Scarleteen

Hi there,

First off I want to say I really appreciate this website and have been a member for a while. It's helped me through some times. The reason I am posting is because after years of use, I missed a birth control pill for the first time Thursday night. I took my pill at my regular time last night. It wasn't until tonight (Saturday) when I took my pill that I realized I had missed one. So, I took two tonight and am back on schedule. To summarize:

Day 1 - 13 of cycle: pills taken on time
Thursday (day 14): no pill
Friday (day 15): one pill, had unprotected sex
Saturday (day 16): two pills

I have five more days left in the pack. I am taking WYMZYATM Fe. According to the instructions:

"If you MISS 1 white "active" pill:
1. Take it as soon as you remember. Take the next pill at your regular time. This means you may take 2 pills in 1 day.
2. You do not need to use a back-up birth control method if you have sex."

My question is: did I miss one or two pills in this cycle? Since I took the extra pill a day late. I am trying to figure out if I should take EC. I am definitely using protection until the end of the first week of my next cycle. Thank you!

Hello there, boomshakalaka. Welcome to Scarleteen.

The right thing to do is to follow the instructions that your pill are giving you, just like you did. Backing up with condoms never hurts so, if you want to do it it's always a good idea.

When you are taking birth control there's nothing that EC can do that your pill is not already doing. So, no need to get it in this case.

Thanks Edith!

Just to clarify - taking the extra pills on Saturday vs it on Friday will not reduce effectiveness? It was approximately 48 hours (+/- 2 hours) between taking my pill Wednesday and taking it Friday.

So, what you want to figure is that like probably every other person using oral contraceptives, you're going to have typical use effectiveness, which is 91% in one year. Why? Because that accounts for things like a late or missed pill every now and then, which almost everyone is going to experience at least once a year.

Missing that pill and making it up like you did -- which is fine -- still has you in that typical use window, because again, typical use effectiveness accounts for things like this on occasion.

EC -- unless you're talking about using a copper IUD as EC -- does that same things your pill already does, but not as effectively, so I'd say EC in this situation really couldn't do anything you pill isn't already doing.