Safe?

[Hakunamatata15]

Hi, so I posted last month about losing a combination birth control pill and then borrowing one from another pack to make up for it. Unfortunately my pharmacy did not offer extra refills so I ended up just missing one pill this cycle. I just finished the third week of my pack and the pill I missed was on Wednesday. My pharmacy said this shouldn't really change the effectiveness of the pill but I can't help but worry a little since I'm normally a perfect user. If I were to have sex tonight and use a condom, would I still be highly protected against pregnancy despite that one pill? And should I still do a placebo week or would it be safer to just start a new pack tonight and skip my withdrawal bleed? I will be hopefully switching to an IUD soon since it seems like a better match for me. Thank you so much for all your help!

[Heather]

I think you already know from previous discussions that the combination of a pill and condoms, even with a mistake with the pill, is a highly effective way of preventing pregnancy, about as high as it gets. But the question is really if YOU feel comfortable with that, or if you think you'd feel better holding off on this kind of sex until you can combine condoms and the IUD.

There's no right answer to this kind of question, nor is it one someone else can answer for you: it's all about what you do -- or don't -- feel okay with.

Just FYI, skipping placebo pills doesn't make a pill more (or less) effective. The effectiveness is the same, regardless.

[Hakunamatata15]

Okay thank you!