: Pill - Take only as directed

[dancingdoc2]

A good recommendation is to use protection thru the remainder of the present cycle PLUS the next full cycle. Your friend is correct, although, it may not be an actual total of two cycles, especially if you did not begin taking the medication on the first day of the present cycle.

A good recommendation for additional protection is to use a combination of condom and a spermicide.

I hope this is of help.

-doc

[sej3991]

yes that does help i just wasn't sure how it worked. i did start taking it at the beginning of my cycle, so i'll take that time into consideration. thank you!

[jessii1994]

Hii

I've just started taking the pill and I am almost near my first break. My doctor told me to take it on the day I got them, and I wasn't on my period. I asked her about it and she said that in 7 days i would be protected from getting pregnant. I dont know if I am because I started bleeding as if I came on and it was on the week when I should have. Has the pill worked?

please help me! Thanks

[Brandye]

Almost certainly, yes. There are still some old fashioned physicians (such as I) who recommend one complete cycle. Each woman requires a month or so for her body to adjust to the new hormones in the system. That is what you are going through. Your experience is not unusual; call and talk to the nurse at your prescriber's office.

[sej3991]

Ok, so there's something I don't quite understand. Are you still protected if you have sex during your period/the inactive pill week? Because if missing tablets can stuff you up, then not taking any or just having the sugar pill would have the same effect? Or are you protected still if you took the full 28 pills properly beforehand?

I was just wondering because I was having a lot of problems with mine, and when it came to the inactive week I just stopped taking them rather than taking the white tablets (I thought I might have been allergic to something in them) so I wasn't sure if I had to be taking those as well for the pill to fully work?

[Brandye]

Read the entire thread. That is covered. Short answer: The pill protects you for the cycle, taken properly, and not day by day. Whilst taking the pill as directed, you are safe for your entire cycle.

Upon rereading your post: TAKE ONLY AS DIRECTED! If you are supposed to take "the white ones," take the damned white ones. Whilst most systems have placebo for the off week, some do have active pills of a different formulation.

Women are more compliant (less likelt to forget) when they take a pill every day.

[lulu_kachoo]

if you had been taking the pill irregularly and therefore decreasing its effectiveness and you fell pregnant, what would happen if you kept taking it? obviously without knowing, you wouldn't think you were. would your period still be absent or would it be detrimental to the pregnancy?

[Brandye]

You would miss your next period and should stop immediately. Although the modern pills are less potent than what your mother used, any hormones can have an effect on a developing foetus. As soon as you find yourself in this situation, see your doctor and stop the pill.

[RedRoses]

@Brandye, just wondering, are there any good articles on the influence of birth control hormones on a developing fetus? I should think that there should be research-results on short-term- and even long-term-effects available by now. Given my fascination with fertility and myself being the product of a mom on BCP, I find it an interesting realm

[Brandye]

I am certain that there is though I do not have any immediately available. Here is a report from one of the leading US clinics: Birth control pills: Harmful in early pregnancy? - MayoClinic.com

I shall check, and so can you, with the site for the Guttmacher Institute - probably the best repository for sexual research available online.