Do I Need Plan B?

[RedGyarados]

Last night I was feeling nauseous, and I threw up right after taking my birth control (within a half hour). I'm nervous because I had unprotected sex that morning around 10 am. I got Plan B to be safe, but I'm still feeling extremely nauseous, so I'm afraid to take it. I just threw up again, so I may not even be able to keep it down. I don't want to wait too long to take it though, either, and it's already been a little over 24 hours. Do you think I need to take it, and if so, should I wait until my nausea subsides?

[Stephanie]

Generally, if you throw up less than 2-3 hours after taking a pill, you should assume that the pill may not have made it into your system. So you would count that as a missed pill. You could take two pills today and then see if you can get an extra pack from your doctor OR let your inactive pills start one day early. I'd suggest trying some things to ease your stomach first (Pepto, crackers, etc) to try to keep the pill down. You should use backup methods the rest of the month (like condoms) to be safe. Whether you want to try the EC is up to you, I'd definitely try to get your pills down though.

[RedGyarados]

Thank you! So you think the EC might be unnecessary then? Yesterday was my 14th day of the pill pack so I'm not sure where that leaves me.

[Stephanie]

There's really no way for us to know for sure how much it would help if any when using the pill. You could certainly ask a pharmacist, they may have more in-dept information there.

[Heather]

Just so you know, the combination pill is more effective than pills designed for emergency contraception are, so making up a missed pill -- rather than leaving it, and using EC -- is always going to be the best way to go, and assure you have more protection than if you use EC. And when you're using your pill properly -- which involves things like making up any missed or late pills -- your pill will always do a better job of preventing pregnancy than EC.

In the event you ever, say, miss three or more pills and have intercourse in that time frame, that's the kind of situation where adding EC makes sense, and where EC can likely actually do something your pill isn't doing already, and more effectively.