EC Question

[stlyogi9]

Hi Scarleteen!

I have a question about Plan B. I took it yesterday morning after having a condom break the night before. I took it within 12 hours. However (and I know this was really not good), I had unprotected sex again a few hours later. We used the withdrawal method that time. My question is, do I need to take another Plan B pill?

I’m volunteering abroad and my periods have been really sporadic since I’ve been here. This is the second time I’ve taken Plan B ever and I know it’s probably going to do something to my cycle. Just to give an example, I went home for the holidays in December and I didn’t have a period during that month, but I hadn’t been sexually active in over a year. I got my period earlier this month, on the 7th. Basically, I think I’ve screwed myself over in a giant way and can’t stop feeling incredibly anxious. What should I do?

[Sam W]

Hi stlyogi9,

So, according to a site that's considered the go-to for information about emergency contraception, "Emergency contraceptive pills only protect against pregnancy when you take them after sex. That means you can still get pregnant if you take emergency contraception and then have sex again without using another kind of contraception or your birth control fails. If you still don’t want to get pregnant, you will need to take emergency contraceptive pills again. (Although emergency contraceptive pills would probably still protect you if you had sex immediately after taking them, there is no research to show how long they would work.)" You can read more about that situation here: https://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ecaf ... tment.html

You did also have some protection from withdrawal, and you can find out the level of protection from pregnancy offered by that method here: Withdrawal . The next step I'd recommend is calling the pharmacy where you got Plan B and asking for their recommendation on this situation as well.

Since it sounds like you don't wish to become pregnant, can I ask why you and your partner decided to go without a condom this most recent time?

[stlyogi9]

We decided not to use a condom because the condoms from this country are not like American condoms and I was were causing both of us to have a lot of pain. I understand the giant risk this causes. I think I can buy emergency contraception here over the counter.

[Heather]

Just FYI, the condom sales folks we work with (Lucky Bloke) for our condom packs -- which you can find here: http://www.scarleteen.com/condom_shop -- ship internationally.

But if condoms are literally causing you both pain, the issue may be that you need lubricant, not different (or just different) condoms, unless the issue is you can only get latex condoms there and you both have an allergy or sensitivity.