Unknowingly Missed an Entire Week of BC Pills

[Aly.O]

Hi all. I am normally so responsible with my birth control which is why I am having the ultimate anxiety attack right now.

So, I was on the 28 day pill pack of Try-Jordyna for years, but I found taking the placebo week to be annoying. My doctor recommended I just skip taking them, but then, decided to switch me over to the 21 day pill pack. Last month, I don't know why I did this, but I mistook in my brain my 21 day pack for a 28 day pack the way I used to take them, and skipped the last row of pills. Meaning, I did not skip placebo pills, but I skipped my third and final week of active pills. I just realized a few minutes ago that I did this.

I had unprotected sex during this time, though we used the pull out method, and got my period on the 16th of November. I am now almost finished week 2 of this new pack, but I guess my question is, what are my next steps? I will surely take this pack properly and fully, but is there anything more that I can do? How bad is it for my body that I missed a whole week?

I had unprotected sex from when I started this new pack, but again, pull out method. If you miss a week, I read somewhere that you have to wait an entire cycle for it to be regulated again, so I recognize that there is a pregnancy risk this month since I should have used barriers if I missed pills. I wish I had realized sooner, but, should I take a pregnancy test, or just wait for my period this month until then?

Also, a bleed on birth control means that you're covered, right? If I were pregnant, my period would still be late, correct? Thank you so much in advance, I have never felt more foolish and irresponsible.

[Nicole]

Hey Aly.O,

Thanks for reaching out to us. I'm so sorry that you're experiencing anxiety over this--it's totally understandable! Please don't feel foolish or irresponsible either, it was just a mistake! If I understand this timeline correctly, I want to let you know that if you did get your period, you are most likely not pregnant. In fact, since you missed that one week, it just acted as a placebo week and you are supposed to get your period then anyways.

We do have an article that explains what could have been done in this situation, I can drop the link here: I forgot to take my birth control pills for several days, how soon can I test?

Here is a snippet from the article: "Usually when you miss more than 3 days worth of pills, you should toss out the rest of the current pack and start a new one. However, since you've missed so many and have had unprotected sex, it would probably be good to make sure you're not pregnant before beginning a new pack...You will want to make sure that you are using a backup method of contraception (like condoms) until you begin taking your pill again and it would probably be wise to backup the entire next cycle while your body sorts itself out again"

At this point, I recommend speaking to your healthcare provider to see how to move forward. I hope this helps, take care!