Missed Pill

[Nak1]

Hi there,

My girlfriend is on a combination birth control pill. We had sex on a Saturday and I used a condom the whole time and it stayed on and did not break. She forgot to take her pill Friday night and instead took it Saturday morning when she woke up- this was her third to last active pill. Is there any pregnancy risk and when should she expect a period?

Thanks!

[Heather]

One of the good things about pairing condoms with another method is that when mishaps like this happen -- as they will from time to time -- you don't have to sweat them.

Typical use effectiveness rates for the pill account for missed or late pills from time to time, so her pill is probably just as effective as it is for anyone using it properly and just being a human being and being slightly less than perfect sometimes (that's 91% effectiveness over a year). In fact, if she took it less than 12 hours late, it wasn't even technically late: there's a grace period of about that time built in for pill use.

Mind, even with condoms and the pill in perfect use, there isn't 100% protection: no method or combination of methods can give that, but sounds like you two are as good as it gets, even with this (super minor) mishap.

We can't ever predict when people's periods or withdrawal bleeds -- the "period" a person on the pill gets -- will come, no matter what. That's just not something we, or even the person having periods/withdrawal bleeds can do. But chances are her withdrawal bleed will happen around the same time and in the same way it usually does.

Good to see you again, too: I hope that you've been able to make some headway when it comes to your anxiety so that it's started to be less debilitating for you than it was.