missed pill/possibility of pregnancy

[kathy182.livejournal.com]

 So I feel dumb. I'm on Alesse 28 days and last night my boyfriend and I had sex and then I came home and fell asleep without taking my pill. I usually take it before I go to bed. I just remembered that I forgot and it's passed the 10 hour window that I have with Alesse. I just took my pill now. The pharmacie is closed right now so I can't even go get emergency contraception.

What is the likelihood that I could get pregnant from this?

Thanks

Comments

[archangelbeth]

http://www.drugs.com/alesse.html says:
"If you miss one "active" pill, take two pills on the day that you remember. Then take one pill per day for the rest of the pack."

So while you have compromised your protection some small amount -- it's probably not a huge amount, and some research suggests that you can even totally miss a pill without significantly compromising your protection. (queensugar looked that one up, and it may even be in the VP sidebars, if I recall correctly.) So I would just take two pills today, go on as normal, and personally, I would forego the Plan B. If you figure you'll stress, though, grab Plan B on Monday for mental health.

I hope you feel better!

[misspaigeb.livejournal.com]

Do you have your pill pamphlet with you? It should say in there what to do if you miss a pill. Most combined HBC pills don't require back up protection after just one missed pill, though.

[kathy182.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've read that I can just take the 2 pills today and continue as usual but I wasn't sure if that was only if I did not have unprotected sex (that's something they do not mention enough in a pamphlet for birth control!!) Thanks.

[misspaigeb.livejournal.com]

Well there's really no reason a pill company would assume you weren't having condomless sex in its instructions. I mean, it's called birth control for a reason!

You'll notice in the pamphlet it does not say "Use back up method of birth control for at least 7 days" after explaining what to do if you miss a pill. That means your pregnancy protection is not compromised by missing one pill.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

You are at extremely low risk of pregnancy -- as noted, combined hormonal birth control pills such as Alesse do not recommend back-up contraception or emergency contraception after a single missed pill.

Remember that these instructions must be accurate by law -- they are pretty clear (and also fairly conservative) about when EC or back-up contraception is required. Simply continue on as normal -- you do not need emergency contraception or back-up.