Eight days in to your new pack, with those 8 all taken correctly, your pill should be at full effectiveness, yep.

Ah, okay. The only purpose of placebo pills is to keep people in the habit of taking a pill every day

There's no guarantee you'd avoid a bleed when you skip the 7 days - some people have some bleeding anyway. Breakthrough bleeding during the second pack is also possible.

That time window is fine for effectiveness from a combined pill. It's only at 12 hours later that a combined pill is properly late, in a way that can start to impact effectiveness. Some people do find that their bodies feel best when their pill-taking schedule is as regular as possible, and of cours...

Too, it might help to know that fantasies - sexual or otherwise - aren't the same as real-life behaviour. It's common for people to have fantasies that they enjoy as a fantasy but which they don't want to do for real and wouldn't enjoy for real. In a fantasy, we can control and decide on every tiny ...

The doctor would need to tell you that the effectiveness may be affected IF you had those kinds of sex, otherwise they wouldn't be doing their job responsibly. If they didn't tell all their patients that, and then a patient started having those kinds of sex while on the antibiotics, that'd be bad fo...

If you click on your username on the boards and then look at all your posts, you can see all your conversations on the boards. Most types of antibiotics don't make a difference to the pill's effectiveness. For the few that do or may, I don't know the biology behind that - I think you'd need a medica...

The most up-to-date science says that pre-ejaculate (pre-cum) does not, itself, contain sperm. However, it may pick up some sperm cells that are still hanging around in the urethra in the penis. That's the information we've been working with for some time now, so it's pretty unlikely that a staff/vo...

I don't think there's anything further we can say that we haven't already. Too, given that you've said you have some anxiety, I think that at this point what you're asking has a lot more to do with anxiety than with needing actual information. We know that providing repeated reassurance to people wi...

Welcome to Scarleteen, Brave1. If I can't sleep because my brain is stuck in some traumatic thoughts or feelings, I go for gentle distraction. Things that are enough to occupy the mind but not demanding, and that are pleasant and safe-feeling. For me, that's maybe some children's or YA books, or an ...

Having big worries about health is a common manifestation of anxiety. Anxiety, too, can cause physical symptoms, just like you've just described. May I make a couple of suggestions? First, did you have a look at the Anxiety Uk link Heather gave you? There's a lot of information and resources on that...

Welcome to the boards, LollyBugg. When you're having intercourse, are you already very aroused and relaxed when you start? That can be one reason someone with a vagina finds intercourse uncomfortable: in its everyday state, the vaginal walls rest together. With increasing arousal and when someone's ...

3 days isn't much at all. Even people who are usually really regular will have some variations occasionally in their lives. Too, are you counting from the last possible day you might have expected it? Because a little variation is simple a part of having a menstrual cycle - and having a body, even -...

You're welcome! And of course, if you have any questions about any of the methods or want to discuss your choices with us, you're welcome back any time!

It's a good idea to get routine testing once a year if you're sexually active, regardless of your or your partner's sexual history. It was my experience in the UK, too, that they were pretty lax about communicating that message generally. The good news is, when you seek that care out, it's nearly al...

Sure! Have you already seen our Birth Control Bingo! series? If you haven't, maybe you'd like to start there and see what options you like the sound of and think might suit you? If you're in the US, you should be able to access all the options. You'll need to see a healthcare provider to get any of ...

You're so welcome! Do you need any help with having a conversation about this with your boyfriend? We'd be happy to talk that through with you, if you'd like. Also happy to talk about your different options for contraception - the pill is certainly one option, but there are others too, including som...

Welcome to the boards, riverburning. It sounds like the pharmacist didn't tell you that some cycle wonkiness is very common after taking EC. There isn't one "normal" thing that happens to anyone's cycle after taking EC, but it's not unusual for it to be a bit different to normal temporaril...

Not silly, no: we feel the way we feel. But, if you're using two methods - condoms and withdrawal - correctly, is pregnancy at all likely?- no. So, if you're feeling worried, your best next step is to think a bit about why you're worried. Whenever someone has intercourse, there can never be zero cha...

Taking packs back-to-back won't have an effect on contraceptive coverage. If you - or she, or both - don't feel secure enough using just her pill, maybe you'd both like to use another method as well? We do suggest dual contraception for people who really do not want to become pregnant or co-create a...

You can absolutely post in this thread

Sometimes mid-cycle spotting just happens, and it's not an indication of anything being wrong. The stress you were under may well have had something to do with it. Given that you tested negative - I assume that those were all the tests your healthcare provider felt you needed - I'm not seeing any he...

Hi Butterfly, welcome to the boards. You did have some pregnancy risk with the intercourse you had; the length of time doesn't make a difference to the risk. If he didn't ejaculate, the risk is lower than if he had. Did this intercourse happen within the last 120 hours? If it did, you can reduce the...

(ICantThink, thank you So Much for the heads-up about the issue on the forums. We wouldn't have known so quickly if one of you hadn't told us! Everything obvious in the settings looked fine, but obviously there was/is indeed a hitch, which we've now found, somewhat hiding :) . We should have it sort...

The temperature wouldn't be a problem, bathrooms don't get that hot :) - it's just the dampness. It really shouldn't be a problem, because pills are individually sealed in blister packs, so no dampness should get in. So, I don't think you need to be concerned about those two weeks. Not storing blist...

Combined estrogen and progesterone methods: combined pill, patch, ring. Progesterone-only: progesterone-only pill (mini-pill), injection, implant. A hormonal IUD - Mirena - releases progesterone only locally in the uterus. Non-hormonal methods, like barrier methods, are also birth control, although ...