The Pill and Time

[giggles37.livejournal.com]

I recently got the pill from my local planned parenthood, and I tried to get the pill early because I'm going on a trip to Europe for 3 weeks (without family or anything) and I wanted to figure out how it made me feel before I left. Unfortunetly, I was not aware that they say you should use the Sunday after you start your period method, and since I will be getting my period sometime during the first week of my trip, I find this to be very unfortunate.

However, my real question is about time because of the time changes. I have to look up the change but I am going to France, Italy, and Greece, and I believe that France and Italy are 5 hours ahead and Greece is 6.

I'm trying to figure out how to schedule taking the pill conveniently there and having it at a convenient time when I come back how. I read that the pill is best to take at night or around dinner to avoid nausea, so maybe I should try to take the pill around 11 pm there and when I come back it will be around dinner time that I will be taking the pill.

My question is, what exactly do they mean by taking the pill at the same time each day. Does that mean at the exact same time or roughly within the same 2 hour span each day?

Comments

[woodenspoons.livejournal.com]

I can't really help you with your pill question, but Italy is 6 hours ahead, fyi!

[severalways.livejournal.com]

I think you will be okay taking it within a one-hour span. I don't know which pill you're going on, but personally I've never experienced nausea, so I wouldn't worry too much about taking it at dinner time. I take mine at 12:30 pm every day, so when I was in France I took it at roughly 6:30 pm.

[kkgal42.livejournal.com]

You can start the pill anytime you want, regardless of when your period will start. You can start it tomorrow if you want. If you start it on the first day of your period (like, within 24 hours of when it actually starts), you'll be fully protected immediately. If you start it any other time, you won't be protected until you've taken 7 active pills. The Sunday start is really just recommended so the days printed on your pack match up with when you take the pills, but hey, tomorrow's Sunday anyway! You may have more of a likelihood of breakthrough bleeding if you don't start around your period, but you might have it anyway, so I say go ahead and start right away, just remember that if you're going to be having sex in the next week, you'll need to use some kind of back-up protection (like a condom).

You should try to take the pill as close to the exact same time every day for maximum protection. Taking it within the same 3-hour window brings you down to typical use, which is still about 95% protection over the course of the year. It's up to you how comfortable you are with that, but I would say if you take it within the same half hour period every day, you'll be pretty close to perfect use.

[shoeboxfaery.livejournal.com]

france and italy are 6 hours ahead of the eastern US, greece is 7.

when i took HBC, i would just take it at the same time regardless of where i was...i am american and go to university in england. like if i took it at 1130 pm whilst in england, once i got to the states i would take it when the time was 1130pm in england (so 630 pm in the eastern US).