Late or not on the mini pill

[Nifty.Anon]

I've been seeing on message boards woman saying they were only half an hour or even five minutes late and fell pregnant from being on the mini pill. I have been around half an hour late or less a few times during this month while on Errin progesterone only pill and I was wondering if that does make me at risk or if I should listen to the pamphlet that says you have a 3 hour window before it is ineffective? I use the pull out method with my pills but sometimes right after my period I like to maybe once or twice not use pull out since it's rare to ovulate that same week you've ended your period so I want to be safe ! Thank you

[Mo]

The best authority on proper use of the pill is definitely the pamphlet that comes with it. You do want to take it as close to the same time as possible, but the pamphlet is right - you have three hours until it's considered late. If you want additional protection that's more reliable than the withdrawal method, you could use condoms instead.

[Heather]

You may also want to bear in mind that the mini pill, like other methods, is not 100% effective. So, some of those anecdotal stories you have read elsewhere sound like some people who became pregnant while using it are assuming that happened because of user error, when, in fact, there was none. In other words, those pregnancies probably simply occurred for those people because this method, like any other, isn't 100% effective, even in perfect use, so some people will become pregnant each year who use it.

Make sense?

[Nifty.Anon]

Thank you
And Ya that makes sense! It just seemed like at least 20 woman or more on each site had gotten pregnant and that worried me because my doctor said it is a very effective pill and yet all these woman are saying their getting pregnant from using it correctly and that scared me :/ It seemed like it wasn't effective At all and I do want something that will be very effective.

[Nifty.Anon]

Also if I use this vitamin C serum on my face that's 20% vitamin C can that effect the pill or only if you ingest too much vitamin C?

[Heather]

Well, birth control pills, in typical use, which is how most people will use them over a whole year, are around 91% effective in one year. That is highly effective, but the math of that does mean that for every 100 people or so who use it, in one year of use, 9 out of every 100 will become pregnant.

So, without knowing how many people on the sites you have been at have been using the pill, I can't say for sure, but 20 out of, say every few hundred will, in fact, be about how many people become pregnant each year using that method alone.

And no, neither Vitamin C supplements nor topical creams with Vitamin C present any pill issues.

Again, the best way to prevent pregnancy is by using two methods rather than just one, and if you want a backup method to go with your pill, condoms are a better choice than withdrawal, both because withdrawal is so easy to mess up, and because only condoms can also offer you STI protection. So, how about talking with your partner about condom use?

[Nifty.Anon]

Oh ok! Walking through those statistics that does make sense, thanks I think I need to stop reading on those blog sites as well haha

And the only time I am ever late on my pill is by a half hour at most, I never am late past that and I have never ever missed a pill so that would put me in the perfect users that are 99.7% effective right?

We have talked and tried condoms many times and we do use them if we really need them and we both get tested so we are I believe keeping it safe

[Sam W]

Hi nifty.anon,

Perfect use is rare, but if you're using the pill that way, then you're likely getting pretty close to perfect use. And yep, keep using those condoms, as they help further decrease the risks and your stress level.

[Nifty.Anon]

So taking it half an hour to an hour late sometimes does effect the effectivness after all? I've heard woman say it completely changes it and my pamphlet for the pills say you have a three hour window so I'm just confused on if I have that three hour window or if I will get pregnant very easily if I do not take it exactly at 10 and sometimes take it at like 10:35 once every few weeks or 10:15?

[Sam W]

If your pill pack says that it has a three hour window before it's considered late, then use that as your metric. So, a half hour or hour will not compromise the effectiveness. And if you're worried about it being compromised, you can back up with condoms as an added precaution.

[Heather]

I just want to pipe in that if you pay attention to your own concerns here (which is the way to go when figuring out what choices to make: your feelings and concerns are THE guide), it should be pretty clear that you don't feel comfortable using the pill alone.

Your feelings and concerns make very clear that you would either feel better using a backup method with your pill, like condoms, OR feel better holding off on the kinds of sex that can present any risks of pregnancy until you feel more comfortable with even the very small risk intercourse can always present, even when using reliable methods of contraception correctly.