Help please! Extra pills taken!

[Girltuesday2015]

Hi all - will taking two extra pills in the same week cause me to ovulate due to extra estrogen?

I felt like a pill got stuck in my throat one day and took an extra pill. The next day I had stomach upsets and took an extra pill that day as well. A total of 9 pills in the first week.

These are from a spare pack. I'm not short. A total of 23 pills will be taken this month. Is this an increased change of pregnancy? Thanks.

[Heather]

Oral contraceptives cannot make ovulation happen: they do the opposite, no matter how many of them someone were to take. As well, ovulation occurring for anyone, on the pill or not, is not so simple a matter as a slightly and temporarily increased level of estrogens. The influence of estrogen as what triggers the release of two other hormones that signal the body to begin the process of readying for ovulation down the line -- FSH and LH, namely -- is about a constantly and gradually elevating level throughout the first two weeks of a fertility cycle, not a one day very minor change.

However, you do NOT want to skip a day of pill taking because you took two in one day. Be sure that in this cycle of pills, you still take a pill every day of the pack, even if you took two on one of those days.

That all said, you clearly continue to have a pretty neverending bunch of concerns or panics when it comes to using the pill. So, I would strongly suggest that if most of these -- and many have been that you have posted here -- are about pregnancy, you back up with a second method (like condoms), and if THAT is still leaving you feeling unsafe, you reconsider the sexual choices you're making to be sure they're right for you. Or, you might want to talk to your sexual healthcare provider prescribing the pill about other methods you might feel better about. Methods that you don't have to do anything, or much of anything, yourself to have them be very effective (some more so than the pill), like an implant, IUD or depo-provera injection may be a better emotional and practical fit for you.

[Girltuesday2015]

Thank you for the thorough answer.

Yes, I agree with you. I know it's annoying and difficult for y'all. I feel horrible having this anxiety around me. I have an appt for the implant in a few weeks!

[Heather]

Glad to hear it! I'm willing to bet that you're going to feel a lot better about a less self-directed method. After all, it's YOU all of this will have been the most difficult for!

[Girltuesday2015]

I definitely will. Thank you again for your frankness, knowledge, patience and compassion with all of your users.

[Heather]

What lovely things to say! You're welcome, and thank you.