Birth Control Issue

[fantomatiquevie.livejournal.com]

Hello! This problem is really specific, so hopefully someone can enlighten me. I am currently on Nortrel (generic for Modicon) bcp. I realized today that I totally forgot to pick up my prescription on Monday (2/20) which is also the day I start using it. Basically, I'm supposed to be on my third pill today (2/22). How do I take these pills to catch up? Is it two today (Wednesday) and two tomorrow? Also, I started my placebo pills last Monday (2/13) and started my period on Wednesday, and had unprotected sex on Friday or Saturday (can't remember which one) but have not had unprotected sex since then. Am I okay, since I was on my period and had not started BC? Thanks for all the help, I totally freak out when it comes to the idea of being pregnant!

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Unfortunately, you have indeed compromised your protection to some extent. How much? Unknown.

First, you aren't on your period. You're on your withdrawal bleed. This is an important distinction because when you're on HBC, your ovaries are no longer talking to your uterus. On a natural period, your ovaries are least likely to be ovulating. When you are on your withdrawal bleed, the drop in hormones signals the uterus to bleed, but that same drop starts letting your ovaries wake up. If you follow the 21/7 rule, you're protected, but you haven't -- you've gone longer than 7 days without active pills.

(This is why I am always so very pedantic about pill-"periods" not being real periods. They don't behave the same way, potential-for-ovulation-wise. They behave oppositely, and doctors do few people favors by not mentioning this.)

So no, you are not 100% okay. It's impossible to know whether you have particularly perky ovaries or not, so you might ovulate at any moment (or have already done so), or you might take weeks of no-hormones to ovulate. But extending your placebo week like this is one of the riskiest things you can do, ovulation-wise. Further, you had that sex relatively recently, so you can't count on them dying off before you're in ovulation danger; it's possible your vagina was still a hostile area and they didn't live long, but in good conditions, sperm can live up to around 7 days. (One researcher got 10 days in the lab and thinks similar is possible in the wild.)

I'd suggest Plan B if you absolutely positively cannot have any risk of pregnancy in your life. Otherwise, you can play the odds (most people do not ovulate on day 8 or 9 after their placebo week is over) and take 2 pills today and 2 pills tomorrow, and use backup contraception till you've had 7 days of active pills. 19 days after the sex in question, I'd suggest taking a pregnancy test; if you're in the US, Dollar Tree Stores have good ones, according to peeonastick.com, and inexpensive reassurance is always good.

You are probably okay. The odds are against an early ovulation, but you did definitely compromise your protection to some extent.

Good luck!

[mrar.livejournal.com]

Just one thing, to my knowledge when you aren't on any HBC you are least likely to be ovulating right before your period. The luteal phase is when you are 100% guaranteed not to be ovulating or ovulate in the near future. Menstruation is part of the follicular phase, so ovulation will occur sometime soon-ish, and if you have long periods, short cycles, or a long luteal phase (therefore a short follicular phase) you could very well get pregnant on your period. Take someone with a 28-day cycle, 16-day luteal phase, 7-day period, day-12 ovulation. Unprotected PIV on the last day of the period could result in a pregnancy. But PIV on day 26 would not.

[archangelbeth]

This is true -- though during the period is one of the least likely times to be ovulating, too. That's why the "day one" start, where the first day of HBC is on the first day of the period, gives "immediate" protection: the 7 days to hypnotize the ovaries overlaps with days when the ovaries are known to be extremely unlikely to ovulate.

(As opposed to the after-ovulation days, which are often hard to pinpoint if not practicing FAM.)

It's the "early ovulation" + "sperm lifetime longer than people may realize" that makes period sex risky.

Please forgive typos/terseness -- the cat is trying to occupy my laptop. And he outweighs it.

[mrar.livejournal.com]

Yes this is true, also the general FAM rule-of-thumb is that the first 5 days of the period are safe (which I follow and have certainly had no mishaps) the main issue is that many people can here "you can't ovulate on your period" and then assume any day where there is blood is safe, which is not true.

[archangelbeth]

Good point!

I'll try to be more nuanced! Especially when the cat isn't doing Occupy Laptop and scrunching my hands into odd angles to protect my keyboard. >_>

[sweetchild92.livejournal.com]

You'll want to start over-you need 7 days of taking the pills at the same time to regain your optimal protection. Your cervical mucous is hostile to sperm when you're on HBC, so it's likely that they didn't survive past a few hours, but Plan B is a good backup option here.

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

I don't have any input beyond what others have already offered, but I did want to point out that "spazz" has some ableist connotations (http://disabledfeminists.com/2009/12/04/ableist-word-profile-spazspak/) (originating with "spastic" physical conditions, such as with some types of cerebral palsy) and as such can be hurtful or alienating to some VP members. I realize that you probably didn't intend it that way, but I'm wondering if you'd be willing to edit your post to use a different term? Thanks!

[fantomatiquevie.livejournal.com]

I did not intend offense (as I am obviously calling myself that, and not anyone else). But as I do not want to engender a "flame war", I will change the wording.