question about HBC starting day

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

Why are you supposed to begin taking the active pills on the first day of you period, if the placebo pill days are the time you should get your period? Wouldn't doing so cause you to have your period twice in one month?

I never understood this..

Unless there is something I'm not getting, it makes more sense to start the pills the day after your period ends, no?

Comments

[dayglow.livejournal.com]

The reason for waiting for your period, I educatedly-guess-assume, is to make sure you're not pregnant. Once your period shows up, then it's usually okay to assume that you're not pregnant already and then you can start taking your pills.

Of course, the reality is that you can begin taking your first pack of pills at any time, you just need to take them correctly for 7 days before you're fully protected.

[mykissmightkill.livejournal.com]

thats what i did :/
my doctor told me to start my first pack ever the day after my period ends basically. unless im some how confusing myself now haha. but i'm pretty sure im correct in remembering.

[notknowhow.livejournal.com]

The reason for this is that you are least fertile during the beginning of your period. By starting on this day, you are protected right away.

If you start any other day, you have a 7 day unprotected window.

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

me too.. it was kind of annoying

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

First of all, starting on the first day of your period is really just a suggestion -- you don't have to.

But yes, what others said is correct. By starting on the first day of your period, you are protected against pregnancy immediately since you will not ovulate before the pills work to prevent ovulation.

Wouldn't doing so cause you to have your period twice in one month?

Well, on the "average" 28 day cycle, you're still getting your period twice in a standard month. Using this method, you'll likely get your withdrawal bleed "period" about 24-25 days after your first, so it's not really a big difference.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

And actually, when you're on the pill, you're getting all of your bleeds 24-25 days apart or so, so that's just standard when you're on the pill.

[ryf.livejournal.com]

I don't really get what you are saying there. On a 'standard' 28 days cycle, the time between the last day of one and the first day of the next period is also about 23-24 days, so there's no difference there...

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

I wasn't referring to the end of bleeding of one period and the start of another, but the start of one and the start of another.

But yeah, thinking about the math again, bleeds on HBC are also going to be roughly 28 days apart. I skipped a step in the mental math. :P

At any rate, the point was that it's "normal" to get two periods in a standard 31-day month, or at least considered average.

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

I was taking HBC a few years ago, and I started the pills the very same day I got them.. I was not bleeding at the time but it caused me to spot throughout the whole first month/pack until my period came.

Do you think if I started on the first day of my period it would prevent that from happening again?

[atalanta0jess.livejournal.com]

Its unclear to me whether or not this is something that needs to be mentioned...so I'll mention it, just in case! ;)

Its only when you first start taking pills that you start them on the first day of your period. The reason is that you are almost definitely not ovulating the first handful of days after your period, and by the time there is a high chance of ovulation, the pill has kicked in...its to give you a high level of protection. After your first pack, of course, you take resume taking active pills at the end of the placebo week.