Pregnancy?

[tool007.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend was taking some medicione which rendered the effect of the pill temporarily useless. However, even knowing this, we had unprotected (read: no condom) sex while she was on her period (yeah, pretty foolish...) twice. Is there a very high risk of her being pregnant...?

Also, during this month, every time we had sex we didn't use a condom, since the pill eventually restarted it's effect. Do you think it's safe to have sex without using a condom, thus relying solely on the pill?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_haunting_me/]

[teddybear115.livejournal.com]

Sex is NOT SAFE when the pill is rendered USELESS because of a medication or anything else that makes The Pill useless.

So just because the girl was on the pill does not mean this couple had safe sex until the medication was over and the pill regained effectiveness (which the OP and I arent sure when that actually happened)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_haunting_me/]

[teddybear115.livejournal.com]

haha it's fine. :) after I typed and sent that (while trying to be nice and not snarky or mean) I re read the post for the millionth time and your comment and I then figured out what you meant. :)

[speckled-hen.livejournal.com]

Since your period whilst on the pill isn't actually your period, it's withdrawal bleeding, there is a chance that your girlfriend could be pregnant.
I'd say to take a pregnancy test about 14-19 days after you last had sex to find out for sure.

[theinfamousj.livejournal.com]

But how does that work? I mean, if it is normal blanks in the normal cycle? Can you still get pregnant? Because if they are blanks, isn't it withdrawal bleeding, too?

(This has been rolling around in my head for a while and I took this opportunity to ask.)

[speckled-hen.livejournal.com]

You're only protected if you take seven active pills in a row and take no more than seven placebo (blank, non-hormonal) pills after 21 days of active pills.

Since the OP's girlfriend doesn't know when her pills became inactive due to interaction with other medicines, she doesn't know how many (in effect) 'blank' pills she's taken. If it was more than seven pills, or she started medication within seven days of a new pack, she will have compromised her protection, (just as if she'd extended her placebo week) as she wouldn't have taken 21 hormonal (active) pills in a row. So in theory, conception may have taken place.

As it can take a while for the trophoblast (fertilised egg) to implant itself and start producing HcG (pregnancy hormone), a pregnancy test should be taken 14-19 days after last incidence of unprotected sexual intercourse as this will give enough time to produce enough Hcg for a test to detect if conception has taken place.

Hope this clears it up a bit for you!

[theinfamousj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that info. :: smile :: This was just one of those nagging questions that had taken up residence in the back of my brain that I filed away to ask later ... and then the opportunity presented itself.

One nagging question down, several hundred left to go!

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

I'm a little curious to know which medication your girlfriend was taking since, while I know of several that reduce the effectiveness of HBC, I'm not aware of any that render it completely useless. And I think being "partially protected" by the pill instead of being not at all protected might make a substantial difference in the risk for pregnancy.

That said, if protection was compromised when you had sex without a condom, pregnancy is a possibility. Since it's difficult to predict if or when breakthrough ovulation will occur on HBC, it's also difficult to say if that ovulation would have occurred when there was viable sperm inside her. (Though my instinct is to say that the average lifespan of sperm in the presence of menstrual blood is probably close to the lifespan of that sperm in the presence of non-fertile-quality cervical fluid -- several hours -- I don't have anything to back that up. Additionally, sperm have been known to survive for several days.)

As for when HBC is back to its full effectiveness... Used perfectly, the pill is over 99% effective; with typical use, protection is in the range of 92-97%. It's designed to be used as a sole method of contraception, and many people certainly use it as just that. However, some people prefer instead to pair HBC with a barrier method either because they don't always take doses "perfectly" or because they just feel more comfortable with the additional protection. A lot depends on your (yours and your partner's) comfort levels with the methods and what you think works best for you.