Starting your BC a day later then usual

[of-beauty.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine mentioned that she started her month of pills a day later then she usually does, (She takes her first pill on a Sunday, but this time she started on a Monday) and I wondered if this would change the effectiveness of her BC for the month. I took a look through the archive but couldnt find anything regarding this question. Any insight will be welcome! :)

Comments

[lurbos.livejournal.com]

The first week will be affected.

[of-beauty.livejournal.com]

Only the first week and not the entire month? Have you had this happen to you before?

[lurbos.livejournal.com]

Well, the magic numbers with BC are 7 and 21.

You need to take 7 pills consecutively, without a missed day, before you are protected.

Once you take 21 consecutive pills, without any missed days, you can go 7 days without an active pill (which would be the placebo week of the pill pack).

Therefore, assuming your friend took all 21 active pills in her previous pill pack, being a sunday starter, she would be protected up until saturday.

The sunday she missed (where she would have usually started her next pack) would be the 8th day without a pill, therefore causing her to be unprotected.

So, to get back on track, she needs to take 7 days worth of pills to regain that protection.


Sorry if that was confusing!

[of-beauty.livejournal.com]

That wasnt confusing at all. Thank you so much for your information :)

[tarzie.livejournal.com]

This CAN reduce the effectiveness of the birth control pills. Staring a new pack of pills late is one way women can get pregnant on the pill. The reason being is that if you start a pack late, that means your body has been off the hormones for over 7 days, which could possibly allow you to ovulate.

She should use backup protection this month...I'm not sure how long she would need to do so, perhaps someone else can say if she needs it for a week or the whole month.

[tarzie.livejournal.com]

Oops, someone answered before I hit "post comment." :)

[sofiaviolet]

Yes. She will not be protected from pregnancy until she has taken seven active pills correctly.