You're right, this won't affect your pill's effectiveness because you're on the placebos at the moment. Diarrhoea would only be a problem if it might interfere with the absorption of an active pill, and on the second day of the placebos, it certainly can't do that :) In general, we do suggest using ...

Heather, I love that you have real plants as a relationship symbol/alarm. How brilliant. Very much agree about work and instead saying that relationships require regular-enough care, attention, effort and nurturing. moonlight, I had a similar thing - some growing herbs died entirely from neglect, an...

Similarly to Mo, I often wish there was a lot less emphasis on "relationships take work". I think people often do a different kind of not-good work. I don't think that people should have to work at convincing themself that they're happy, or that they want to be with their partner. If it ta...

That's really great news, Berry! Good on you for taking big steps to improve things for yourself. I'm really glad your doctor was so responsive. And I think you're spot-on, it Is a responsible and grown-up kind of thing to do (and grown-up doesn't have a whole lot to do with age, there - plenty of o...

Like moonlight said, you're really, really unlikely to hurt yourself masturbating. The usual tip with any kind of sex applies: if it hurts, stop. Sometimes people need to use some extra lubricant in order to have it feel good or comfortable. Genital tissue is sensitive, so too much friction of any k...

Glad that was a simple fix! Sometimes the idea of new things, especially on something sensitive or personal like genitals, can be a bit scary or odd. Too, there are some - completely false! - ideas floating around that needing to use extra lube is some kind of failure or bad thing. Sometimes, we can...

Studies indicate it's perfectly safe for over-18s to skip placebos somewhat regularly, so long as they have 4 periods a year (unless my maths-brain is being wonky, I think that's a period at least once every three months). There's simply a lack of study on under-18s for this. For anyone wanting to d...

Welcome to the boards! So, some of what you've read isn't correct. "Popping your cherry" is just a phrase meaning having intercourse for the first time; it doesn't mean anything physical at all. There's no "cherry", and nothing "pops". It's unlikely that your hymen tore...

I'm sorry it worked out this way for you. It does seem like it would've been easier for you if she'd been clearer earlier; sadly, people are imperfect. I do think it likely wasn't meant personally at you; if she hadn't told anyone else about her boyfriend, then it seems like, for whatever reason, sh...

It doesn't matter what time of day you take your pill, but you should take it around the same time every day. It doesn't have to be precise, like 18.23 on the dot, just around the same time :) If you're asking about 18.58 and 18.00, that would be fine, as they're only an hour apart. If you were mean...

So, if you haven't yet been tested or started getting your routine sexual healthcare, we strongly suggest you do, to rule out any underlying health issue. While spotting like this is often random or connected to lifestyle issues such as severe stress, it can also be caused by an infection, and in th...

That's okay, it can be confusing at first. I've had a look at the patient information leaflet online, and I agree it doesn't do the best job of answering the question you're asking here. As far as I can see, all 21 pills are the same, so there's no medical requirement to take them in a particular or...

The first thing is, you don't have to use tampons if you don't feel okay about it :) Actually, it's most, most likely that your hymen (or corona, which is its newer, less myth-laden name) is not still intact. It's a myth that a hymen is usually broken by intercourse or other entry; instead, for most...

When you're taking the combined pill (or using another kind of combined hormonal contraception), you still have a kind of cycle; it's just a bit different to the menstrual cycle that happens without any hormonal contraception. The week without taking hormones is a part of the cycle, and it contribut...

Welcome back, sunnyday! All sorted

You're welcome. I'm sorry that anxiety has been a part of so much of your life. I'm unsure if you simply wanted to tell us about your history with anxiety or if you were wanting to ask for assistance in finding support for it, so I won't jump in with both feet unless you clarify :) Have you yet seen...

Hi, Anhils. I understand about the happy and sad. I'm glad you have more distance from someone who was treating you poorly, but still, break-ups hurt even when they're what we wanted or needed, sometimes especially when the other person did the breaking up. It sounds, too, like the way he went about...

Hi Atonement, welcome back! You're all set

I think that discussing possible effects of sexual assault is unlikely to help you gain any clarity here, and is only likely to be a complex diversion. However, I think it's important to be clear about some of the things you've said: in reality, there are no physical results that can prove or dispro...

You're right, there's a lot of misinformation about this, and even sometimes from places and people you'd expect to have correct information. Even within the biological and medical communities, people without specialist knowledge sometimes have a very limited picture or incorrect beliefs about the r...

Berry, there isn't anything we can say about your pregnancy concerns with your body that we haven't said already. If you need to, you can review the conversations we've had with you. Too, we need you to respect and hold our limits about not discussing those pregnancy fears any more, for our sakes to...

Welcome to the boards, Colombine. I want to make sure that we're understanding each other correctly with the words we're using - your English is fine, by the way, it's just that these are specific, anatomical words, which are sometimes even used wrongly by reference guides. I'm not quite sure what y...

Glad we could get that sorted for you - it's been a bit busy on the boards today, and sometimes thoughts don't come out quite as clearly as they were in our heads! I absolutely guarantee you that it's happened to other people :) Sex is definitely occasionally going to throw us peculiar, embarrassing...

Hi, Berry. We can hear very clearly in your conversations with us on the boards and in chat that you feel very unsupported and isolated. I'm really sorry that your parents don't seem to be taking your mental health concerns seriously - I know that feels lousy and it's really not what you need. We Do...

Hi, xmetalgirl. Very happy to answer these things for you! First, about "pores" in condoms: nope, they're aren't any, that's a myth. At least, there aren't any pores in any kinds of condoms, latex or non-latex, that you're at all likely to come across anywhere. There's a different kind of ...