Am I a typical or perfect birth control user?

[Tassha1223]

I take my combined pill every day sometimes up to an hour of time difference between 7-7:50 pm. Whenever I take antibiotics, I either don’t have sex or use a condom along with the pull out method. When I’m not on antibiotics I use the pill and the pull out method alone. I use my pill every day, I never forgot it and never threw up or had diarrhea and had sex.

[Sam W]

Hi Tassha,

So, to quote from our birth control bingo series, determine perfect and typical user works like this:
"Effectiveness rates of contraceptive methods are all figured based on one full year of use, not for each single incident of sex or use of a method. Perfect, or proper, use of a method means that in one year, that method was always used, and always used following the directions for that method to the letter. Perfect use of most methods in one full year is unusual, except for methods like the IUD or implant where a user does not have to do anything. Typical use means that in one year, sometimes a method has not been used according to the directions, or was not always used. Typical use is called that because that is most typically how methods are used in a full year, since people aren't perfect."

One of the important parts of that is that it's figured over the course of a year, because odds are that most people on the pill will have a day or two when it's not used perfectly. That being said, since it sounds like you take your pill correctly and consistently, so you can assume you're on the higher end of the protection the pill offers.