Diarrhea and birth control

[FadedPassion]

I had been out drinking the night before and the next morning at around 8am I had a bit of diarrhea. I took my pill as normal at 12:00 noon. 2 and a half hours later I had 1 bout of severe diarrhea. Does having a severe bout of diarrhea 2 and a half hours after taking your pill make it less effective? I'm on Tri-Cyclen

I've heard some conflicting things. I heard it might. And then I heard that it would only make it less effective if I had 6+ bouts in 24 hours. I even called 2 pharmacists and they weren't very helpful. They said they aren't sure but then said I should be fine. I haven't had sex recently and to be safe I won't have sex for the rest of my pack but I wanted clarification on if this situation would effect my pill or not.

[Sam W]

Hi FadedPassion,

The pill is usually absorbed within 2-3 hours of being taken, so there is a possibility that it may not have been all the way absorbed into your system when you had diarrhea. It's generally recommended that if this happens, you should use a back-up method for at least a week after the diarrhea subsides.

[FadedPassion]

That was my logic as well. Just to be safe I'm not going to have sex. Would you consider it a missed pill and take another? This happened yesterday and I ended up not taking another pill.
I only have 5 active pills left in my pack. Would I be protected during my break week?

[Heather]

I would not personally consider it a missed pill.

What I would do, were it me, is just keep taking the rest of the pack and your placebo week as usual, and either take a pass on any intercourse, just to be safe, if that were a thing you might do OR just back up with condoms (which is something I'd already be doing anyway, but still).