help.. Triquilar or Yasmin as EBC?

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

Hi,
I started taking Yasmin on the 4th of this month. I had unprotected sex yesterday and today (so I had only taken 6 pills before I had sex yesterday), which were days 17 and 18 of my cycle. At first I was ok with it for some reason (honestly didn't think it through properly to be honest... it was stupid) but now I am kind of wigging out. I know that I'm not in the most fertile period, but I'm not exactly safe either, right? (I remembered my mother telling me that when she was trying to conceive me, she found out that her cycle is slightly off from average... so now I'm worried that there's a chance that I could be at my peak fertility right now.)

There's only one gyno in my area that I'd be able to go tomorrow, and I recently had a bad experience there about my birth control pills so I would really, really like to avoid having to go there for EBC.

I saw on this website:
http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/dose.html
that certain brands of HBC can be used for emergency. On me, I have one pack of Yasmin and one pack of Triquilar. Neither of those brands is on the list of brands that are considered ok to use as EBC..... but does anyone know if I could make it work? I know that both of the brands I have are low-dose, which I'm guessing is why they're not recommended... but what if I increase the dosage? Is there any way?

Please help! I am so regretting my stupidity right now and would really, really just like to know if I could prevent pregnancy at all with what I have... thank you

ETA: I live in Japan and Plan B isn't available without a script.

Comments

[geminigirl]

Unfortunately the dose isn't why they're not listed, as other low dose pills are on the list. They're not listed because the progestin (the synthetic progesterone in the pill) is either untested or ineffective as emergency contraception. In the US, only Levonorgestrel and norgestrel containing pills are used as EC.

If you're in the US and over 18, you can purchase Plan B at a pharmacy or have someone over 18 purchase it for you, assuming you're still within the safe window to take EC.

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

Hi, thank you so much for replying!

I checked the ingredients for Triquilar and they are levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol, which are the same ingredients as the ones listed on that site, except for the fact that the level of levnorogestrel is REALLY low in comparison (the suggested brands have 0.5mg while Triquilar has.... micrograms!?) So right now I have no clue how many micrograms are in a mg but I guess if I took enough, they would work? Sorry if I'm not making sense...

Also, I live in Japan and the morning after pill is only available with a script... (am going to edit my post to include that now)

Thank you so much again for your reply.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

You're sort of mixing up the numbers a bit -- look at it this way. If the progestin on the Princeton site is listed in MGs, that means a unit of "1" would represent 1 milligram. Basically, 0.5 milligrams is less than a milligram.

Unfortunately, I can't do the math right now as I seriously have to run. But hopefully someone else can.

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reply!

I just went and used an online converter, and it says 125micrograms = 0.125milligrams... which isn't anywhere near the dosage that seems to be required; looks like I might have to suck it up and go to that gyno.. anyway thanks again for replying!

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

Right, but you are supposed to take multiple pills -- usually 10 or so, depending on the brand, in two separate dosages.

The problem is that since yours is a triphasic, you don't actually have 10 of those higher-dose pills, and the math'll get kind of murky.

That said, I wouldn't really fret too much. Protection isn't as simple as "SIX DAYS ZERO PROTECTION -- OKAY SEVEN DAYS, BAM, FULL PROTECTION." Basically, it's more that you can't be guaranteed full protection until seven active pills have been taken. But having sex on the sixth day isn't necessarily going to be a huge risk either.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

Oh, and by the by -- you probably wouldn't be at "peak fertility" right now. If there was a risk of ovulating on day 6 of taking active pills, they wouldn't guarantee protection on the seventh day of pill taking, since that would mean an egg could still be available to be fertilized on that day, which is why I mention the advice above.

[geminigirl]

I can't really research it at the moment but it's possible that triquilar is equivalent to trilevlen which is on the list. You may want to look into that further.

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

I just went and did the math, and the hormone level in triquilar is nowhere near trilevelen.. I guess they weren't kidding when they said *low-dose*...

thank you for taking the time out to help me anyway, I really appreciate it!

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

There must be an error in your math somewhere -- I just checked it out, and Triquilen and Trilevelen have the exact same progestin dosages:

Triquilen (http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/bcp-hormones/triquilar-information.html) - Week 1 50 mcg, Week 2 75 mcg, Week 3 125 mcg

Trilevlen (http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/bcp-hormones/triphasil.html) (also known as Triphasil): Week 1 50 mcg, Week 2 75 mcg, week 3 125 mcg.

So yes, they have the same amounts of progestin and could theoretically be used in the same regimen as EC.

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh.. thank you so, so, so much!!!!! You don't know how relieved.. I'm so grateful for your help, seriously... I knew my math skills are... underdeveloped... but I was so sure I had this figured out.

Really, thank you so much for your help again!!!

[emilia-romagna.livejournal.com]

I can't help you with the EC problem (I've never taken it, and I'm completely inadequate when it comes to math), but I can point out something that might make you feel a tiny bit better. Your mom's cycle doesn't have much to do with yours. There are so many factors that determine your cycle, such as health/ nutritional status, age, etc, that whatever genes your body has telling you when to ovulate are likely being drowned out. Not much consolation, but if that's one of the things that's causing you to wig, you can discredit it.

Good luck, I hope you're able to get this all figured out!

[monstermeow.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your comment! I think I'm ok as I just found out the Triquilar does have the hormones I need to take place of Plan B!

Thank you also about the info on determining cycle! What you said makes so much sense. Thank you!

[emilia-romagna.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Triquilar! Glad I could help just a little :)