Birth Control Pill+Plan B Questions??

[WorryWart]

Hello! I have some quick explaining to do before I get to my question.

So I've been on Sprintec 28 for about 8 months now, and I love it. I have only been late on a pill once, I took it at 7PM instead of around 7AM. But that was about two months ago now. Other than that one time, I take my pill within a four hour window, always.

This month I decided to suppress my withdrawal bleed for the first time due to weekend plans (NOT something I intend to do often.)

My boyfriend and I always use a condom, in addition to my BC pill, for extra safety, because we are both in college still and are not ready for a child. This time though, the condom broke.

Concerned that suppressing my period may have reduced it's effectiveness, he and I made a mad dash to Walgreen's and bought their brand of Plan B, which the pharmacist assured us was the same thing as Plan B, just in case.

I took it within 2 hours of the condom breaking, with food, as instructed. And I continued to take my BC pill normally.

Since then (about a week) I've been experiencing dull cramps, the occasional nausea, and a tad bit of breast tenderness. The cramps are what concern me a bit though, as it doesn't appear to be a common side affect. Another odd thing happened today that gave me a bit of anxiety. After a mile run, I went to use the bathroom (TMI warning here...) and discovered a bit of cervical mucus that reminded me of the kind I got before I started taking the pill and would ovulate. This has me worried, but it doesn't make sense that I would ovulate, because I take my BC pill perfectly AND I took Plan B. So what might this be? Should it be a cause for concern? Or could it be because of the hard running I did?

Even so, if I had ovulated by some miracle, because it must be an EXTREMELY low chance, the sperm should be long since passed by now, a week later, correct?

Any comforting words, advice, or insight on this one?

[Eddie C]

Hello there, worrywart. Sorry you are feeling so anxious.

The thing with Plan B in your case is that it won't do anything different that your pill is not already doing. Suppressing your withdrawal bleeding doesn't have any impact on the effectiveness of your pill. just like when you are in your placebo week: you are always protected as long as you take your pills properly. So there was NO need for Plan B, actually. But, what EC can do is give you the side effects, which sounds like what is happening now.

So, even if the condom broke, you still have the protection of your pill.

[WorryWart]

okay! I'm aware that you guys have made calculations for pairings of birth control methods, and for my situation it's somewhere around like 99.97% effective. So the cramps and the mucus shouldn't be a cause for worry, because it's darn near impossible that I ovulated on BC, and had the EC as back up. I've got about a week and a half before my scheduled withdrawal bleed. But I've been told that Plan B can make it a little late, or different than normal. Did you mean that there was NO need for Plan B then?

[Eddie C]

Yes, I meant there was NO need for Plan B. Moving forward with this, the best is just to wait until the effects of Plan B wears off your body. Sometimes it can take a month or so so some self-care in the meantime can help a lot.

[WorryWart]

okay! since I know pregnancy doesn't really pose a risk in my case, I will focus on drinking cocoa and watching netflix to treat the cramps