Birth control & pills

[14bfuller]

Hi there!
I've been on birth control (pretty much religiously) for atleast 3-4 years now. I usually never mess any of my days up. However, I went on vacation last month and skipped my placebo pills and went to the active pills because I didn't want my period on vacation. This month, I did everything normally and had my usual period. However, because I skipped last months I didn't have any more active pills to take so I have been taking the placebo pills until I can get a refill tonight. I figured that would be better than not taking anything? Today, I had unprotected sex not remembering I wasn't on my active pills. Could I be pregnant? Should I try plan B? Like I said, I take it very religiously and I am taking my new pack tonight but I'm sure that doesn't matter. Thank you in advance!

[Karyn]

Just to clarify: how long has it been since your last active pill? More or less than a week? If it has been more than a week (past the time that you would have started your new active pills) then you would no longer be protected and Plan B would reduce your risk if you don't want to become pregnant.

For future reference, placebo pills don't actually do anything at all - they have no hormones in them - so taking them doesn't do anything for preventing pregnancy. They're just there to keep you in the habit of taking a pill every day.

[14bfuller]

i took the week of the placebo pills that I was supposed to before/during period and then two more

[Karyn]

Okay. Extending the placebo week the way that you have - taking an extra two days before starting your next pack of active pills - means that you can't count on being protected from pregnancy anymore. So, as I said, emergency contraception (Plan B) is a good idea: it can be taken up to 120 hours (about 5 days) after a risk.

When you do get your new pack of pills, talk to the pharmacist or look at the leaflet that comes with the pills about the best way to start taking them again; you may be able to double up for the first couple of days to get back on track. You'll also need to use a backup method of birth control like condoms for at least a week, but ideally the rest of this pack, until your pill is at its full effectiveness again.

[14bfuller]

I just picked them up. So if I took a week and 2 days worth of placebo pills that would mean I missed 2 active pills, correct? If that's the case, it says to take 2 pills today and 2 tomorrow and then back to 1

[Karyn]

Yep, taking two extra placebo pills means you missed two active pills. If doubling up for the next couple of days is what your pill instructions say, then that's what you should do.

[14bfuller]

Alright thank you so much for your help!!

[Karyn]

You're so welcome!