Birth Control Question

[Petite_Gyal1991]

Hi, about two weeks ago I took my pill 14 minutes late because I work as a cashier at CVS and I had my BC pills in my locker at the time. Normally I take the pill at 11pm and I ended up taking it at 11:14pm instead. Would I still be protected even though technically it's late and within the 12 hour window??

Thanks.

[Sam W]

Hi petite_Gyal,

Yep, since you have a 12 hour grace period before the pill is considered late, taking it a few minutes later than normal will not compromise the effectiveness.

[Petite_Gyal1991]

Hi thanks. I also am sort of worried because my period still hasn't shown up yet. Normally it comes on a Tuesday and now it's Wednesday and still nothing. I have been taking some of my pills 30 minutes earlier than usual so that I wouldn't forget because of my job schedule. I never missed a pill at all and my boyfriend and I always use condoms. Could it be the stress that's delaying my period??

[Heather]

So, periods -- and withdrawal bleeds -- tend to have around a 2-3 day standard deviation. That means that what is most common is that they don't show up on the same day in a cycle every time, but within a range of 2-3 days. So, a late period isn't actually a late period until it's five or more days later than the LATEST it'd be expected. Some people have longer deviations than 2-3 days, but presuming you're just average, your withdrawal bleed won't actually be late until Saturday at the earliest.

[Petite_Gyal1991]

oh okay that makes sense. Thanks Heather. So this isn't because I took my pill earlier than I was supposed to or 14 minutes later? Just clarifying.

[Heather]

That's not at all likely: that kind of time difference makes no difference at all with the pill (or pretty much any medication, sparing things like insulin injections for someone diabetic).

[Petite_Gyal1991]

Oh okay. Thank you for clearing that up. Maybe it's just stress and me worrying like "where's my period?" that's delaying it.

[Heather]

Again, it isn't actually delayed yet. A period or withdrawal bleed happening the exact same day of every cycle is really unusual, and if that's how it's been for you, chances are good it's probably only been that way for a handful of months or so. What you'll want to do is adjust your thinking here and recognize that you shouldn't figure that's a pattern that will hold (and clearly it already hasn't), because, again, that standard deviation with cycles truly is standard. What will happen for most people most of the time -- and this is about people with highly regular cycles, no less -- is a deviation like that.

[Petite_Gyal1991]

Oh okay. I got it. At first I thought my cycle starting on Tuesday was a permanent pattern, but I see that it isn't now lol thanks.!

[Heather]

There is no such thing as a permanent menstrual pattern, alas. In a lifetime, it'll usually fluctuate a good deal. Even in one year or two it often will.

[Petite_Gyal1991]

So I took a pregnancy test and it came back negative (yay) so I think this is all in my head because of stress.