Changing pill brand

[_itsmeisa]

My body hasn't accepted the hormones of the pill I was using very well (I was constantly spotting) and my doctor told me to change to another brand, which works with a different type of hormone.
I trust her but she told me to start the new brand on the day I get my withdrawal bleeding, which means today. I took the 1st pill but now I'm wondering... I searched online and every website I find, including apparently reliable sources, tells me to start the new pack after the 8 day pause as usual...

Which one is the correct way to start??

[Sam W]

Hi itsmeisa,

In this case, it's best to follow the directions that your doctor gave you about switching to the new pills, rather than what you've been seeing online.

[Heather]

Remember that the internet can't be a doctor. How a doctor prescribes something and what directions they give for using a medication is specific to you and your health history.

Neither you - you can't be your own physician - nor a search engine or general information one finds can do that. Based on this post and some others, I think you need to remember the kind of education a doctor has and the specialized care they provide. You need to learn to trust that and recognize that you using the internet can't substitute for that. If it could, doctors wouldn't need to go to medical school.

I think the way it seems you often use the net with health information does you a serious disservice.

[_itsmeisa]

I completely agree, but doctor's aren't fail proof as well. She instructed me by email, and I know she replies to a lot everyday and sometimes it can be confusing... after all, doctors are only human. She didn' reply me anymore when I questioned her about it due to the crazy schedule.
I just wanted to know if the way she told me to do is usual or unusual, if you guys have heard of it... just like there are 2 ways of first starting bcp (sunday start or 1st day of period start), I wondered if there are multiple ways of changing the pill too!

What do you usually advice on how and the protection rates when someone ask about changing pills?

[Heather]

They aren't, but use of search engines by someone without any medical education of their own isn't an answer to a doctor being incompetent or making mistakes. I assure you, you are not going to catch a mistake your doctor made with how they prescribed you a medication with Google. If you ever feel your doctor has done something in error, you need to bring that to them or their office. If you are truly concerned your doctor isn't competent with even basic, easy things like prescribing oral contraceptives, then it's time to switch doctors.

If you have questions about a healthcare providers rationale for anything, THEY are who to talk to first and foremost about that (and that may mean you need to wait sometimes: if something is an emergency, you won't, but this very much is not). By all means, I suspect her rationale in this case was probably that because your desire was to reduce spotting and bleeding, she had you start this new pack without a placebo break to help with that. But again, she's the one to ask for her rationale, not us. I've talked with this about you before: Please bring your medical questions, and questions about your medications, including birth control, to your prescribing physician. This isn't the right place to bring questions like these, where you've been directed to use something for a specific issue by your doctor. The legal disclaimer at the bottom of every page of the site here makes that clear, and is there for sound reason.