Quesion about starting new birth control...

[leftover-pizza.livejournal.com]

I just started taking Mono-Nessa for birth control. It comes in a circle pack and has 7 "off" pills. My friend, who's taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen's pack is very similar, but on hers, each pill has a label of the amount of hormone in it, and each week's amount is different. My pack has no such labels, just a MON / TUE/ WED label above each pill, and a black triangle atop the first SUN pill for Sunday-Start.

I started on the Mono Nessa within the first 24 hours of my period, like the pack said. However, since this was on Wednesday, I took the first Wednesday pill (possibly incorrectly). The pack says to "take the first blue active pill of the first pack", which I think means the first Sunday pill? This would make sense if each week of pills had a different level of hormone in them, but would also defeat the purpose of the SUN / MON/ TUE labels.

For anyone who's used this type of birth control before, which pill should I have taken? Do birth control pills always have a different amount of hormone in them for different weeks, even if not labelled?

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Just make sure you go back and take the last active pills before starting on the placebos. Your pregnancy protection depends on having 21 (or more!) days of active pills, and 7 (or fewer!) days without active pills. If you go into your placebo week on fewer than 21 active pills, it's possible that your ovaries will shake off the chemical hypnosis quickly enough to pop out an egg during the no-hormone week.

The M/T/W labels above a monophasic pill are really just there so that if you miss a day, you'll notice more quickly that you're taking your Tuesday pill on Wednesday, and you'll be able to take two pills that day to compensate.