Contraceptive and antibiotics?

[dani1232006]

Hey, I have a huge doubt going around inside my head. I had an UI during the last box of contraceptives, I was told by my medic that the antibiotics(took them 10 days) always reduce the effects of the pill so I used condoms for the remaining of that box (one week of active pills and the other week of the inactive pills, two weeks in total), I am now one week on the new box of pills. The thing is I don't know how long I have to wait till I'm safe again? A week? Two? Or the whole new box? I want to be completely safe as I can!

Is it possible that taking both at the same time affected my period? I only had one day of bleeding and it wasn't much, that's not very comon in me.

I'm slightly worried and I don't get to see my doctor till next month, so any help is welcome!

thanks!

[Amanda]

Hi dani,

As it turns out, clinical research has indicated that antibiotics do not actually interfere with the effectiveness of birth control pills at all; the one exception is rifampin, used only to treat tuberculosis. The only cause for concern would be if the condition you were treated for, or the antibiotics themselves, were causing vomiting or diarrhea, in which case you may not have been absorbing your pill entirely. If this was the case, a week or so of condom use after the final day of vomiting/diarrhea would be a good idea (talk to your provider for a specific recommendation if this is the case!).

If none of that applies to you though, you have nothing to worry about!

[dani1232006]

I'm positive I didn't puke or had diarrhea

Is there any information to that clinical research online? I tried to look but I was unlucky!

[dani1232006]

Sorry for posting again! But if I HAD to wait for the pills to protect me again, how long would that be?

[Sam W]

As Amanda said, there's no reason to think that the pills were compromised, so that's kind of a moot point to focus on. However, if you still can't shake your concern, the best thing to do is just use condoms for any intercourse that occurs. That way, you'll always have extra protection in case something does go wonky with your pill

[Amanda]

Here is a citation for a relevant study. It's actually a meta-analysis of several studies done on a wide range of antibiotics:

Archer, Johanna SM, and David F. Archer. "Oral contraceptive efficacy and antibiotic interaction: a myth debunked." Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 46.6 (2002): 917-923.

And a link (you won't be able to access full text, but you can read the abstract): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 2202000373