Pill effectiveness

[littlemissp]

Hi guys,

I don’t know if you’ll be able to answer me but I have read so many things that I don’t know what to believe in. I’m on the pill and this is my only birth control method since a couple of months. However I have a question about it that no one seems to know how to answer me properly. I’ve searched on the internet and all I find are different opinions and no agreement on the subject. Anyway, here it is:
We know that when we take antibiotics the advice is for extra protection during the time of the treatment and the 7 days after in order to guarantee that the birth control is effective again. However, imagine if I have sex one to three days before taking antibiotic? Is that considered a risk? Or should we consider a risk considering birth control effectiveness just from the time we begin with the antibiotics? I’ve read that if someone has sex 1-3 days prior to taking antibiotics should consider taking emergency contraception. But this doesn’t really make sense to me because no one really guesses when they will need antibiotic...anyway sorry for the long question, I hope it’s not confusing.
Thank you!

[Sam W]

Hi littlemissp,

Before we get into the specifics of this, are you describing a situation that you're actually dealing with, or is this just hypothetical?

[littlemissp]

Hi,

It’s hypothetical, it’s just a question that came up to me

[Sam W]

Got it, I wanted to work out whether there were details like the kind of antibiotic that needed consideration.

Part of the reason you may be finding mixed answers about this is that only certain kinds of antibiotics can decrease the effectiveness of the pill. You can learn more about that here: Something You Can Worry About Less: Interference and Hormonal Birth Control. Too, if your healthcare provider decided to proscribe that type of antibiotic, they'd ask about any other medications you're on and talk with you about reducing pregnancy risks while on the antibiotics.

In looking through different reputable resources, I don't see the recommendation to take emergency contraception if you had vaginal sex a few days prior to going on to antibiotics. A big reason for that may be that emergency contraception, like Plan B, can also have their effectiveness decreased by those types of antibiotics: https://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ecdilantin.html.

[littlemissp]

Yes yes exactly, I’ve also read about that. And it wouldn’t make sense seeing that we can’t really predict when we will take antibiotics or not.
Anyways thank you!! And sorry if it was a bit of a confusing question but it was just something that I thought about and I couldn’t get any clear information about it.
If it ever occurs, I will ask the doctor about it. I will also read the link you posted
Thank you!

[Sam W]

You're welcome!